Authentic Customer Voices Episode 4: Purposeful Advocacy at Scale - Elevating the Moments That Matter

Overview

In this episode of Authentic Customer Voices, we sit down with Amber Heffner, Director of Strategic Growth at ParentSquare, to explore how her team built an advocacy program that scales without sacrificing authenticity, empathy, or trust. From spreadsheets and scattered permissions to a structured, AI-enabled system, Amber shares how ParentSquare transformed advocacy into a consistent, human-centered part of the customer journey. We cover how her team identifies “moments that matter,” celebrates everyday wins, and builds lasting relationships that drive both engagement and pipeline impact.

Full Transcript

[Podcast Intro – Host]
Welcome to the Authentic Customer Voices podcast, where we spotlight leaders reshaping how organizations listen, grow, and lead through the power of customer voice. Today's guest is Amber Heffner, the Director of Strategic Growth at ParentSquare, where she leads with purpose, empathy, and a deep commitment to meaningful engagement with their customers.

From orchestrating advisory boards to designing moments that matter across the customer journey, Amber is pioneering a more human-centered approach to advocacy in education. In this episode, we'll unpack how Amber and her team are scaling authentic connection without scaling headcount. Why small moments of recognition have outsized impact on trust, participation, and long-term growth.

With that, let's dive in.

When you first looked at ParentSquare's advocacy program, what were the biggest challenges or gaps that you were seeing?

[Amber Heffner]
I did have to laugh, Shawnna, because we definitely were that crew that had spreadsheets and Airtables and docs and Google Drive folders, and so everything was all over the place. Some salespeople were using this and some were using that. We knew we had amazing, happy customers, but advocacy was feeling like it was happening by chance. We would scramble to find someone for Sales or Marketing who wanted a story. And as you mentioned earlier, we'd go back to the same group of people to pull those quotes from. And permissions—did we actually have their permission to use these quotes we had in all these different places? That was a big one for me.

When we started building our advocacy program, we knew what we had in place wasn't scalable, and it wasn't a great fit for the customer either. We did not have a formal advocacy program before Deeto. What we had were great relationships and individual efforts, but not a system. The challenges I mentioned were exactly what led us to find Deeto. Partnering with Deeto gave us the opportunity to build our advocacy program from the ground up in a way that respected our customers' time and also gave us an opportunity to highlight the amazing things they were doing.

[Host]
What made you decide to focus on what you refer to as the "moments that matter" when asking customers to participate?

[Amber Heffner]
I love this aspect of it. What it always felt like before was, "Oh, we need something now, we're coming to you." Now with Deeto, we're able to go to our customers and we may even go to them with a story already in place. Like, "Hey, we heard you were rock stars during implementation. You shared this special story with our implementation manager, and now we want to highlight it." We're celebrating the great things they're doing.

When a district has a big win, launches a new feature, or hits a milestone, we're there to celebrate it with them. We curate that content and put it out into the world to highlight them and put them on a pedestal. It really was more than just filling a content gap. Our customers are educators and leaders passionate about making a difference. They are inspired every day in the work they do. The stories they share help us too, because they also help others learn how ParentSquare can help in their engagement with families.

[Host]
How has Deeto helped change the way your team finds and activates advocates?

[Amber Heffner]
It's been such a game changer. Before we had Deeto, we knew we had great customers and great stories, but it was about finding a way to curate that content and highlight it. We spent time trying to track down customers willing to join a webinar, give product feedback, or participate in pilots. There were times we couldn’t follow through because we couldn’t secure the right advocate.

With Deeto, we can see in real time who's ready to raise their hand. The AI makes it easy. We can match them to references or to opportunities like product feedback or webinars. It's engagement that feels natural to them. We're able to say, "Hey, we know you raised your hand for a webinar, here's an opportunity." It's not just my team benefiting, it's Product, Marketing, and Sales too. Everyone can quickly find the right fit. We’re spending less time chasing our customers and more time engaging them in meaningful ways.

[Host]
What measurable impact have you seen since rolling out this approach?

[Amber Heffner]
One of my favorite stories is the number of hours we spent tracking down advocates, trying to figure out permissions, and locating spreadsheets. We're estimating we save 100 to 200 hours annually across all tasks like webinar prep and finding the right advocate. We had an example of a salesperson going to an event in Florida who wanted a case study. We went into Deeto, found a Florida ambassador, and flipped their story into a case study in a couple of days. Our marketing team has never been able to do that before.

For social media, our marketing manager can go into Deeto and find specific stories. That alone saves 75 to 80 hours a year. Our pool of advocates has grown dramatically, giving us more content. We've collected nearly 1,500 approved social proof assets that are searchable and ready for Sales, CS, and Marketing.

We are seeing advocacy directly influence pipeline. References and proof points are easily accessible. Sales cycles have improved by 20 to 30%. Manual efforts have been cut by about 30% because teams can go into Deeto and find what they need. Most importantly, we are seeing our advocates more engaged. They're choosing how to participate, being recognized, and showing up to meetings and events as satisfied, engaged customers.

[Host]
What advice would you give to marketing leaders trying to scale advocacy without headcount?

[Amber Heffner]
First, don't overcomplicate it. Start with a clear, high-impact moment and build from there. Lean on tools that do the heavy lifting. For a long time at ParentSquare, it was just me. I was a one-person team for 15 months. Even then, once we found Deeto, we could start building our program. It was the support of our internal team and the strength of Deeto as a platform and a partner.

We don't see Deeto as just a vendor. It has helped us scale far beyond what I could have done alone. You can individualize your advocacy program based on what works for you. Our customers and how we highlight them might be different from how someone else does. Our focus has been to build a program that highlights the amazing things our customers are doing and keeps them engaged. Engaged customers are happy customers, and happy customers spread the word.

Yes, the spreadsheets and the docs and all those tools were frustrating. We knew we couldn’t continue that way. Ultimately, we needed something that highlights our customers. That's why we're in this business. So my advice: keep it simple, lean on great partners, and never lose sight that advocacy is about relationships first.

[Host]
What’s next for advocacy at ParentSquare?

[Amber Heffner]
We’re really excited about broadening advocacy beyond case studies and references and moving into community-style connections. Think regional events where customers learn from each other or where we highlight their stories in their own words. Long term, I want advocacy to feel like part of the journey from day one—something that grows naturally with the relationship.

We’ve built a strong foundation with references and case studies, but that’s just the start. We’re leaning into customer-led storytelling. We’ve added 20 regional events for peer-to-peer communities to spotlight how they engage families. The partnership with Deeto helps us keep advocacy in motion and continuously surface new opportunities.

We love the campaign feature. We just did a back-to-school campaign where our ambassadors shared tips for family engagement. Some of that content is our best yet. We're keeping it fresh and meaningful. We also want to do more social media spotlights and possibly a podcast to highlight our districts.

It feels like a natural extension of the customer journey, and we want it to be seamless from onboarding to renewal, celebrating success every step of the way.

[Host]
A huge thank you to Amber for joining us today and sharing her thoughtful perspectives on scaling advocacy in a way that is deeply intentional and rooted in care. To our audience, thank you for joining us. Make sure to subscribe to this podcast to hear more episodes on leading with customer voice and scaled advocacy. See you next time.

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