Explore every episode of the podcast The CustomerX Files with Alison Bukowski

On this episode of The Customer X-Files, Alison Bukowski sits down with Jeni Asaba to explore the evolving role of customer communities in an AI-driven world.
As AI reshapes how we access information, a critical question emerges: Are customer communities becoming obsolete—or more essential than ever?

This conversation challenges the outdated notion that community is just a “forum” or content hub. Instead, Alison and Jeni reframe community as a living ecosystem of human connection, trust, and shared experience—one that fuels customer advocacy, drives retention, and creates real business impact.
They unpack:

• Why most “communities” fail to evolve beyond content hubs
• How community acts as a pipeline for advocacy and growth
• The role of human connection as a differentiator in an AI-first world
• Why listening to customers (even the negative feedback) is a competitive advantage
• How to identify advocates through real behavioral signals—not vanity metrics

Ultimately, this episode makes a bold case: Community isn’t being replaced by AI—it’s becoming the trust layer that makes AI usable.

Featured Guest: Maria Sturgeon

In this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by Maria Sturgeon, the Head of Customer Reference Programs at Stripe for a deep dive into how quality relationships and data intersect to drive success in customer advocacy ad reference programs.

Maria is well known in the CMA industry for her collaborative approach to customer advocacy and sales acceleration. She and Alison chat about the ways to best establish a foundation of trust with stakeholders when new to a role or organization and just how critical the data within an organization is to getting a program off the ground. Maria shares insights on how to simultaneously drive qualitative and quantitative results for any program, new or existing. And, how to take those results to keep nurturing a reference program into a full-blown advocacy initiative.

The conversation centers on the vital role of data quality in launching and scaling effective customer initiatives. Maria shares concrete insights on balancing both qualitative (relationship insights, storytelling, stakeholder feedback) and quantitative (metrics, usage data, performance indicators) elements to inform decisions and demonstrate program value.

• Building trust quickly: Maria offers perspectives on how to establish credibility early in a new role by listening, learning organizational priorities, and aligning advocacy metrics with broader business goals.

• Data-informed advocacy: The conversation highlights how good data practices enable customer reference teams to go beyond gut feelings—using meaningful metrics to prove impact, refine strategies, and prioritize high-value advocates.

• Balancing qualitative + quantitative outcomes: Listeners learn how leaning into both data-driven insights and relationship intelligence creates deeper engagement, stronger advocacy pipelines, and more strategic storytelling.

• Nurturing advocacy into strategy: Maria discusses ways to evolve a customer reference initiative into a fully integrated advocacy program that fuels customer marketing, product storytelling, and revenue acceleration.

Listen in to discover how customer marketers can balance relationship building and data quality to scale advocacy programs and prove business value.

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by award-winning CX professional, Christina Garnett. In this powerful episode, Alison and Christina explore the intersection of storytelling and customer-led growth — two strategic practices that are reshaping how modern organizations engage audiences, deepen loyalty, and drive sustainable business success. While growth strategies and metrics often dominate go-to-market conversations, this episode focuses on the human and narrative side of growth: how the stories customers tell and how brands listen can be a force multiplier for retention, advocacy, and revenue.

At its core, customer-led growth is an approach that puts the customer experience and voice at the center of your strategy rather than relying solely on product features or sales motions. This means not just gathering feedback, but elevating customer perspectives throughout marketing, sales, product, and executive decisions ultimately building trust and competitive differentiation over time.

In this conversation, Alison and Christina why storytelling is one of the most effective levers of customer-led growth. Stories, especially those coming directly from real customers, do more than showcase success: they create emotional resonance, credibility, and context, helping prospects and existing customers alike understand why your solution matters and how it can help them accomplish their goals. Authentic narratives transform abstract benefits into relatable, human experiences, driving deeper engagement and stronger brand affinity.

