About Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba, their research and their careers

About Jackie Huba

Jackie has written three books on customer loyalty:

"Monster Business: Loyalty Lessons from Lady Gaga,"With tens of millions of Facebook and Twitter followers, pop superstar Lady Gaga knows how to build a following. Her crazy outfits, weird performances and catchy tunes are just the beginning on her journey to create passionate Little Monsters – the name she has given her fans. Her approach is to cultivate the loyalists – the 1% of her fan base – and through word of mouth, recruit more evangelists into the Monster fold. In this book, best-selling author Jackie Huba identifies the six loyalty lessons of Lady Gaga that businesses should emulate and details a step-by-step plan for helping you create a “monster business” of your own.
"Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force," (coauthored with Ben McConnell) explains how companies convert customers into evangelists who spread the word about products, benefits or value propositions. "Creating Customer Evangelists" has been translated into six languages and has become a strategic focus for companies around the world.
"Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message," (coauthored with Ben McConnell) which documents the emerging world of social media and how brands should begin to embrace a participatory culture. Besides being widely used at companies as an introduction to social media, "Citizen Marketers" has been adopted by college instructors as a tool for understanding the underlying nature of social media and what it means for marketing and public relations.

Named as one of the 10 most influential online marketers, Jackie co-authors the Church of the Customer blog; with more than 104,000 daily readers, it's ranked as one of the most popular business blogs in the world. She was a founding Board Member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

She is a graduate of Penn State University, a Pittsburgh Steelers fanatic and resides in Austin, Texas.

Visit jackiehuba.com for more information on her books, speaking, and consulting.

Praise for Jackie Huba's books:

"('Creating Customer Evangelists' is) the new mantra for entrepreneurial success."
-- The New York Times

"Drop everything and read this book."
-- The Wall Street Journal, reviewing "Citizen Marketers"

Jackie Huba in the media

"Should Madison Avenue Be Rehabbing Charlie Sheen?" in Advertising Age.
"Citizen Marketers Take Over" in iMedia Connection.
"The Fanatic: A Brand's Best Friend?" in BrandChannel.com.
"How to Gripe (Effectively) Online" in PC World.

About Ben McConnell

Ben McConnell is an author, consultant and principal of management consulting firm Ant's Eye View.

Ben is the coauthor of two books on customer loyalty: "Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message," (2007) which documents the emerging world of social media and how brands should begin to embrace a participatory culture. Besides being widely used at companies as an introduction to social media, "Citizen Marketers" has been adopted by college instructors as a tool for understanding the underlying nature of social media and what it means for marketing and public relations. Ben's first book, "Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force," (2003) explains how companies convert customers into evangelists who spread the word about products, benefits or value propositions. "Creating Customer Evangelists" has been translated into six languages and has become a strategic focus for companies around the world.

Named as one of the 50 most influential online marketers, Ben co-authors the Church of the Customer blog; with more than 104,000 daily readers, it's ranked as one of the most popular business blogs in the world. He advises a number of organizations on creating word of mouth and customer evangelism strategies. Forbes calls his work "the word of mouth gospel." He's a graduate of Arizona State University and resides in Austin, Texas.

Praise for Ben McConnell's books:

"('Creating Customer Evangelists' is) the new mantra for entrepreneurial success."
-- The New York Times

"Drop everything and read this book."
-- The Wall Street Journal, reviewing "Citizen Marketers"

Ben McConnell in the media