How brands can turn authentic experiences into powerful advocacy that builds trust and drives growth
From restaurants and retail shops to banks and credit unions, brand advocacy allows companies to leverage the power of people and their authentic experiences with the brand. Whether through social media or conversations with family and friends, brand advocacy relies on people sharing their stories to build social proof and influence fellow community members to get the word out, increase foot traffic, generate new interest and engagement, and ultimately, increase sales.
Brand advocates are people who genuinely love a company and proactively talk about it. They’re knowledgeable about the brand and how it adds value to their life. In the retail banking context, for example, a brand advocate might speak to the advice they got from staff at the branch. Or they might share how relatively stress-free it was for them to open a new account, secure a mortgage, or obtain a loan to grow their business. Employee advocates also share great experiences with their employer. The key here is that these are real people whose endorsements arise from their own encounters and honest assessments of the brand.
So who are brand advocates? Many are customers who have had positive interactions and want to share their stories. McKinsey’s State of the Consumer 2025 found that the top source for consumer influence is family and friends. And Nielsen’s Trust in Advertising study found that 89% of consumers say the most trusted channel is recommendations from people they know. The key to brand advocacy is understanding that the best champions don’t need large followings. What matters most is authenticity, as a single enthusiastic customer or employee whose recommendation carries more weight than anything a brand could say.
Beyond customers, other brand advocates include employees, partners, and influencers. Employees bring an insider perspective as they experience a company’s culture, products, and values firsthand. When employees speak positively about a company, they speak with a credibility that people trust, ideally positioning them to promote the company through their personal conversations and social and professional networks. Similarly, partner organizations are also well-positioned to speak about a company’s trustworthiness. Influencers, like community leaders, who have interacted with a brand over time can also be powerful allies who amplify trust and loyalty.
When someone is so happy with a product or service that they recommend it to others, people start to pay attention. This is why brand advocacy is so important and why a brand advocacy program can have a significant impact on a business. From building trust to boosting content creation (and free publicity for the brand), advocates can promote business growth and help find new audiences for a company’s products and services.
Similarly, referrals from trusted peers often require less nurturing and are more likely to convert into new customers. Brand advocates can generate the kind of enthusiasm that’s almost impossible to buy, elevating a brand’s visibility without breaking the budget. Because advocacy comes from real people, this kind of endorsement humanizes a brand in ways traditional marketing rarely can.
The foundation of any holistic advocacy program is the brand, so it’s critical to do research to truly understand what stakeholders care about. Advocacy is often driven by outstanding products and services, but the whole of a customer’s experience is so much more than that. Exceptional customer service, personalized engagement, or a delightful in-person interaction all have the potential to turn customers into advocates.
Building brand advocacy requires companies to consistently meet or exceed expectations and make interactions in the customer journey smooth, responsive, and human. When people feel valued and supported, they are more likely to share their positive experiences. Once the right brand experience is in place, companies are in a position to support a shift from engagement to advocacy. Elements of a successful brand advocacy program include:
Once a company has launched a brand advocacy program, it’s essential to evaluate brand advocacy in action. Measurement helps identify customers, employees, and influencers who are likely to turn into long-time champions. Using social media monitoring tools such as Sprout Social or Hootsuite can help track everything from customer mentions on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to employee posts on LinkedIn. Monitoring can also help brands maximize the reach of advocates and determine the optimal audience for business growth. Another important measure is share of voice, and how visible a brand is compared to competitors.
Ultimately, brand advocacy is the natural outcome of delivering experiences people genuinely want to talk about. When companies create clarity around their brand, consistently deliver on their promises, and support positive interactions across the customer journey, advocacy organically emerges. By investing in the experiences that matter most and making it easy for people to share them, brands can strengthen trust, deepen loyalty, and unlock a powerful source of sustained growth.
To learn more about successful brand advocacy programs and strategic solutions for your bank or credit union, get in touch with Adrenaline’s brand experience experts today.
Adrenaline is an end-to-end brand experience company serving the financial industry. We move brands and businesses ahead by delivering on every aspect of their experience across digital and physical channels, from strategy through implementation. Our multi-disciplinary team works with leadership to advise on purpose, position, culture, and retail growth strategies. We create brands people love and engage audiences from employees to customers with story-led design and insights-driven marketing; and we design and build transformative brand experiences across branch networks, leading the construction and implementation of physical spaces that drive business advantage and make the brand experience real.
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