One major theme of the episode is how storytelling and customer-led growth work together as strategic growth engines. When a company centers its go-to-market around customer experiences and voices, it gains a powerful feedback loop:

• Customer stories inform product direction, spotlighting which features or solutions deliver real value.
• These narratives fuel marketing and sales content, delivering proof points that resonate with similar buyers.
• They empower customer success and advocacy teams, giving them authentic material to cultivate deeper relationships and trusted endorsements.
  This alignment across functions helps organizations avoid siloed efforts and instead build a cohesive, narrative-driven growth motion.

Listeners will also hear practical insights about how to capture powerful customer stories and integrate them into your growth strategy. This includes identifying the right moments to listen (e.g., successful implementations, standout ROI, unique use cases), structuring stories so they highlight both challenges and outcomes, and sharing them in formats that resonate — whether in case studies, testimonials, video spotlights, social media features, or sales enablement tools.

Another focus of the discussion is how to move beyond surface-level anecdotes toward strategic storytelling frameworks that can scale. Rather than collecting stories haphazardly, the best teams approach storytelling with intentionality: defining narrative themes that align with buyer motivations, mapping stories to different stages of the customer journey, and empowering internal stakeholders to use these narratives in contextually relevant ways. This structured storytelling approach strengthens both customer-led momentum and internal alignment.

Whether you’re a customer marketing leader, advocacy professional, or cross-functional growth partner, this episode offers valuable perspectives on how to elevate your strategy by harnessing the voices that matter most — your customers’. You’ll learn how narrative becomes a catalyst for trust, differentiation, and growth, and how centering customer experiences can transform your approach from transactional to transformational.

Listen now and discover how great storytelling — rooted in real customer experience — can fuel customer-led growth and help your organization build deeper, more profitable, and more sustainable relationships.

Featured Guest: Christina Garnett

About this Episode

In this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison sits down with Christina Garnett, a community-building and brand strategy powerhouse, an expert in turning customer voices into business-driving gold. Christina and Alison discuss why the real key to brand success isn’t just better marketing—it’s putting the voice of your customer at the heart of everything you do. This isn’t just a branding session—it’s a playbook for making your customers your loudest and most trusted voice in the room.

Why B2B Marketing Matters

In a world crowded with marketing jargon and buzzwords, branding isn’t just about catchy slogans or pretty logos—it’s about building meaningful connections that turn customers into passionate advocates. This webinar cuts through the noise to explore:

• Why branding still matters in competitive markets
• How focusing on customer voices can transform your brand narrative
• Ways to turn customer passion into long-lasting loyalty and advocacy
• Practical, no-BS insights that go beyond branding theory to real-world application

This isn’t another surface-level branding session—it’s a strategic playbook for brands hungry for measurable impact and deeper customer relationships.

Key Takeaways from Podcast

Customers at the Core: Learn why placing the voice of your customer at the heart of your brand strategy delivers stronger engagement and loyalty.

Cut Through Buzzwords: Move beyond marketing clichés to build authentic narratives that resonate with real audiences.

Advocacy Through Experience: Discover how to convert satisfied customers into vocal advocates who amplify your brand message organically.

Actionable Branding Tactics: Practical insights and strategies you can apply immediately to improve your brand’s visibility and trust.

Who Should Listen

This webinar is ideal for:

• Brand Managers & Strategists
• Customer Experience Leaders
• Marketing Professionals
• Business Growth and Advocacy Teams
• Anyone who believes branding is more than just “BS”

Boost Your Brand Strategy Today

Ready to make your brand matter? Dive into this podcast to challenge conventional branding wisdom, elevate your customer engagement, and learn how to create advocates who champion your business.

About this Episode

Featured Guest: Kevin Lau, Global Vice President, Customer Marketing at Freshworks

In this candid episode of The CustomerX Files, Kevin and Alison move beyond the buzzwords to uncover the real gaps and misalignments that can hold back growth and impact. They cut through the noise to share practical strategies, career lessons, and executive-level insights that inspire meaningful change.

This podcast is designed for customer marketing professionals, advocacy managers, and business leaders who want to cut through the hype and build programs that truly drive results.

