# Customer Marketing Alliance > We're the biggest advocate of customer marketing around. Fact. And we're on a mission to grow, support, and connect customer marketers in every corner of the globe. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages - [About us](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/about.md) - Whether you’re a novice or a master, we’re your go-to resource for everything customer marketing related. We relish in the chance to make you the no.1 customer marketer you can be, and see that achievement acknowledged. - [Thanks for joining Customer Marketing Alliance 🎊](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/activate.md) - Thanks for joining Customer Marketing Alliance 🎊 You'll receive an email shortly with an activation link. Please click on the link to activate your account. If you need anything in the meantime, click the chat-box in the bottom-right corner and our friendly support team will be straight back 👋 - [Become a Customer Marketing Alliance ambassador](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/become-a-cma-ambassador.md) - We’re a brand new community of customer marketers with one mission...to elevate the role of customer marketing. To do that, we need you. 👈 Shaping the next evolution of customer marketing In the grand scheme of things, customer marketing’s still a relatively new role. You know it exists, we know i… - [Contact us](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/contact-us.md) - Want to get in touch? We’re here to help. - [Create and contribute](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/create-and-contribute.md) - We’re a fully independent group focused not on specific job titles or industries, but on a single common goal: to continually push forward the development of customer marketing on a worldwide scale. Get your voice out in the world for 1,000s of people to discover. - [Customer Marketing Summit, April 2021](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-april-2021.md) - Catch up on every session from the Customer Marketing Summit and learn from the likes of Slack, Zendesk, Adobe, Dropbox & more. - [Customer Marketing Summit, April 2022 | OnDemand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-april-2022-ondemand.md) - Catch up with all the action from the Customer Marketing Summit. Master retention & amplify growth with the likes of Google Cloud, Salesforce, Meta, Adobe, & so many more! - [Customer Marketing Summit, Las Vegas 2022 | OnDemand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-las-vegas-2022-ondemand-attendees.md) - Catch up with all the action from the Customer Marketing Summit Las Vegas. Elevate your role & amplify growth with the likes of Google, PayPal, Adobe, Slack and so many more! - [Customer Marketing Summit, Las Vegas 2022 | OnDemand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-las-vegas-2022-ondemand.md) - Catch up with all the action from the Customer Marketing Summit Las Vegas. Elevate your role & amplify growth with the likes of Google, PayPal, Adobe, Slack and so many more! - [Customer Marketing Summit, September 2021](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-september-2021.md) - Catch up with every session from the Customer Marketing Summit featuring talks from the likes of Facebook, Toast, DocuSign, Sage & more. - [Welcome, fellow customer marketer 👋](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/freemium.md) - Sit back, soak up the blogs, start networking in the community, and let us know if you want to start raising your personal brand. - [Meet the Customer Marketing Alliance team](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/meet-the-team.md) - We are a small, friendly bunch if we do say so ourselves. 😉 Get to know a bit more about the people behind all our work here. 👇 - [Customer Marketing Alliance member and #proud](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/member-and-proud.md) - So, you’re a proud CMA founding member? Awesome. It’s time to showcase your marketing credentials and let everyone know. - [Get in the exclusive member zone.](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/members-only-community.md) - Connect with your customer marketing peers all over the world, learn from the best of the best, and help each other achieve awesome things. - [Member perks](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/members-perks.md) - As a Customer Marketing Alliance member, you unlock a variety of discounts on our collection of products, including in-person events. - [Partner with us 🤝](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/partner-with-us.md) - Got a product or service to astonish and astound the customer marketing community? We offer a selection of sponsorship options to best tailor the service to you and your product. - [Pro membership plan.](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/pro-membership-plan.md) - Advance your customer marketing career. - [State of Customer Marketing Survey 2022](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/state-of-customer-marketing-report-2022.md) - The first ever 100% independent customer marketing report is here and we need your input! 👊 Our State of Customer Marketing Report 2022 will offer you an invaluable look 'behind the curtain' at the way other customer marketers work. (All answers will be kept anonymous unless expressly allowed by t… - [Welcome to Pro membership 🎉](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/welcomemember.md) - You're so close to all that Customer Marketing Alliance has to offer. Before we take you to your dashboard, complete these 3 simple steps to get the most from your membership: 1. Tell us about yourself Complete our quick sign-up form in the pop-up for a membership experience that aligns with your g… - [What to expect: OnDemand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/what-to-expect-ondemand.md) - Customer Marketing & Advocacy: A Two Way Street Customer Marketing Summit, April 2022 About the speaker: Meaghan Sullivan started her career off in Sales operations and Inside sales at NetApp and Cloudera. Her years in sales taught her the importance of building relationships with her customers tha… ## Posts - [What to automate in customer marketing and what to leave to humans](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/balance-between-automation-and-human-touch.md) - Like