Is Employee Advocacy right for your sector?
You’re looking at employee advocacy given your company size. You’ve tried some ad-hoc content distribution through employees manually and now it’s time to scale. But will it work for your sector? This article discusses a few sector examples and if it’s right for you.
The last few years has seen exponential growth in employee advocacy. It will take time and focus to get it right and if you make it successful the returns can be high. But don’t think it necessarily has to be an all-in or nothing approach for your company to be effective.
Is employee advocacy right for you?
The answer to that depends on two things:
1. Whether employee advocacy is right for your company?
2. Whether you can empower your employees?
Let’s look at the sectors:
Well, aside from if its right for you and if you can empower employees, you’d imagine some companies such as cooperatives might lend themselves to employee advocacy more than others, and it’s not for all companies. But how about sectors to consider:
Retail
Retail is a famously competitive market, but it’s a sector where a key differentiator is your people. This is why employee advocacy programmes can work well, harnessing your colleagues to create engagement and awareness around brand content.
From fashion, home and garden and supermarkets to health & beauty and department stores, employee advocacy can be used to quickly scale word-of-mouth long-term.
Automotive
As you know, this is a high-ticket item. Employee advocacy can be a key part of the purchase journey if employees can offer the decision support customers need to make an informed choice.
Utility and Energy
It’s very easy now to change suppliers and why wouldn’t you if you can get a better deal? But it’s not just a cost decision and many people value other aspects such as good customer service from a supplier.
Sharing a company’s products and services through employees to friends and family members that they trust is an excellent way to gain more exposure, and arguably more effective than advertising per £ spent.
Finance
Banking can be a little intimidating. Indeed, it can be deliberately obscure sometimes.
Who knows a bank’s products and services better than the people who work there? Some companies in the finance sector are now working with colleagues to give a more personal touch and boost their marketing impact.
B2B
B2B may not be an obvious sector for employee advocacy but it can work very effectively through thought leadership with authentic stories told by employees.
As well as employees celebrating their own success, there is a snowball effect in individuals – as opposed to just the brand – in telling their journey and milestones that brings people closer to the company.
Consumer tech
Tech-powered employee advocacy is a natural fit for consumer tech brands.
It’s often an environment where many people are used to getting their messages out across multiples platforms and one in which employees expect to be heard and have input in a company’s direction.
And finally…
Remember that if you’re not a huge company or one I which you’ve trialled employee advocacy before, then you can still start with small steps. With a basic template and some good will, getting to the point of proof of concept and wider buy-in internally can be achieved in a surprisingly short time as you begin to show results.