Customer Advocacy Strategies

This podcast dives deep into actionable tactics for creating effective customer marketing (CMA) programs, improving customer advocacy, and aligning customer engagement strategies with broader business goals. You’ll discover how to:

• Build a strategic customer advocacy program that boosts adoption, loyalty, and retention
• Engage internal stakeholders and gain executive buy-in for CMA initiatives
• Transform customer insights into measurable business impact
• Avoid common pitfalls and “buzzword” strategies that don’t deliver

Who Should Listen

Whether you’re launching a new customer marketing program or looking to optimize existing advocacy efforts, this webinar delivers practical guidance, tips, and frameworks you can implement immediately.

Listen now and learn how to maximize customer advocacy, drive program ROI, and elevate your CMA strategy.

Featuring special guest:
Dave Hansen, Global Customer Advocacy Program Manager, Siemens

Uniting Advocacy & Community for Maximum Impact

In this episode of The CustomerX Files, we tackle a challenge that’s becoming more common — yet remains surprisingly under-addressed — in customer marketing: the divide between customer advocacy and customer community. These two functions often operate in separate silos, but they’re more powerful together. When aligned, they can amplify engagement, deepen relationships, and prove measurable business value. In our no-fluff conversation, host Alison is joined by Dave Hansen, Global Customer Advocacy Program Manager at Siemens, to unpack how to end this turf war — and why doing so could dramatically accelerate your program’s influence.

Dave and Alison begin by exploring how organizations often treat advocacy and community as distinct, disconnected engines. On the one hand, advocacy programs are built to identify and activate your most enthusiastic customers — champions who can act as references, provide testimonials, or participate in case studies. On the other hand, community teams focus on online engagement, discussion forums, peer learning, and product feedback. While both are critical, they frequently lack communication, shared goals, or intentional overlap.

This separation creates friction and inefficiency. Programs miss out on advocates who can strengthen the community, just as communities lack structured paths to escalate their most engaged participants into advocacy roles. The result? Missed opportunities, wasted resources, and a fractured experience for your customer base.

A Blueprint for Alignment and Growth

Dave offers a clear, practical framework for bridging the gap — one rooted in collaboration, shared ownership, and intentional strategy. Here are some of the key tactics discussed:

Rather than forcing advocacy and community to “get along,” approach them as complementary parts of a unified customer engagement engine. Develop shared goals around customer influence, retention, and satisfaction.

Use community signals as a way to surface potential advocates. Look for highly engaged community members, subject-matter contributors, or peer helpers. These individuals already show up and contribute — which often makes them ideal advocate candidates.

Design workflows and measurement frameworks that span both functions. Use advocacy metrics (like reference usage or content contribution) alongside community KPIs (such as active users, posts, and peer interactions). Then tie both sets of data back to business outcomes — whether sales, renewal, or customer satisfaction.

Advocacy and community teams should not just talk — they should plan together. Create cross-functional working groups, joint roadmaps, and recurring alignment rituals. Building shared ownership helps ensure both sides are working toward mutual value, not competing priorities.

This episode doesn’t just cover theory — it’s a call to action. Dave and Alison emphasize that if your customer marketing strategy is in “maintenance mode,” you’re missing a chance to shift into momentum. By terminating the turf war, you can transform stagnant or siloed programs into coordinated, high-impact movements that generate ROI, deepen customer loyalty, and amplify your most powerful voices.

The payoff is real: smarter connections, a pipeline of advocates emerging from your most engaged community members, and a unified measurement model that proves the value of both functions.

Who Should Listen

This conversation is tailored for anyone working at the intersection of community and customer advocacy — especially:

• Customer marketing / customer advocacy professionals
• Community managers or community leaders
• Executives who want a clearer, more strategic path to prove the impact of customer programs

If you believe your advocacy and community efforts could be more than parallel tracks — if you want them to drive shared impact — this is a must-listen episode.

Featured Guests

Dr. Debbie Qaqish, Principal & Chief Strategy Officer, The Pedowitz Group

A trailblazer in revenue marketing and organizational transformation.

Ardath Albee, CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist, Marketing Interactions

A leading expert on complex B2B buying behaviors and high-impact content strategy.About This Episode

Let’s be real—B2B marketing is struggling. Teams aren’t aligned. Metrics don’t mean much. Buyer journeys feel disconnected from how people actually buy. And the tech stacks? Bigger than ever, with very little to show for it.

