Thanks for being here, for listening, for collaborating, thanks for sharing episodes with others, for sharing stuff with me - when people DM me on LI with their fave episodes - for leaving a review, thank you for all of it. Here's the link to the article "35 Creative Customer Marketing Plays". Wishing you a warm + connected holiday season and positive, fresh beginnings for 2026.
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, message me what you're listening to, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
To wrap the year, my client Navattic invited nine of their marketing advisors (including me!) for an open panel on what’s working and what’s worn out from 2025, and where we're placing big bets for 2026. ~300 ppl registered.
A few highlights -
Worn out: Being a part of every over-saturated channel. AI hype. Talking about how SEO traffic is “collapsing.” Instead, focus on channels where you are the only one (like self-hosted events), thoughtfully using AI tools instead of from pressure, and recognizing that traffic is no longer the best way to measure trust.
What we're keeping for 2026:
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, message me what you're listening to, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Everyone's been telling me "you gotta talk to Kevin!" Kevin Lau is VP Global Customer Marketing at Freshworks. Freshworks provides AI-assisted IT and customer service software to 75k+ companies. 9,500+ employees, IPO’d back in 2021.
Here’s what we cover:
01:58 Why Customer Relationships are so important especially going into next year
05:40 The Customer Marketing Team at Freshworks
09:02 Redefining Customer Marketing at Freshworks (more than just advocacy)
12:56 Collaboration Between Customer and Product Marketing
16:48 Voice of Customer and ongoing Feedback Mechanisms
27:58 The Importance of Customer Marketing & why companies that focus on Net New are already behind
31:10 Most Creative Customer Marketing Plays
37:24 Building Customer Engagement Programs from scratch
39:42 Measuring the Impact of Customer Marketing
43:08 Using AI in Customer Marketing
50:46 Hopes, fears, future outlook on AI and Customer Marketing (it's not all bad)
Kevin on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kevinkennethlau
Freshworks: www.freshworks.com
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, message me what you're listening to, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Melanie Paddock is Sr. Manager, Customer Marketing & Advocacy at Gainsight. Gainsight is the world’s leading Customer Success platform. 1,100 ppl, $156M+ total funding, Series E.
Here’s what we cover:
02:48 The Importance of Customer Love
05:34 Building an Advocacy Program from Scratch
08:24 Gamification and Customer Engagement
11:16 Creating a Community for your Advocates
14:20 Leveraging Customer Proof for Sales
17:08 Top Challenges in Customer Marketing
19:57 Building deep Relationships with Customers is such an opportunity
22:41 Avoiding Transactional Relationships in Customer Marketing
23:31 How to build trust
29:08 Transforming Customer Marketing into your Strategic Advantage, not a "nice to have"
29:24 The Role of Customer Research in Marketing
34:30 Leveraging AI in Customer Marketing
43:59 Melanie asks me her burning question (HINT: the future of customer marketing + the impact of AI)
Melanie on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melaniepaddock
Gainsight: www.gainsight.com
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Shannon Howard is Senior Director of Customer & Content Marketing at Intellum. Intellum is AI transformation for enterprise learning. $25M in funding, 139 people.
Here’s what we cover:
05:35 Shannon shares some Creative Customer Marketing Strategies
08:41 Building the Foundation for Customer Marketing
11:09 The Role of Data in Customer Marketing
14:00 Surprise and Delight
16:49 Empowering Customers Through Recognition
19:57 Segmentation and Personalization in Marketing
22:33 B2B vs B2C Marketing Dynamics
26:28 Why Customer Marketing is often overlooked by CMOs
30:00 Customer Marketing Strategies to put in your back pocket
33:17 The Role of Customer Research & Shannon's take
37:12 The Impact of AI on Customer Insights
50:38 Shannon asks Anna her burning question
Shannon on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shannonlagassehoward
Intellum: www.intellum.com
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
If you're in the US, Happy Thanksgiving. When I look back at 2025, one thing is very clear: my clients taught me more than any book, course, or conference ever could. Here are the six lessons I learned from the leaders I worked with this year.
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Aditya Vempaty is VP of Marketing at MoEngage. MoEngage is a consumer engagement platform used by 1350+ consumer brands globally. $180M funding, 869 ppl.
Here’s what we cover:
02:46 Team Structure and Regional Dynamics - including why one PMM reports under the CEO
05:33 Steering the Ship & Gaining Buy-In for Strategic Initiatives
11:10 The Role of Customer Feedback in Marketing
13:48 Repositioning MoEngage in a Changing Market
16:32 Navigating AI in Customer Engagement
19:33 Positioning and Storytelling Across Regions
26:52 Cultural Nuances in Storytelling e.g. India versus US
28:07 The Importance of CEO Buy-In
30:43 Customers as your Heroes and why that's such an important mindset shift
43:47 The Nuances of AI in Marketing - Aditya's hot take
Aditya on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adityavempaty
MoEngage: www.moengage.com
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Jess Cook is Head of Marketing at Vector. Vector is the only way to build ad audiences by name. Contact-based ads platform so your ads reach the right people (those that want to buy).
