I recently did an informal poll on LinkedIn and Instagram asking who owns Advocacy in your company.
The result: a relatively even split between CS and Marketing, with a slight edge to Marketing on LinkedIn.
But the comments and replies add much needed context.
What the Data Actually Shows
While one of those departments may "own" Advocacy, the reality is most companies simply don't have a formal Advocacy program. This is informal data, but it tracks with what I've seen in the wild.
At best, Marketing will spin up a campaign to try to get reviews - generally to offset a swath of bad reviews - and enlist the help of CS. This generally fails to deliver the desired results.
Or CS does the same thing, hoping to give Marketing and Sales some help or generate Social Proof to use to motivate action with existing customers. But again, it fails.
Why These Efforts Keep Failing
It fails because it's a one-off "campaign" or "project" and not something that's strategic, operationalized, and orchestrated.
Like most things done on a whim or some urgent mandate to "fix" an issue like bad reviews, it's going to deliver subpar results at best.
And then, because it didn't work, well; we're certainly not going to invest in creating a real Advocacy program. We tried that already and failed.
Right. Except you didn't.
You didn't try Advocacy. You tried a rushed, under-resourced, one-time project with no strategy behind it. That's not the same thing. Not even close.
The Real Answer
So the answer to who owns Advocacy is; no one, really.
Most companies have no formal program. The ones that say they do are usually running sporadic campaigns. And the ones running sporadic campaigns are pointing to their failure as evidence that Advocacy doesn't work.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Don't invest in a real strategy, get bad results, use bad results to justify not investing.
The question isn't who owns Advocacy today. The question is who SHOULD own it - and what it looks like when it's done right.