all marketers, I'm being encouraged to embrace AI and automation in my work. I've created some internal tools that have really elevated the way my customer marketing programs work. - [How to turn your customers into a high-performing marketing channel](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-referrals-high-performing-marketing-channel.md) - Transform your happy customers into a scalable marketing engine by moving from organic hope to a manufactured, automated referral strategy. - [How brands build lasting customer loyalty through storytelling](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-brands-build-lasting-customer-loyalty.md) - How do you build real customer trust in a market full of options? This piece breaks down how storytelling, executive voices, and internal expertise work together to drive loyalty and long-term retention. - [The hardest part of AI transformation isn't the AI](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/barriers-to-ai-implementation.md) - The technology isn't where AI transformation fails. Here's what CMOs need to get right on the human side before the tools matter. - [Customer marketing's credibility problem (and how to fix it)](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketings-credibility-problem.md) - Customer marketing has a credibility problem inside most companies. People don’t realize customer marketing helps bridge the gap between what we say our platform can do and what customers are achieving with it. - [Stop chasing the perfect case study – build a portfolio instead](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/stop-chasing-perfect-case-study-build-a-portfolio.md) - Stop chasing the perfect case study. Learn how to build a diverse customer story portfolio that drives real commercial impact. - [Personal brand framework](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/personal-brand-template-framework.md) - A step-by-step framework for customer marketers to define their personal brand and build a plan to influence stakeholders. - [How to build a referral program that actually brings in leads](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/podcast/how-to-build-a-referral-program-kirsty-sharman.md) - Most businesses know referrals work. Most businesses aren't running a referral program. Kirsty Sharman, Founder of Referral Factory, has spent 15 years figuring out why – and what to do about it. - [What Referral Factory has learned about customer advocacy software](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-advocacy-software-lessons.md) - After helping hundreds of businesses build and manage on-brand customer advocacy programs, Referral Factory have learned that the challenge is not always getting customers to advocate. - [5 affordable ways to build long-term customer loyalty](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/build-long-term-customer-loyalty.md) - Start building bulletproof brand loyalty. - [Define it or be defined: How to make customer marketing stick](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-make-customer-marketing-stick.md) - Customer marketing keeps inheriting work it never signed up for. Here's how to design your team's focus before someone else defines it for you. - [Where AI belongs in marketing (and where it doesn't)](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/where-ai-belongs-and-where-it-doesnt.md) - On rebuilding a marketing team around AI without losing what matters. - [AI community advocate playbook](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/ai-community-advocate-playbook-template-framework.md) - A step-by-step framework for identifying potential brand advocates within your online community using AI. - [How to retain legacy customers while attracting new ones](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/re-branding-success-stories.md) - Brands, much like living organisms, evolve over time to adapt to their surroundings, grow, and transform to meet the ever-changing needs of the marketplace. - [Stepping out of your customer marketing comfort zone](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/unleash-bold-customer-marketing.md) - Bev Barnett shares her inspirational wisdom on going bold and ditching your comfort zone to drive customer marketing success - [Building a modern Customer Marketing function: Team structure, skills, and scalable processes | Customer Marketing Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-lab-workshops/building-a-modern-customer-marketing-function-team-structure-skills-and-scalable-processes-customer-marketing-labs.md) - [From customer feedback to boardroom influence: The strategic VoC playbook | Customer Marketing Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-lab-workshops/from-customer-feedback-to-boardroom-influence-the-strategic-voc-playbook-customer-marketing-labs.md) - [Customer advocacy in the age of skepticism: How to earn and activate trust | Customer Marketing Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-lab-workshops/customer-advocacy-in-the-age-of-skepticism-how-to-earn-and-activate-trust-customer-marketing-labs.md) - [AI for Customer Marketing: Hype, risk and real-world impact | Customer Marketing Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-lab-workshops/ai-for-customer-marketing-hype-risk-and-real-world-impact-customer-marketing-labs.md) - [Customer Marketing Lab Workshops](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-lab-workshops.md) - [November | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/november-gtm-labs.md) - [October | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/october-gtm-labs.md) - [December | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/december-gtm-labs.md) - [How I proved the ROI of customer advocacy and got a seat at the revenue table](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/roi-customer-advocacy.md) - We know advocacy is happening whether we're tracking it or not. That's what makes it hard to show impact. And when you can't show impact, you end up stuck in reactive mode: fielding testimonial requests, producing case studies, without anyone really understanding what it all adds up to. - [The future of brand storytelling: Passive screens to active worlds](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-future-of-brand-storytelling.md) - For decades, brand