In this episode of The CustomerX Files, we’re digging into the uncomfortable truth: B2B marketing hasn’t kept pace with the modern buyer—or with the demands of today’s revenue teams. We’re breaking down what’s not working, why it’s happening, and what needs to change if marketing is ever going to reclaim its seat at the revenue table.

This isn’t another feel-good marketing conversation.
It’s a reality check.

We’ll talk about:

• Why attribution is broken—and what to do instead
• How to rethink buyer journeys for a nonlinear world
• Where GTM alignment falls apart
• The real cost of chasing vanity metrics
• Why tech stack overload is hurting more than helping
• What high-performing B2B orgs do differently to actually drive revenue

You’ll hear unfiltered insights, practical strategies, and a straight-up challenge to rethink how B2B marketing works.

Who Should Listen

If you’re tired of the fluff and ready for the truth about what’s holding B2B marketing back, this podcast episode is for you.

featuring:

Keri Linscott, Director of Customer Marketing and Global Programs at Magnet ForensicsBridging the Gap Between Customer Advocacy and Demand Generation

In this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison Bukowski sits down with Keri Linscott, Director of Customer Marketing and Global Programs at Magnet Forensics, to explore how customer advocacy can become one of the most powerful drivers of growth—when it’s fully integrated into demand generation.

With more than 15 years of experience in tech and marketing, Keri shares how her team embeds authentic customer stories across the entire funnel to build credibility, accelerate deals, and fuel long-term loyalty. From advisory councils and flagship events to targeted campaigns and reference programs, she explains why advocacy isn’t a one-off initiative—it’s a strategic engine that influences pipeline, shortens sales cycles, and strengthens customer relationships. 

Why Listen

Listeners will gain practical insights into breaking down organizational silos, aligning teams around shared revenue goals, and creating a culture where customer voices shape marketing from the very beginning. Keri also discusses the importance of proactive collaboration, thoughtful engagement, and measuring success through business impact—not just activity metrics.

If you’re looking to transform customer marketing from a support function into a scalable growth lever, this conversation delivers actionable guidance and a fresh perspective on what it takes to make advocacy truly work.

About this Epsiode

Featured Guest: Kelsey Dobbs, Senior Customer Advocacy Specialist, Illumio

Launching a customer advocacy program is no small feat—especially when you’re navigating competing priorities, internal skepticism, and the ever-present need to prove value early. In this episode of The CustomerX Files, host Alison sits down with Kelsey Dobbs, Senior Customer Advocacy Specialist at Illumio, to unpack what it really takes to build a strong, scalable, and high-impact advocacy program from the ground up.

Kelsey brings a unique perspective shaped by hands-on experience building an advocacy function in a rapidly growing cybersecurity company. Throughout her journey, she’s learned that success doesn’t come from simply introducing a new platform or launching a shiny initiative. It comes from guiding people through change—aligning with stakeholders, activating early champions, and creating structures that enable advocacy to flourish long term.

Change Management Strategies

This episode pulls back the curtain on the operational and cultural strategies that make those outcomes possible. Alison and Kelsey explore how to establish trust across the organization, set aligned expectations, and ensure advocacy becomes a critical part of the customer lifecycle—not just a marketing afterthought.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into how to:

• Navigate internal change management and secure buy-in across teams
  Advocacy requires collaboration—sales, CS, product, and marketing must all see the value. Kelsey shares how she builds consensus by meeting stakeholders where they are and demonstrating impact in ways that resonate with each audience.
• Build early adoption through communication and quick wins
  Momentum matters. You’ll learn how to design low-lift, high-visibility advocacy activities that show immediate value and get participants excited to stay involved.
• Operationalize advocacy success through repeatable frameworks
  Sustainable programs don’t rely on heroics. Kelsey outlines how to define clear workflows, enable internal teams, and set measurable goals so the program continues to scale.
• Create authentic engagement with customers
  The strongest advocates are not transactional—they are proud partners. Discover how Illumio cultivates meaningful participation that celebrates customer success stories and strengthens long-term relationships.

