Customer Marketing: Behind a Multi-Million Dollar Program

In this episode of The CMO Circle, marketing leader Christine Dart discusses customer marketing and advocacy. She shares how she shifted her focus from acquiring new business to increasing growth from current accounts through customer advocacy programs and micro events. This discussion provides insights on working with multiple departments, building customer trust, and turning customer success into marketing wins.

Christine Dart's Customer Marketing Journey

Christine Dart said that she is not an expert in customer marketing, but a marketing leader who recognized its importance and ensured the discipline was launched and executed successfully. She realized that the go-to-market team needed to shift from bringing in new accounts to growing existing accounts. She then began learning about customer marketing and starting a formal plan from scratch. While case studies were done with the customer success team, there wasn't a formal plan. She aimed to make it a win for customers and get them excited about sharing their stories, also considering what's beneficial for their careers to deepen relationships.

Gaining Stakeholder Buy-In

Christine Dart said that since they were already doing some customer marketing, it was common sense. Responsibilities were being shifted across departments, and they determined how marketing could support or lead. She said that it's important to have an organized plan to present to other departments. She explained that marketing can help deepen relationships with current customers. Because customer marketing has become more popular recently, other leaders may not realize marketing can support it. Showing how it contributes to the bottom line makes it easier to get buy-in. It is also important to work with other teams to refine the plan and avoid stepping on toes. Communication is essential to ensure that everyone is informed and comfortable with the customer marketing plan.

First Steps for a Customer Marketing Plan

You must be clear on the why, Christine Dart said. Customer marketing can be broad, so it's easy to chase shiny objects. Have a clear plan with your first priorities. Focus on a few different accounts to target, or aim to grow PLG accounts and identify potential enterprise customers. This might mean focusing on a video library, education, and user groups. It's important to know why you're doing it and where to start.

Micro-Events Through a Customer Marketing Lens

Micro-events depend on the goal. It could be an executive dinner with top customers to sell a new product or service. Or it could be a small event for a niche audience to provide education through panels and talks with industry experts. Christine Dart and her partners put together an event for customer service leaders, since they don't always get the same opportunities at a game developers conference. It allowed customers to sit on panels, develop their public speaking, help design the program structure, and participate in a customer advisory board. Micro-events can also be local user groups to help people develop their use of a tool.

Deepening Customer Relationships Through Events

These events should be planned with the sales and customer success teams, who can help decide which customers to invite and who might be good speakers. The sales and customer success teams can also spend time face-to-face with customers. In-person interactions can help deepen relationships more than digital communication.

Planning and Motivating Customers To Attend Events

It is important to ensure that customers are excited about the event and that it's an opportunity they want to pursue. Customers shouldn't be pushed into anything they're uncomfortable with. Determine if it's helpful for their career and if they need approval from their company. Work with them, provide talking points, and make the process comfortable. For example, Dart helped customers by creating slides for them when they didn't have time. It's important to step in and make it as easy as possible for them.

Measuring Event Success

From a customer marketing standpoint, track which accounts had representatives at the event, whether they were speaking, attending, or part of the customer advisory board. This is viewed as a touchpoint. If a new deal comes up in the pipeline, the account representative knows a conversation occurred at the event. The deal in the pipeline is then attributed to that event. When the deal closes, customer marketing can say they supported it. Pipeline is what you're measuring. CEOs understand how important all the touchpoints are, especially face-to-face interaction. The success of the event also includes new leads, providing a measurable KPI.

Critical Factors for a Successful Program

It is important to be in sync with the sales and customer success teams. Have conversations and ensure everyone is informed. Listen to customer feedback on the events from existing customers and new attendees, and use that to develop content. Don't overtap accounts, especially if doing a series of events. Don't overwork customers.

Lessons and Challenges To Avoid

Cross-Departmental Communication

Transparency in your customer marketing program is key. It is important to ensure visibility and transparency for everyone, especially account owners. Dart's team had a customer marketing specialist who ran the show and worked with the customer success and sales teams. When contributions are spread across different departments, it's easier to forget to mention things, which can cause friction. Customer marketing is responsible for ensuring everyone is happy, comfortable, and informed.