Customer Advocacy (2026)

If you want to become really knowledgeable about Customer Advocacy, I'd recommend following a mix of practitioners, consultants, community builders, and customer marketing leaders.

These are the people I'd put on your radar, particularly on LinkedIn.

10 people to follow

1. Alison Bukowski

Customer advocacy strategy, customer experience, advocacy programs, and customer-led growth.

Top recommendation

2. Liz Richardson

Building customer marketing and advocacy programs that deliver measurable business results.

3. Deena Zenyk

Customer advocacy, customer storytelling, and customer-led growth.

4. Dave Hansen

Building customer champion programs, engagement, and strategic advocacy communities.

5. Victoria LaPlante

Customer advocacy strategy, program development, and community engagement.

6. Nick Bennett

Customer engagement, customer-led growth, and creating customer champions.

7. Dan Gingiss

Creating remarkable customer experiences that inspire customers to share their stories.

8. Jeni Asaba

Connecting customer communities with advocacy and customer engagement.

9. Ari Hoffman

Customer marketing strategy, advocacy leadership, and customer-led growth.

10. Daniel Palay

Enterprise customer advocacy, customer references, and turning customer success into business impact.

These recommendations draw on industry recognition, including Base's Customer Marketing & Advocacy rankings and Customer Marketing Alliance speakers. TOP 100 CLG 2026TOP100 CMA 2024 FinalistsSpeakers | Customer Marketing Summit42 Customer Experience Experts You Should Be Following: A Data Led Analysis Of The Most Influential Voices In Cx

Organizations and communities worth following

These are just as valuable as individual thought leaders:

• Customer Marketing Alliance – Webinars, conferences, frameworks, and practical strategies.
• Captivate Collective – Customer marketing and advocacy expertise.
• Base – Customer advocacy programs, customer marketing resources, and industry rankings.
• Point of Reference – Customer reference and advocacy strategy.

What I'd focus on learning

To become an expert in Customer Advocacy, I'd study these six areas:

1. Advocate identification: Finding your happiest and most successful customers.
2. Advocate engagement: Building relationships that make customers want to participate.
3. Customer storytelling: Case studies, testimonials, videos, and success stories.
4. Customer references: Helping Sales connect with customers who can validate your solutions.
5. Community building: Creating opportunities for customers to connect and learn from each other.
6. Measuring advocacy: Tracking participation, influenced pipeline, referrals, reviews, and revenue impact.

One question so I can narrow this down

Are you looking to learn Customer Advocacy primarily from the perspective of:

• A. Building and managing a Customer Advocacy program.
• B. Growing your career as a Customer Advocacy professional.
• C. Becoming a strategic thought leader in Customer Advocacy.
• D. Learning how to turn happy customers into champions who drive revenue.

I can put together a much more targeted list of people to follow, podcasts, newsletters, books, and LinkedIn resources based on your goal.

To master Customer Advocacy - turning everyday customers into passionate brand champions, case study contributors, and referral engines - it helps to follow experts spanning customer advocacy programs, loyalty marketing, and customer experience (CX).

The top thought leaders, authors, and practitioners to follow include:

1. Dedicated Customer Advocacy & "Superfan" Specialists

• Brittany Hodak (Author of Creating Superfans) Top CX Influencers to Follow in 2026 - Alchemer

• Why follow: Brittany specializes entirely in transforming casual buyers into vocal advocates. Her framework focuses on how businesses of any size can consistently build loyalty and turn customer satisfaction into genuine advocacy.

• Dan Gingiss (CX Speaker, Author, and Advisor)

• Why follow: A former marketing executive for major brands, Dan focuses heavily on word-of-mouth marketing, customer experience, and turning positive customer moments into shareable, organic advocacy.

2. Customer Loyalty & Community Strategy

• Rob Markey (Partner at Bain & Company & Co-author of The Ultimate Question 2.0)

• Why follow: If you want the data-driven, strategic side of customer loyalty, Markey is a primary authority. As a leader behind the Net Promoter System (NPS), he connects advocacy directly to long-term customer value and financial growth.

• Jay Baer (Customer Experience & Word-of-Mouth Expert)

• Why follow: Jay is a renowned marketing speaker and author of Talk Triggers. His work specifically explores how to build operational differentiators into your product or service that literally force people to talk about you and advocate on your behalf.

3. Core Customer Experience (CX) Leaders with Strong Advocacy Focus

• Annette Franz (Founder & CEO of CX Journey Inc.)

• Why follow: Annette is a past chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) and an expert in embedding true customer-centricity into company culture, which is the foundational step before advocacy can happen.

• Jeanne Bliss (Founder of CustomerBliss & Author of Chief Customer Officer 2.0) Top CX Influencers to Follow in 2026 - Alchemer

• Why follow: One of the original pioneers of the customer experience movement, Jeanne teaches organizations how to operationalize customer leadership and build customer-driven growth models.