storytelling followed a predictable script: a brand stood on a metaphorical stage, megaphone in hand, and broadcast a polished narrative to a seated audience. - [Assistant vs. Delegate: How autonomous agents and AI loops are changing Product Marketing | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/assistant-vs-delegate-how-autonomous-agents-and-ai-loops-are-changing-product-marketing-gtm-labs.md) - [Taking GTM metrics beyond the dashboard | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/taking-gtm-metrics-beyond-the-dashboard-gtm-labs.md) - [Lifecycle metrics that drive retention & advocacy | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/lifecycle-metrics-that-drive-retention-advocacy-gtm-labs.md) - [Avoid vanity metrics: evaluating true GTM impact | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/avoid-vanity-metrics-evaluating-true-gtm-impact-gtm-labs.md) - [GTM on a budget: do more with less | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/gtm-on-a-budget-do-more-with-less-gtm-labs.md) - [Lead with impact: conversations that shape GTM success | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/lead-with-impact-conversations-that-shape-gtm-success-gtm-labs.md) - [Winning the narrative when markets move fast | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/winning-the-narrative-when-markets-move-fast-gtm-labs.md) - [Turning launches into repeatable revenue moments | GTM Labs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs/turning-launches-into-repeatable-revenue-moments-gtm-labs.md) - [Go-to-Market Labs Workshops](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/go-to-market-labs.md) - [Irrational advocacy: What are the drivers of brand loyalty?](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/irrational-advocacy-what-are-the-drivers-of-brand-loyalty.md) - Irrational advocacy, a term that might seem contradictory, refers to the unparalleled devotion customers exhibit towards a brand, often surpassing logical reasoning. - [Customer marketing KPI redesign template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-kpi-redesign-template-framework.md) - A strategic framework designed to help customer marketing and advocacy teams replace vanity metrics with business-aligned measurements. - [How AI collapsed the customer journey](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-ai-collapsed-the-customer-journey.md) - AI is collapsing the customer journey into a single moment. Learn what that means for CX and product teams for the age of intelligence. - [AI workflows for the overwhelmed marketer](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/ai-workflows-for-the-overwhelmed-marketer.md) - Four workflows to cut busywork and ship better campaigns - [How doing my own customer research changed everything](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/doing-my-own-customer-research.md) - Every marketer is told the same thing: “You need to know your customer.” It’s the foundation of everything we do: building ICP profiles, shaping personas, crafting positioning, and writing messaging fundamentals. - [Customer re-engagement strategy template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-re-engagement-strategy-template.md) - This template gives you a complete system for diagnosing disengagement, planning re-engagement plays, and executing across the full customer lifecycle. - [Why advocacy beats retention as a growth engine for 2026](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/why-advocacy-beats-retention-as-a-growth-engine.md) - Stop counting churn and start building an army of advocates. Discover how to turn users into your loudest marketers and make growth unstoppable. - [6 tactics to amplify your brand with customer stories](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/amplify-your-brand-with-customer-stories.md) - Turn customer experiences into powerful stories that enhance your brand. - [How to make community fun again, prove ROI... and quietly win at SEO](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/prove-roi-and-win-at-seo-with-community.md) - I’ve been going to a lot of community events lately, and I keep hearing the same thing from champions, almost word for word: “It’s hard to have fun anymore.” The moderation queue never ends. Leadership wants ROI numbers yesterday. The same questions pile up day after day. - [Why putting customers at the heart of your story changes everything](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/why-putting-customers-at-the-heart-of-your-story-changes-everything.md) - Why putting customers at the center of your story drives deeper connection, loyalty, and impact — plus lessons from Starbucks and Coca-Cola. - [The loyalty loop gets a co-pilot: How GPT agents may finally close the customer journey](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-gpt-agents-may-finally-close-the-customer-journey.md) - How GPT shopping agents are transforming every stage of the customer journey — from awareness to loyalty — and what it means for brands. - [How to build a high-impact onboarding program from scratch](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-build-high-impact-onboarding-program.md) - Stop losing customers to the post-purchase "pit of despair." Learn how to build a high-impact onboarding bridge that drives real product value. - [Why most customer research fails to change strategy](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/why-most-customer-research-fails-to-change-strategy.md) - Customer research often fails to shift strategy. Discover the 4 reasons why and how customer marketers can use decision-oriented lenses to make insights a true strategic input. - [Lifecycle-driven advocacy template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/lifecycle-driven-advocacy-template-framework.md) - A strategic framework that helps you generate customer advocacy by aligning your asks with the right moments in the customer journey. - [Customer Marketing Summit New York 2026](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-new-york-2026.md) - Catch up on all of the sessions from Customer Marketing Summit New York 2026, including sessions from Cisco, Workday, OpenText and more. - [How Grammarly uses lifecycle marketing to fuel sustainable growth](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/grammarly-uses-lifecycle-marketing-sustainable-growth.md) - Discover