Customer Champions

Signals Beat Surveys When You Want Real Customer Truth

Customer marketing can’t run on dashboards alone. It has to run on signals. Danielle Beeken [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-beeken/], Director of Customer Marketing, breaks down how the best teams spot intent before it shows up in NPS or renewal risk. Instead of blasting the same advocacy asks to everyone, Danielle shares how to read behavior, relationship, and community signals to know who’s ready, what to ask, and when to act. From identifying expansion readiness to building multiple champions inside an account, this episode is a practical playbook for moving from campaign-based advocacy to customer moments that actually convert. What you’ll learn: * How to replace “big advocacy campaigns” with signal-based customer moments * How community creates peer proof (and why it’s the fastest path to trust) * Why relying on a single “superfan” champion is risky, and how to build a wider circle of advocates Episode Outline: (00:00) Meet Danielle Beeken (01:20) Danielle’s path from sales to customer-led growth (03:36) Storytelling that makes customers the hero (05:38) Turning community into advocacy (the right way) (09:11) Bringing community insights into the business (13:11) The “energy shift” that tells you it’s time (13:59) From usage to impact: sparking expansion and advocacy (14:22) Making customer success your advocacy multiplier (16:02) Winning over every stakeholder in the account (22:11) Danielle’s field-tested takeaways for customer marketers

Driving NRR With Customer Marketing

Net revenue retention doesn’t get fixed at renewal, it’s shaped long before the deal is signed. In this episode, Tyler Calder [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylercalder/], Chief Marketing Officer at PartnerStack [https://partnerstack.com/], breaks down why NRR starts with marketing and how poor pipeline quality quietly creates churn months later. Drawing from hard-earned lessons across B2B, partnerships, and customer marketing, Tyler explains why targeting the right customers matters more than hitting pipeline numbers, and how ICP discipline can radically change retention, expansion, and CS efficiency. Tyler zooms into the operational backbone behind strong customer marketing: segmentation, enablement, measurement, and saying no when needed. He shares how PartnerStack evolved customer marketing from a reactive support function into a revenue-driving engine, how marketing can influence expansion pipeline and product adoption, and why relationships only scale when paired with rigor.  What you’ll learn: * Why NRR starts with marketing, not renewals * How pipeline quality directly impacts churn and expansion * Ways to segment customers to focus on real growth potential Episode Outline: (00:00) Why NRR starts with marketing, not renewals (00:35) Introducing Tyler Calder, CMO at PartnerStack (01:42) Tyler’s path from finance to revenue-driven marketing (04:05) Early lessons from Eloqua, agencies, and partnerships (06:20) Partnerships and customer marketing as operational functions (09:40) Segmentation, focus, and the 80/20 problem (11:01) How pipeline quality impacts churn and NRR (14:05) Defining ICP and fixing retention at the top of the funnel (18:59) Building customer marketing as a revenue engine (24:08) Measuring expansion, adoption, and NRR effectively (29:40) Owning the story: elevating customer marketing’s role

Turning Advocacy into Acquisition with Rodrigo Souto

Demand gen and customer marketing are often seen as separate. But what happens when they work as one? Rodrigo Souto [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodrigosoutomarketing/], Senior Director of Demand Generation at Zappi [https://www.zappi.io/web/] and former customer marketing leader at HubSpot, shares lessons from a career leading global programs across advocacy, PLG, and demand. At HubSpot, he built a unique playbook for tying customer marketing to revenue by connecting proof, product, and performance. Now at Zappi, Rodrigo is leading both demand gen and customer marketing together, proving how aligned teams drive faster results. He breaks down why references and expansion are underrated growth levers, how to show impact with limited resources, and where AI helps scale without losing the human touch. What you’ll learn: * Why putting customer marketing under demand gen unlocks budget and attribution * How to prove the revenue impact of advocacy programs (even with small teams) * Why scaling starts with deep customer understanding, not just more content Episode Outline:  (00:00) Introducing Rodrigo Souto (00:41) Rodrigo’s path from HubSpot to Zappi (05:29) Lessons from international markets and product-led growth (10:25) Leading demand gen with a customer-first mindset (12:36) Why customer marketing now reports into demand gen (14:54) Breaking down the budget and attribution challenge in customer marketing (19:00) References and referrals as clear revenue levers (23:52) How to use AI to scale output without losing human touch (27:52) Getting started with revenue-backed customer marketing (29:44) Practical advice for growing into a marketing leadership role (33:55) Closing thoughts on strategy, trust, and leadership in customer marketing

Building Customer Advocacy That Lasts Beyond the Funnel with Lauren Turner

Customer advocacy is often measured like demand gen, but what if it’s closer to brand? Lauren Turner [https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenturnermba/], CEO and Founder of CustomerCentrx [https://www.customercentrx.com/], explains why advocacy is a long-term play, how communities can unlock retention rates as high as 99%, and why even unhappy customers can become your strongest allies when they feel heard. She also zooms into the importance of breaking down silos between marketing, success, sales, and product so customers experience one cohesive brand, not a fragmented one. Lauren shares practical strategies for proving advocacy’s impact without relying on vanity metrics, plus how to embed advocacy into company culture from day one. And, in a fun twist, she draws lessons from improv comedy on active listening, iteration, and silencing your inner critic, which are skills every customer marketer can use. What you’ll learn: * How communities can drive retention rates as high as 99% * Ways to turn unhappy customers into loyal advocates * Practical strategies to measure advocacy’s impact without vanity metrics Episode Outline: (00:00) Community as advocacy at scale (00:32) Introducing Lauren Turner and CustomerCentrx (01:27) From product to marketing to advocacy (03:11) Why advocacy is more like brand than demand gen (04:34) Long-term relationship plays vs. short-term revenue goals (07:43) Turning unhappy customers into loyal allies (09:36) Where to start when building a customer marketing function (13:12) Breaking silos: aligning CS, marketing, sales, and product (18:08) Measuring advocacy’s impact without vanity metrics (24:25) How AI can support, but not replace, human connection (29:56) Improv, balance, and lessons outside of work

Driving Growth Through Customer Centricity with Emily Cid

Customer success and customer marketing are often seen as separate functions. But what happens when they work as one? Emily Cid [http://linkedin.com/in/emily-cid], Senior Director of Customer Success at Champion [https://www.championhq.com/], shares her journey from account executive to customer advocacy leader, offering an inside look at what it takes to build human-first, revenue-aligned teams. With experience across sales, success, and marketing, Emily reveals how aligning internal teams around customer outcomes drives both retention and growth. Emily zooms in on practical ways CS and marketing can partner more effectively: from shared KPIs to advocacy programs that actually scale. Plus, she shares how curiosity and empathy power everything from strategy to leadership. What you’ll learn: * How to unite customer success and marketing to drive advocacy and impact * Why shared KPIs are critical for customer-led growth * How to lead with a human-first mindset while delivering business outcomes Episode Outline: (00:00) The power of curiosity in customer relationships (01:05) Introducing Emily Cid and her customer-first career path (03:02) What drew Emily to Champion and the customer-led growth mission (04:35) The common thread across her AE, CS, and marketing roles (06:31) Building empathy across siloed teams (08:18) The missing connection between CS and customer marketing (09:45) What real customer centricity looks like in practice (11:20) Advocacy as a CS metric and force multiplier (13:16) Proving impact through measurable advocacy outcomes (17:06) How multiple champions in an account impact retention (18:16) Making customers successful in the new AI era (20:27) Human-first leadership and career development (23:29) Hot takes on what customer marketers get wrong (24:42) The future of customer marketing as a strategic function (26:20) Final advice for aspiring customer-centric leaders