Here’s what we cover:
02:39 Understanding Vector's (new!) Positioning
05:30 Customer-Centric Growth Strategies
08:16 Repositioning and Messaging Evolution
11:04 Incorporating Customer Feedback and why we brought our customer into our strategic company meeting
14:05 The Role of Research in Marketing
16:37 Building Ad Audiences by Name
19:18 Our Creative Process Behind the Brand
22:09 On Launching the Podcast with the CEO - we fly down to Florida and film in the studio
26:47 Focused growth channels
28:04 Creativity that stems from customer research and insights
30:42 Sabrina Carpenter's hairbrush microphone
34:06 My favorite customer interview question
38:30 Customer marketing plays at Vector
41:46 Our influencer marketing experiment results
46:47 Leveraging AI in Marketing
51:11 Innovative SEO Strategies we're using
Jess on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jesscook-contentmarketing
Vector: www.vector.co
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Anthony Pierri helps founders market hard-to-market products as Co-Founder and Partner at FletchPMM. We're both in the Chicago area, Anthony is just a (trail) bike ride away. I asked Anthony to join me for round 2, also listen to Ep. 199 “Why Your Homepage Is A Great Predictor of Your Startup's Future Success...Or Failure.”
Here’s what we cover:
“Let’s fix your confusing positioning” why you changed the copy on your homepage;
Positioning, messaging, how do you get the entire company marching to the same beat, especially larger companies;
After you help companies with their positioning and messaging, do they stick to it? Do they go back to their old ways? Why might this happen;
You don’t recommend outsourcing talking to customers BUT founders and marketers don't know how, so what's the solve here, let's talk this out;
Segmentation old way versus new way.
Anthony on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anthonypierri
FletchPMM: www.fletchpmm.com
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Mark Huber is VP of Marketing at UserEvidence. UserEvidence is a Customer Evidence Platform that lets you collect feedback, curate success stories, and create content that credibly proves the value of your product. Don’t beg for case studies. Get customer proof at scale.
Mark and I are both Navattic advisors.
Here’s what we cover:
Tell me about your team, what’s everyone doing;
Tell me about how your positioning and messaging has changed, and how it’s landing;
How’d you get the entire company marching to the same beat;
How do you incorporate customers as part of UserEvidence’s growth efforts;
How’re you using AI in your role, what scares you, what are you hopeful about;
Mark asks me his burning question.
Mark on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/markehuber
UserEvidence: userevidence.com
Subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
This is a geeking out episode. If you love customer research as much as I do and know how important it is for marketing and business growth, this is the episode you'll want to hear.
Hannah Shamji is a former Therapist and now Consumer Psychology Researcher. Hannah digs deep to uncover the emotional and psychological reasons your customers buy, stay, or leave in order to help inform retention, engagement, or positioning challenges.
Here’s what we cover:
Focus of your work these days;
How're you using AI as part of your work;
In research conversations, how to peel back the layers beyond logical answers, in order to go deeper on the emotional and political stuff;
The worst customer interview you’ve ever done;
How do you know something is an insight;
An example of turning insights into action;
Hannah asks me her burning question.
Hannah on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hannahshamji
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
Mark Schaefer is keynote speaker, university educator, futurist, and bestselling author of books like Marketing Rebellion, Audacious, and most recently How AI Changes Your Customers.
Mark also joined me a couple years ago, listen to Ep. 132: How AI Is Changing Marketing Forever & Why Creativity Matters More.
Here’s what we cover:
What’s changing with our customers, and how do we change alongside them;
What scares you most about AI;
What makes you hopeful;
Why curiosity matters now more than ever;
Where are you finding purpose and where can marketers find purpose at a time when we’re kinda lost;
Why awkwardness is a brand superpower;
The 3 questions we should be asking to guide our company's next chapter.
Mark on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/markwschaefer
Mark's website: businessesgrow.com
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
After 5+ years working with early and growth stage companies, I created the Customer Insights Roadmap, a 4-phase process that helps founders/CEOs and their teams understand their customers deeply, translate those insights into clear and compelling positioning and messaging, and then scale growth in a way that works for your specific target buyer. It’s the exact process I take my clients through and it all starts with the hard work: real conversations with your customers. We run this program and it's not uncommon to see faster sales cycles and even 4X closed won deals.
Read about the Customer Insights Roadmap: furmanovmarketing.com/blog/customer-insights-roadmap
Read more about the Content Strategy Canvas: furmanovmarketing.com/blog/content-strategy
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
One Insight newsletter: Subscribe
So ya know how I’m exploring the role that customers play in helping companies build to their next level of growth? My goal is to invite on more superstar customer marketers and this episode is no exception.