how Grammarly turns lifecycle marketing into an advocacy engine to drive sustainable growth and adoption through value-led strategies. - [Customer Marketing Certified: Core](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/customer-marketing-certified-core.md) - [Customer Referrals Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/customer-referrals-certified-masters.md) - [Customer Research Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/customer-research-certified-masters.md) - [Storytelling Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/storytelling-certified-masters.md) - [Customer Advocacy Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/customer-advocacy-certified-masters.md) - [Strategic Narrative Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/strategic-narrative-certified-masters.md) - [Customer Advisory Board Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/customer-advisory-board-certified-masters.md) - [Persona Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/persona-certified-masters.md) - [Consumer Psychology Certified: Masters](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/consumer-psychology-certified-masters.md) - [Customer Advocacy Strategic Frameworks: Micro course](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/learning/on-demand/customer-advocacy-strategic-frameworks-micro-course.md) - [TV commercials with 10/10 brand storytelling](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/top-five-commercials-that-have-memorable-brand-storytelling.md) - Brand storytelling is important to connect with your customers. Advertising campaigns are most successful when they’re memorable (for the right reasons). - [How to get stakeholder buy-in for your customer advisory board](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/guarantee-stakeholder-buy-in-for-your-customer-advisory-board-strategy.md) - Getting buy-ins can be a challenge since companies still prioritize acquiring new customers rather than nurturing existing - [How to incorporate memory into your customer lifecycle](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-incorporate-memory-into-your-customer-lifecycle.md) - Your segments are clean, your copy is thoughtful, and all of your campaigns go out on time. By most measures, your lifecycle program is running well. And yet your engagement data tells a more complicated story. Re-engagement sends that used to convert have gone quiet. - [Advocacy in action: The blueprint for reference program success](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/advocacy-in-action-the-blueprint-for-reference-program-success.md) - CMAnow is your chance to stream exclusive talks and presentations from our previous events, hosted by customer marketing experts and industry leaders. It's a unique opportunity to watch the most sought-after customer marketing content – ordinarily reserved for CMA Pro members. Each stream delves de… - [How to thrive as a solo customer marketer](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-thrive-as-a-solo-customer-marketer-in-a-scaling-company.md) - Being a solo customer marketer in a high-growth company can feel a bit like a fairly relentless rollercoaster. One minute you're celebrating a successful initiative, the next you're drowning in a ton of new requests and shifting priorities. - [The main barriers to creating effective content](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-main-barriers-to-creating-effective-content.md) - As expectations of marketing continue to rise, content is now asked to do it all: drive demand, support sales, build brand trust, educate buyers, and deliver measurable ROI. - [“The CMA community has helped me build confidence”](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/cma-has-helped-me-build-confidence-in-the-programs-ive-built-hannah-mckeens-community-and-ambassador-experience.md) - How does the Customer Marketing Alliance community nurture confidence? Hannah McKeen walks us through her experience as a community member. - [Advocacy program maturity model](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/advocacy-program-maturity-model-template-framework.md) - A structured assessment framework that helps you evaluate how developed and effective your customer advocacy program truly is. - [Top tactics for cross-selling in customer marketing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-best-implement-cross-sells-and-upsells-into-your-customer-marketing-strategy.md) - Cross-selling and upselling are becoming a more common KPI for customer marketing teams as customer marketers get more involved in how companies nurture an increase in growth and revenue. But where do you start? - [How Workiva scales customer advocacy to drive business outcomes](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-workiva-scales-customer-advocacy-to-drive-business-outcomes.md) - Discover how Workiva scales customer advocacy to drive revenue, from group reference calls to high-impact CABs. Learn to turn data into ROI. - [Why your customer referral program is failing (and how to fix it)](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-referral-program-challenges-and-fixes.md) - I've seen plenty of well-intentioned referral programs fall flat, and it's rarely because of just one factor. Usually, it's a combination of issues that slowly erode its momentum until it grinds to a halt. Let's talk about the most common problems you'll likely face. - [The savvy marketer’s AI companion guide](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-savvy-marketers-ai-companion-guide.md) - A practical guide for marketers navigating AI in 2026 – covering lifecycle strategy, real workflows, governance, and where teams are getting stuck. - [Customer journey template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-journey-template-framework.md) - A structured planning tool to help you map how a customer moves through each stage of their relationship with your business. - [The right way to implement customer listening via customer advisory boards](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-listening-via-customer-advisory-boards.md) - Bree Bunzel guides us through the importance of customer listening, and how to optimize your customer advisory boards for success. - [How to measure what really matters in customer marketing (going beyond the dashboards)](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/measure-what-matters-customer-marketing.md) - Are your KPIs setting you up to fail? Learn why you should ditch "revenue influence" for strategic metrics that actually matter. - [How to build a scalable customer champion program 7 lessons learned](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-champion-program.md) - Scrambling for customer references doesn’t scale. Here’s what I learned building a customer champion program – the lessons, guardrails, and trade-offs that made advocacy work without burnout. - [The challenges of leading marketing teams in 2026](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/challenges-of-leading-marketing-teams.md) - Marketing leaders in 2026 face burnout, misalignment, ROI pressure, and tech overload. Learn how CMOs can protect clarity, meaning, and team energy while driving impact. - [How customer marketing and product marketing collaborate to drive long-term growth](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-and-product-marketing-collaborate-to-drive-growth.md) - When PMM meets customer marketing, great things happen – like loyalty, advocacy, and sustainable revenue. - [How to make customer marketing a growth engine](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-make-customer-marketing-a-growth-engine.md) - Transform customer marketing from tactical to strategic. Drive retention, align with the C-suite, and master the full post-sale journey. - [User feedback tracker for AI content](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/user-feedback-tracker-for-ai-content-template-framework.md) - A specialized tool designed to help teams systematically collect, manage, and analyze user feedback related to AI-generated content. - [Customer Marketing Summit London 2025](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-london-2025-2.md) - Catch up on every session from Customer Marketing Summit London, including sessions from The Guardian, Crowdstrike, SAP and more. - [7 steps to a CMO-approved customer marketing charter](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/crack-the-executive-code-7-steps-to-a-cmo-approved-charter.md) - Tired of excuses and empty promises when you advocate for customers? Learn how I transformed customer marketing into a core growth strategy. - [Marketers are adopting AI. So why aren't organizations embracing it?](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/ai-adoption-paradox.md) - 89% of marketers use AI regularly, but organizational integration lags. Data chaos, short-term priorities, and legacy systems are holding teams back. James Shaw, Head of Content at The Alliance unpacks why. - [Customer Marketing Awards 2025: Your winners](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-award-winners-2025.md) - Nothing excites us more than celebrating exceptional customer marketing professionals. This passion fuels everything we do. We’re proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Customer Marketing Awards. - [CMO channel strategies for 2025 (and how they will shape 2026)](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/cmo-marketing-channel-strategies.md) - The CMO Alliance asked a very important question to its community of CMOs and marketing leaders: which channels will they prioritize in 2025? One response dominated the conversation: content marketing. - [5 key customer obsession strategies](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-obsession-strategies.md) - SAP's VP, Business AI Product Marketing, Sally Revell, shares five key strategies that will take your customer obsession to the next level. - [How Vimeo scales authentic customer stories with AI](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-vimeo-scales-authentic-customer-stories-with-ai.md) - Learn how to scale authentic customer stories with AI. Discover tactics to find, create, and share powerful customer narratives. - [A/B testing template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/a-b-testing-template-framework.md) - A structured framework designed to help compare two or more versions of a variable against each other to determine which version performs best. - [Elevating customer marketing's voice in leadership](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/c-suite-elevating-customer-marketings-voice-in-leadership.md) - Looking to make a bigger impact in your organization? VP of Customer Advocacy, Leslie Paterson explains how. - [Using AI to bridge gaps in customer marketing and sales collaboration](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/ai-bridge-gaps-customer-marketing-sales-collaboration.md) - Customer marketing and sales alignment has always been crucial, and AI can help make these teams' collaboration efforts even more effective. - [The art of saying “no” and reinforcing boundaries in customer marketing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-art-of-saying-no-and-reinforcing-boundaries.md) - Have you ever felt that sinking feeling of guilt or failure when you couldn’t deliver on a request, even if it was totally unreasonable? - [The secret sauce for working with sales](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-secret-sauce-for-working-with-sales.md) - In this article, discover the six essential components for standing up a successful, high-impact reference fulfillment program. - [From hype to habit: Revolutionizing customer marketing with AI & automation](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/revolutionizing-customer-marketing-with-ai-automation.md) - CMAnow is your chance to stream exclusive talks and presentations from our previous events, hosted by customer marketing experts and industry leaders. It's a unique opportunity to watch the most sought-after customer marketing content – ordinarily reserved for CMA Pro members. Each stream delves de… - [The power of customer events in building brand loyalty](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-power-of-customer-events-in-building-brand-loyalty.md) - One of the most impactful things I've learned is the immense value of connecting customers directly with product teams. By facilitating this connection through engaging customer events, we gain invaluable insights, forge stronger relationships, and fuel customer-led growth. - [Building safe, purpose-led communities in