Customer Marketing

Great question! I have seen customer marketing both within PMM and outside of it. Depending on the organization, it could work either way as long as product and customer marketing work very closely together.  To ensure success, I would suggest that customer marketing be part of product marketing for many reasons. PMMs are expected to be experts on customers and are usually the ones that either lead or highly influence customer-related activities such as:  * Increasing product adoption * Content for customer events * Win-loss analysis * Customer stories/case studies * Customer communications, specifically about best practices and feature launches * Advisory boards * Etc. When customer marketing and PMM work together and there are no silos, then the customer experience improves. A win-win situation.

The best candidate for a customer marketing role is someone who has a strong understanding of the customer and is able to create campaigns and programs that meet their needs and drive engagement and loyalty. Customer marketing focuses on developing and executing programs that enhance the customer experience, increase customer satisfaction, and drive growth. On the other hand, a traditional product marketing role requires understanding both the customer and the product and developing and executing go-to-market strategies that drive demand for the product. This person should have a strong understanding of the competitive landscape and market trends and excellent communication and presentation skills. Both roles require different skills and expertise, but both are essential for driving growth and success for a company. The best candidate for a customer marketing or product marketing role will depend on the specific requirements of the role, as well as the strengths and experience of the candidate.

One common mistake that people make when establishing a customer marketing function is failing to be driven by customer insights. Organizations investing in customer marketing for the first time likely recognize a need for the function, and each internal team has its own perspective on the value their team will gain from the role. However, the strongest voice to help identify and prioritize where marketing can make the most significant impact is that of the customer. A second mistake that customer marketers must avoid, is failing to understand the product. While the experience and brand relationship is critical to customer retention, it's impossible to effectively support and communicate that experience to build the brand relationship without a true, deep understanding of the product. 

Customer Marketing teams should align their success metrics to the broader organizational goals and objectives. Some sample metrics of success include: * Upsell or Cross-Sell Revenue Growth * Overall organization retention * Product adoption and utilization * Customer Engagement Score modeling * # or % of the base that is an external advocate (participating in testimonials, reference calls, etc.) * Customer Lifetime Value * Customer Effort Score

When first establishing customer marketing at an organization it is key to prioritize the design of the role and establish expected outcomes and goals based on the needs of the business. For example, a new business with few customers and focused on net-new growth would benefit greatly from identifying key marquee customers to act as advocates and references to drive demand and accelerate the sales cycle. Alternatively, a customer marketer at a large company with a large customer base that is growing through product innovation should invest in ongoing customer education of new product features and releases, as well as upsell or cross-sell campaigns to drive deeper penetration within their customer base.

I first gained interest and experience in customer marketing through customer-focused and customer-exclusive events. Events that are designed specifically to bring customers together to form a sense of community and enable customers to become power users of your product bring you immediately close to understanding the voice of the customer and drawing insights that inspire future customer marketing initiatives. After spending time in person connecting with customers it was a natural path to begin to formalize an advocacy program, powered by technology, and developing marketing campaigns to drive loyalty, retention, and add-on product upsell or cross-sell - all empowered by the insights gathered when networking directly with the customer base.

When building a customer marketing team one of the most critical characteristics I consider is that the individual is truly customer-centric and committed to improving upon and delivering a strong customer experience. Customer marketing requires many skills and talents similar to other marketing roles, but must also always layer in the additional dynamic of considering how to best relate to the customer to continue to drive brand loyalty and advocacy, to impact retention and revenue growth. Customer marketers must have extremely strong interpersonal communication skills, and also the ability to view an organization holistically to effectively partner cross-functionally.