Why such an obsession with customer marketing?
Holly Higgins is Sr. Customer Marketing Manager at Nectar. Nectar is an employee recognition & rewards platform for companies investing in culture. $58.7M in funding. 245 people.
Here’s what we cover:
Holly's responsibilities and goals;
How do you incorporate customers as part of your growth efforts;
Gamifying customer engagement;
How you use AI in your role;
How AI makes you and me more human;
Holly asks me her burning question.
Holly on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/holly-higgins-28841a1b7
Nectar: nectarhr.com
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Newsletter: One Insight
I reached out to Denny Hollick on GrowthMentor as a mentee. Denny was a good match because I wanted to ask him some questions I’ve had for a while around customer marketing and customer advocacy.
Yes, most people agree that understanding customer needs can transform product development, but what’s often overlooked is how customer advocates can significantly influence your market success and GTM plan's impact.
Denny is Head of Product Marketing at Puzzle. Prior, he held marketing leadership roles at Minerva, Kajabi, Unbounce, and Wealthbar (acquired in 2018).
Here’s what we cover:
Why customer advocacy is crucial for startup growth;
How building relationships with customers can lead to advocacy;
Examples of customer advocacy programs;
Effective customer marketing requires collaboration between teams;
Startups should invest in customer advocacy programs early;
Creating a customer advisory board is probably the easiest step one;
Customers want to feel valued and recognized, how can you make that happen;
How successful advocacy programs turn customers into partners.
Denny on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dhollick
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
One Insight newsletter: Subscribe
Lately, I’ve been intrigued by “State of The” reports. Many of them are examples of what good content looks like. Tommy Walker created his State of (Dis)Content report so naturally I wanted to learn exactly how he did it.
Tommy is founder at The Content Studio. The Content Studio is a content marketing consultancy focused on creating, developing, and improving content programs for growth-stage B2B startups and enterprises.
Here’s what we cover:
What's your approach to creating really good content;
The problem with good enough content;
The problem with perfectionism;
Walk me through the steps you took to create The State Of (Dis)Content;
How does this report tie directly into the sales process.
Tommy on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tommyismyname
The Content Studio: www.thecontentstudio.com
The State Of (Dis)Content: www.thecontentstudio.com/the-state-of-discontent
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Shoshana Kordova joined me to talk about some of my favorite customer research and insights topics, she's founder of Peel Product Marketing and 3X founding product marketer with over a decade of journalism experience.
Here’s what we cover:
How does your journalism background help you with customer research;
There are many Product Marketers, how do you differentiate;
How do you know something is a true customer insight;
How do you turn insights into action;
What’s the biggest challenge for companies you’re working with right now.
Shoshana on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/shoshana-kordova
Peel Product Marketing: https://app.assetmule.ai/vVFtTvys
Check out her customer insights playbook: https://jetpack.productivepmm.com
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Gianna Scorsone is co-founder and COO at ChampionHQ. ChampionHQ is the customer-led growth platform. Turn your customers into your No. 1 growth engine. Seed funded.
Here’s what we cover:
Customer-led growth vs. customer marketing and why both are important;
How to turn customers into your No. 1 growth engine;
How do you incorporate customers as part of your own growth efforts;
Who’s doing customer marketing well;
How you're building community at ChampionHQ.
Gianna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/giannascorsone
ChampionHQ: www.championhq.com
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
Lately, I've been thinking about email newsletters.
I paused my own newsletter back in March because I was like "is this thing even working?" Turns out it is (builds trust, brings clients) so I'll be bringing it back, but I wanted to talk to an expert, learn about what's working, and ask my email questions.
Enter: Marc Thomas.
Marc has led Growth at various companies and currently helps $1M-$10M ARR SaaS companies with lifecycle marketing.
This was supposed to be just a casual conversation but there were so many AHA moments that I couldn't just keep this to myself.
Marc on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/iammarcthomas
Positive Human: www.positivehuman.co
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com
It's a bittersweet moment. My kids are officially back at school. And that means summer is over (is it though? I'm in denial).
Evan Quinn is Co-Founder and CEO at hiyo. Hiyo is a stress-relieving social tonic (new category) mindfully crafted with natural adaptogens, nootropics, and functional botanicals to be a better-than-alcohol alternative. Founded in 2021, they're DTC and also in 6,000+ retail locations.
Here’s what we cover:
What does it take to get into retail stores;
Tell me about your customer superfans;
When customers feel like family, the game changes;
An umbrella with an origin story is not just an umbrella
How you incorporate customers as part of your growth efforts in unique and creative ways;
What’s been challenging.
Evan on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/evanhquinn
hiyo: drinkhiyo.com
For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes you're into, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.
Music by my talented daughter.
Anna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov
Website: furmanovmarketing.com