high-risk spaces](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/communities-in-high-risk-spaces.md) - When you're building a community in high-risk spaces, where privacy, trust, and security are non-negotiable, the stakes are understandably high. How do you create a space where people feel safe to collaborate, share, and grow, without exposing them to risk? - [How to build a strong personal brand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-build-a-strong-personal-brand.md) - In this article, you’ll discover the three critical components of brand alignment to finally get the recognition you deserve. - [Customer offboarding template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-offboarding-template-framework.md) - A structured framework designed to help end client relationships professionally and positively. - [4 comedy secrets that'll improve your messaging](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/4-comedy-secrets-thatll-improve-your-messaging.md) - What do comedy and messaging have in common? More than you think Both are about creating connections, making things memorable, and getting a reaction from your audience. - [The DNA of a customer marketing manager](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-dna-of-a-customer-marketer.md) - As customer marketers often fall under different teams or departments depending on an organization, it can be tricky to pin down their ‘typical’ activities. What we can be sure of are the valuable qualities that they possess and the key strategic responsibilities they drive forward. - [Customer Marketing Alliance Awards 2025 Nominate today](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-alliance-awards-cma-nominate-today.md) - It's time to shine a spotlight on the brilliant minds shaping our industry. Who are the trailblazers, the game-changers, the visionaries that deserve recognition? We want to hear from you! - [Why the first 90 days matter more than your NPS score](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/first-90-days-matter-more-than-nps.md) - Build your customer marketing function in 90 days. A step-by-step playbook covering strategy, execution, and measuring success. - [The wrike elite 100 - Building a customer awards program that inspires, engages, and elevates](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/building-a-customer-awards-program-that-inspires-engages-and-elevates.md) - CMAnow is your chance to stream exclusive talks and presentations from our previous events, hosted by customer marketing experts and industry leaders. It's a unique opportunity to watch the most sought-after customer marketing content – ordinarily reserved for CMA Pro members. Each stream delves de… - [4 steps to innovate your marketing operating model](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/innovate-your-marketing-operating-model.md) - Elevate marketing impact beyond campaigns. This guide reveals 4 principles for innovating your operating model to drive lasting growth. - [Why executive customer engagement is the future of B2B marketing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/executive-customer-engagement.md) - Discover five essential keys to building a successful executive customer engagement strategy to get the attention of busy C-level executives. - [Customer Marketing Summit San Francisco 2025 | OnDemand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-san-francisco-2025-ondemand-2.md) - Catch up with all the action from Customer Marketing Summit New York. Discover best practices from experts at Dropbox, Notion, Canva, Freshworks, and more. - [4 ways voice of customer data drives a smarter, more strategic content strategy](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/voice-of-customer-content-strategy.md) - When you tap into VoC data at scale, your content becomes more focused, timely, and impactful. Here's how. - [Ideal Customer Profile template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/ideal-customer-profile-template-framework.md) - A strategic framework used to define the characteristics of your most valuable and best-fit customers. - [6 common mistakes that alienate customers and how to do better](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/common-mistakes-that-alienate-customers.md) - The term "customer-centric" gets thrown around a lot, but something isn't clicking because most companies aren't implementing it – and, worse, they're alienating their customers. So, let’s dive into the six all-too-common mistakes that alienate customers – and see how you can do better. - [Ethical AI in customer marketing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/ethical-ai-in-customer-marketing.md) - AI is at the heart of customer engagement, and the balance between innovation and integrity will shape what the future looks like. - [Customer acquisition template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-acquisition-template-framework.md) - A strategic tool that helps businesses plan, track, and refine their efforts to attract, convert, and retain new customers. - [Building and scaling loyal client communities](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/building-and-scaling-loyal-client-communities.md) - When advocacy and CS work together, the impact is undeniable. In this article, discover how that alignment takes shape and what it looks like. - [Emerging technologies and community building](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/emerging-technologies-and-community-building.md) - The future of community is changing due to tech. In this article, discover what that future could look like and how to start preparing. - [Want more referrals? Build a program that your customers actually use](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/build-a-program-that-your-customers-actually-use.md) - Turn trust into growth with a referral program your customers actually use: strategic, scalable, and built to drive real results. - [Reviving relationships: Strategies for customer re-engagement](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-re-engagement-strategies.md) - Strategies and tools to reignite engagement with inactive customers and build long-term loyalty across the customer lifecycle. - [Why you need a crisis plan for your online community