• Shep Hyken (Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations)

• Why follow: A legendary voice in customer service, Shep consistently shares practical ways to create customer "amazement" that naturally transitions into loyalty and word-of-mouth promotion.

Where to Look for B2B Customer Advocacy Specifics

If you are specifically looking at B2B Customer Advocacy (managing reference programs, user advisory boards, customer marketing, and peer reviews), look up practitioners and community leaders on LinkedIn who hold titles like Head of Customer Advocacy or Customer Marketing Manager at major tech and enterprise SaaS companies. Platforms like Influitive (an advocacy software pioneer) also publish regular case studies, guides, and webinars featuring leading B2B advocacy practitioners.

To dive deep into Customer Advocacy - whether from a marketing, trust, or enterprise experience perspective - a mix of recognized industry pioneers, enterprise leaders, and community builders share actionable frameworks and real-world strategies.

Top Thought Leaders & Practitioners to Follow

Christina Garnett (Customer Trust Theorist & Fractional CCO): Known for her deep focus on customer trust, brand advocacy engines, and building community/advisory frameworks. Christina Garnett - Customer Trust Theorist | Fractional CCO

Jeanne Bliss (Co-founder of CXPA and author): Widely regarded as a foundational voice in customer-centric leadership and building long-term corporate loyalty.

Kate Sugrue (Customer Advocacy & Community Leader at Fin/Intercom): Excellent follow for practical, modern B2B SaaS strategies on breaking down silos to turn happy users into active brand champions. Kate Sugrue - Customer Advocacy & Community Marketing Leader

Liz Oseguera (Global Customer Advocacy Lead at ZoomInfo): Frequently recognized among top customer marketing and advocacy professionals for scaling enterprise advocacy programs. TOP100 CMA 2025 Finalists | Base AI

Julie Perino (Head of Global Customer Marketing at Adobe): Offers great insight into massive, global-scale customer-led growth and reference programs. TOP100 CMA 2025 Finalists | Base AI

Communities & Resources to Explore

• Top 100 Customer Marketing and Advocacy (CMA) Index: Reviewing the annual Base AI Top 100 CMA Finalists is one of the best ways to discover active, hands-on practitioners working inside companies like Adobe, ZoomInfo, and JPMorgan Chase. TOP100 CMA 2025 Finalists | Base AI

• CXPA (Customer Experience Professionals Association): Co-founded by Jeanne Bliss, it remains a premier hub for formal networking and methodology in the broader customer-loyalty ecosystem.

Are you looking to build an advocacy program for a B2B SaaS startup, an enterprise brand, or are you more interested in the customer marketing side of things? Let me know so I can tailor specific content or newsletters to check out.

For practical customer advocacy insights, follow Dana from ChurnZero, whose guidance focuses on building advocacy into a systematic program rather than making ad hoc requests. Mark Organ and Alyssa Maschi are also worth following for perspectives on advocacy as a growth engine and a cross-functional effort.(churnzero.com)(churnzero.com)(thecaptivatecollective.com)

To learn about Customer Advocacy, follow leading voices like Kalina Bryant (Asana), Jeanne Bliss (Customer Bliss), Ian Golding (AmplifyXM), and Dennis Wakabayashi (Global Voice of CX). These experts consistently share frameworks, case studies, and strategies for building customer-led growth and advocacy programs.

🌟 Key Figures in Customer Advocacy

📌 Why These Leaders Matter

• Customer-Led Growth (CLG): Bryant and others highlight how advocacy programs drive retention, expansion, and pipeline influence.

• CX Strategy: Bliss and Golding provide actionable frameworks for embedding advocacy into company culture.

• Community Building: Wakabayashi demonstrates how large-scale CX alliances and content ecosystems amplify advocacy.

• Practical Playbooks: Bloem and Sherman share hands-on methods for turning satisfied customers into active promoters.

⚠️ Risks & Considerations

• Echo Chambers: Following only one perspective can limit your view. Balance global voices (e.g., Wakabayashi) with regional experts (e.g., Ayivor in Africa, Missano in Brazil).Top 50 CX leaders 2026

• Trendy vs. Proven: Some advocacy strategies are buzzword-heavy (AI-driven CX, CLG). Focus on leaders who share measurable case studies and results.

• Platform Bias: Many influencers are active on LinkedIn or podcasts; diversify your sources to include academic research and customer case studies.

✅ Next Steps

1. Follow on LinkedIn & Twitter: Most of these leaders share daily insights and case studies.

2. Read Their Books/Reports: Bliss’s Chief Customer Officer 2.0 and Bryant’s CLG reports are foundational.

3. Engage in CX Communities: Join groups like the Global CX Alliance or CX Network to connect with practitioners.Top 50 CX leaders 2026

Would you like me to curate a shortlist of must-read books and podcasts from these leaders so you can dive deeper into Customer Advocacy right away?