I’m currently the Vice President of Services at Relationship One. But, I wasn’t always in an executive leadership role. Prior to coming to Relationship One, I was doing marketing ops and digital marketing for a fast growing tech company. Daily, I was using Oracle Eloqua to help fuel our company’s growth. Since Oracle Eloqua was such a huge part of my life, I was passionate to learn more and connect with others doing similar roles as I was. I was passionate about what the tool could do and wanted to share my love of Oracle Eloqua with anyone who would listen.

Along the way, my Oracle Eloqua Account Manager asked me if I would be interested in being an Eloqua Advocate. Advocate Marketing is a hot topic these days, but back then, I had never heard of it. I was intrigued and decided to give it a try.   

But why? Why would someone want to do this? Why would anyone want to become an advocate for a company they don’t work for?

I’ll be honest… it was purely for selfish reasons!

My initial decision to become an Eloqua Advocate was because I had an intuition that 1) becoming a master of this technology was going to propel my career forward, 2) the people who made Eloqua possible were industry leaders, and 3) getting to know others in the industry was a great way to expand my network.

I quickly found these 6 wins after being an advocate for a short time!

  1. Input into where the product was headed – Eloqua asked me to be part of focus groups and I gave suggestions on new features and functionality. The product managers for Eloqua also asked me questions while they were building new parts of the application. Shaping the direction of a tool you use every day is really awesome. I got to make sure the functionality I wanted was moved to the front of the line.
  2. Growing my network – Not only did I have an open connection to people within Eloqua, but being an advocate opened up doors for me to connect with others in the industry. I got to meet them at Eloqua events. I got to know them from online communities. I connected with them on LinkedIn and got to celebrate their career journeys. I was part of an Eloqua community!
  3. Input into content that was being developed – The marketing department at Eloqua reached out to get my thoughts on new content pieces they were developing. Would this be helpful to people in your role? Which imagery appealed to you more? When you were evaluating which tool to buy, what were the things that were most important in your decision? If I could help encourage others to join the Eloqua community, that meant there were more people for me to network with.
  4. Opportunities to present at industry events – I was asked to present the work I was doing many times in many different avenues as Eloqua looked for people to serve as industry experts at events, for webinars, on panel discussions, and as guest authors. Not only did this help to grow my personal brand, it also allowed me to highlight my company. I became better known in the industry and my company got great SEO juice in return.
  5. The joy of helping others out – In addition to industry events, I was able to give advice when people had questions or provide coaching when others were starting out. It felt great to help others figure out solutions to problems I had already worked through. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was the perfect segue for working at Relationship One!
  6. Fun – The Eloqua team made sure to keep their advocates engaged by mixing in a large dose of fun. In addition to promoting Eloqua, doing reference calls, and helping to shape the product, there were numerous ways to just be silly. This helped the advocates get to know each other on a personal level and helped foster deeper relationships between the Eloqua team and their advocates.

Looking back on my years as an Eloqua Advocate, it seems pretty clear that participation in the Eloqua Advocate program helped get me to where I am today. I was able to deepen my knowledge of the platform, create relationships with industry leaders and increase my personal brand. Sure, I was helping Eloqua grow their business in the process, but at the end of the day, I actually benefited more from participation in the program than Eloqua got from me.

Do you have certain brands or products that you love sharing with other people? Chances are, you’re already an advocate. My advice to you is if you’re asked by a vendor to participate in a formal advocacy program you should. You won’t regret it.

On the flip side, you may be hearing more about Advocacy Marketing and wondering if it’s a practice that your organization should adopt. Again, I say you should go for it. You will be surprised at how many people are just waiting to become raging fans of what you do.

Take it from this advocate. I’m so glad I become an Eloqua Advocate all those years ago. It helped set me up for the amazing job I have now! Become an advocate for a vendor you love. It might just shape your career as well.