launch](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/why-you-need-a-crisis-plan-for-your-online-community-launch.md) - Why every online community launch needs a crisis plan to protect your brand, respond fast, and turn challenges into trust. - [10 examples of great referral programs to inspire you](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/great-referral-programs.md) - We live in a hyper-consumer-driven world where companies bombard us with endless ads and promotional content. Referral programs encourage customers to refer friends, family or colleagues often offering rewards like discounts or credits. - [Scaling customer stories: Inside Microsoft's marketing engine](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/inside-microsofts-marketing-engine.md) - Inside Microsoft’s global advocacy program, discover how they craft customer stories that inspire trust, drive action, and scale worldwide. - [Winning executive support to launch customer advocacy programs](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/winning-executive-support-to-launch-customer-advocacy-programs.md) - Successful customer advocacy starts with strong internal alignment. Years of leading programs at BMC, Genesys, and Oracle has taught me the importance of listening first, building with intention, and connecting advocacy efforts to what matters most to the business. If you’re building a new team or… - [Customer success story questions template](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-success-story-questions-template-framework.md) - A guide designed to help you create compelling customer success stories by asking the right questions. - [You built a community. Now what?](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/you-built-a-community-now-what.md) - In this article, discover 10 strategies to help ensure your community remains a place your customers want to come to, and stay in. - [Vital leadership skills you need when structuring your marketing teams](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/vital-leadership-skills-you-need-when-structuring-your-marketing-teams.md) - Discover the leadership skills and team structures that turn customer marketing into a strategic growth driver in B2B SaaS. - [Driving sustainable growth - Lifecycle marketing strategies that lead with value and amplify customer advocacy](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/driving-sustainable-growth-lifecycle-marketing-strategies-that-lead-with-value-and-amplify-customer-advocacy.md) - CMAnow is your chance to stream exclusive talks and presentations from our previous events, hosted by customer marketing experts and industry leaders. It's a unique opportunity to watch the most sought-after customer marketing content – ordinarily reserved for CMA Pro members. Each stream delves de… - [Case studies: How to connect to your customers using their own voice](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/case-studies-how-to-connect-customers-using-voice.md) - How to build lasting customer relationships and turn them into powerful brand advocates, through connection, consistency, and strategy. - [Shaping strategy with real customer input in the AdTech space](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/shaping-strategy-real-customer-input-adtech-space.md) - Discover how Taboola built a voice of customer culture to drive product strategy, reduce churn, and unlock growth through insight-led decisions. - [Win/loss interview questions](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/win-loss-interview-questions-template-framework.md) - A structured guide that helps you uncover why buyers chose your solution or why they didn’t. - [How to win over community skeptics](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-win-over-community-skeptics.md) - How NinjaOne turned skeptics into advocates by leaning into criticism, earning trust, and building real community in IT circles. - [Interacting with different cultures and regions both internally and externally](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/interacting-with-different-cultures-and-regions-both-internally-and-externally.md) - Cultural nuance isn’t a soft skill, it’s a strategic edge in global customer marketing. Here’s how to lead with empathy and impact. - [5 differences between customer marketing and community marketing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/differences-between-customer-marketing-and-community-marketing.md) - Understanding the differences between customer marketing and community marketing can often feel like a “pot-ay-to” vs “pot-ah-to” situation. They’re both aiming for a lot of the same things, but reaching them in very different ways. There’s a lot of overlap between the two strategies. For instance,… - [Is your advocacy program working? These metrics will tell you](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/advocacy-program-working-these-metrics-will-tell.md) - Learn how to measure customer advocacy impact with metrics that align to revenue, retention, and strategic business goals. - [5 reasons why your customer advisory boards are boring](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/boring-customer-advisory-boards.md) - Remember the feeling of sitting in a three-hour college lecture with a professor who would drone on, talking at you without any semblance of engaging the class? Chances are, your customers are experiencing that same feeling if you’re structuring your customer advisory boards (CABs) like one giant p… - [Customer journey mapping and the importance of customer experience](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-journey-mapping-and-the-importance-of-customer-experience.md) - How AlphaSense uses journey mapping and lifecycle marketing to turn customer experience into a scalable engine for growth. - [Scaling customer stories - Inside Microsoft's marketing engine](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/scaling-customer-stories.md) - CMAnow is your chance to stream exclusive talks and presentations from our previous events, hosted by customer marketing experts and industry leaders. It's a unique opportunity to watch the most sought-after customer marketing content – ordinarily reserved for CMA Pro members. Each stream delves de… - [How to prioritize and allocate resources for scalable customer marketing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-prioritize-and-allocate-resources-for-scalable-customer-marketing.md) - It’s easy for customer marketing to get overlooked in favor of acquisition – but retention and engagement are where the real financial impact happens. So, let's make customer marketing indispensable. To do this, we need to strategically prioritize, scale, and allocate resources. - [How to set up customer advisory boards for true business impact](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-set-up-customer-advisory-boards.md) - How Nutanix uses customer advisory boards to drive strategy, deepen loyalty, and turn feedback into real business impact. - [Getting the right case studies for your brand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/getting-the-right-case-studies-for-your-brand.md) - Case studies are the most effective tool for building trust. In this article, discover how storytelling and data can amplify your case studies. - [The 5 customer data signals that power growth-stage marketing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-data-growth-stage-customer-journey.md) - Data is the engine of growth: personalize, segment, and scale smarter with these five insights that drive customer success and retention. - [How human connection drives exceptional marketing results](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-human-connection-drives-exceptional-marketing-results.md) - As marketing becomes more saturated and customer attention harder to earn, personalization is no longer a “nice to have”: it’s the foundation for building trust, loyalty, and long-term value. At DailyPay, we’ve learned that effective personalization isn’t just about using someone’s name in an email… - [The AI behind Workday’s high-impact advocacy program](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-advocacy-program-ai.md) - AI is transforming how we identify, engage, and scale customer advocacy. Discover how Workday are using AI in their high-impact advocacy program. - [How to excel in the digital workplace as a customer marketer](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-to-excel-in-the-digital-workplace-customer-marketer.md) - Human connection drives customer marketing in a digital world. Here are strategies to build advocacy, inclusion, and authentic community. - [How to find the right customer passion topics to engage customer interests](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/engage-customer-interests.md) - As expectations rise and audiences become more diverse, customer marketers are under pressure to create programs that not only deliver value but also feel deeply personal and relevant. At Jamf, we’ve found that the key to lasting connection is focusing on people first. That means listening more tha… - [Dark social: Tracking and leveraging private sharing](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/dark-social-tracking.md) - The term “dark social” was coined in 2012 by American journalist Alexis Madrigal in an article in The Atlantic, titled “Dark Social: We Have the Whole History of the Web Wrong”. He used it to refer to content shared through private channels like instant messaging and email, making it extremely diff… - [Understand your customers better via business intelligence](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/understand-your-customers-better-via-business-intelligence.md) - Getting internal teams aligned around the customer journey is no small task. In this article, discover core strategies to turn data into action. - [Customer Marketing Summit New York 2025 | OnDemand](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/customer-marketing-summit-new-york-2025-ondemand-2.md) - Catch up with all the action from Customer Marketing Summit NYC. Discover best practices from experts at Microsoft, Slack, Condé Nast, Cisco and more. - [How lifecycle marketing transformed customer engagement and advocacy at Ivanti](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-lifecycle-marketing-transformed-customer-engagement-and-advocacy-at-ivanti.md) - In this article, I'll walk you through how adopting a lifecycle marketing model at Ivanti has transformed our approach to customer advocacy. - [The value connection: Why customer advocacy belongs in customer success](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-value-connection-why-customer-advocacy-belongs-in-customer-success.md) - CMAnow is your chance to stream exclusive talks and presentations from our previous events, hosted by customer marketing experts and industry leaders. It's a unique opportunity to watch the most sought-after customer marketing content – ordinarily reserved for CMA Pro members. Each stream delves de… - [How adopting a lifecycle marketing model is elevating customer engagement and advocacy outcomes at Ivanti](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/how-adopting-a-lifecycle-marketing-model-is-elevating-customer-engagement-and-advocacy-outcomes-at-ivanti.md) - CMAnow is your chance to stream exclusive talks and presentations from our previous events, hosted by customer marketing experts and industry leaders. It's a unique opportunity to watch the most sought-after customer marketing content – ordinarily reserved for CMA Pro members. Each stream delves de… - [Why a customer advocacy strategy creates genuine customer connections](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/turning-loyal-customers-into-raving-champions.md) - Can you have customer advocacy without customer marketing? If you support your customers, they're going to want to help you. - [Why GoCardless moved advocacy from marketing to customer success](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/advocacy-from-marketing-to-customer-success.md) - In this article, discover why customer advocacy belongs in customer success, and how to create a strategic approach to advocacy. - [The solution to sales and marketing misalignment](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/the-solution-to-sales-and-marketing-misalignment.md) - Misalignment between sales and marketing remains a problem. Failing to fix it is a huge missed opportunity for marketers. ## Optional - [RSS Feed](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/rss/) - [Sitemap](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/sitemap.xml) - [Full content of pages and posts](https://www.customermarketingalliance.com/llms-full.txt)