Who Should Listen

No matter where you are on your advocacy maturity journey—whether you’re launching your first program or optimizing what already exists—this conversation delivers practical advice and relatable inspiration. Kelsey and Alison share both wins and challenges, giving listeners a realistic roadmap for what success looks like and how to get there faster.

If you’re ready to move beyond theory and start driving visible, lasting advocacy impact within your organization, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to learn how you can spark internal alignment, empower customer champions, and build a program that continues to grow, influence, and deliver measurable business value.

Featuring:

Lisa Kaspari, Senior Customer Advocacy Analyst at Docebo

Beyond Vanity Metrics: Turning Customer Advocacy Data into Strategic Impact

‍In this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison Bukowski sits down with Lisa Kaspari to talk about the unglamorous truth: if you can’t measure advocacy, you can’t protect it — or scale it. Alison and Lisa make the case for ditching vanity metrics and focus on what actually matters: activity, engagement depth, and repeatable reporting from a source of truth — not someone’s desktop spreadsheet. The episode also hits on modern pitfalls (outdated templates, unapproved customer usage) and where measurement is going next: cohort analysis, predictive insights, and AI-enabled analytics once the foundation is solid.

Lisa challenges teams to rethink what they measure, moving beyond surface-level metrics toward insights that reveal true engagement and business impact. She also shares practical guidance on using data to craft compelling stories that resonate with executives and secure ongoing investment.

Whether you’re building an advocacy program from the ground up or refining a mature strategy, this conversation will help you align advocacy with the outcomes your organization cares about most.

What You'll Learn:

• How to distinguish vanity metrics from meaningful indicators
• The metrics that signal real customer engagement
• Ways to connect advocacy efforts to business results
• How data-driven storytelling strengthens executive buy-in
• Why relying solely on relationships can put programs at risk

Why You Should Listen:

If proving the value of customer advocacy feels like an uphill battle, this episode offers a roadmap for turning your data into influence and your program into a strategic driver of growth.

About this Episode

Featured Guest: Colette Chavalia, Principal Customer Marketing Manager, Databricks. Colette is a leader in customer marketing known for building programs that elevate customer voices and accelerate sales cycles.

Voice of the Customer

Your advocacy program is up and running. Now it’s time to tap into its most valuable source of credibility and influence: the real voice of your customers.

In this Episode

In this episode of The CustomerX Files, we unpack what “Voice of the Customer” truly means in modern B2B—and why today’s smartest customer marketers are activating it far beyond the classic case study. We explore how authentic customer stories fuel trust, shape buying decisions, and become one of the most powerful tools in your go-to-market strategy.

You’ll hear how to capture richer, more meaningful customer insights, how to reuse those stories across sales, marketing, and executive conversations, and how to highlight customer impact in ways that actually move the needle. Whether your focus is sales enablement, leadership alignment, or increasing the visibility of your advocacy program, this episode gives you a practical roadmap.

• Elevating the Voice of the Customer
New ways to gather insights—from interviews to user-generated storytelling to data-backed proof points—and how to turn them into compelling narratives that resonate.

• Where customer stories create real impact
How leading teams use customer proof across deal cycles, ABM programs, product launches, onboarding, and C-suite conversations.

• Turning stories into measurable business outcomes
We break down how customer voice drives pipeline influence, accelerates deals, supports retention, and earns internal buy-in.

• Frameworks you can put to work today
Content mapping, intake processes, customer spotlights, and repeatable workflows that help you scale your VoC engine.

Why it Matters

In a world full of noise, crowded categories, and skeptical buyers, authentic customer perspective is your strongest differentiator. Capturing it is step one—activating it strategically is what turns customer love into organizational impact.

This conversation shows you how to build a repeatable, measurable Voice of the Customer program that fuels better content, stronger alignment, and greater trust across your business.

About this Episode

Featured Speaker: Jennifer Ells

In B2B, “engagement” isn’t a buzzword—it’s the engine behind every growth outcome that matters. When you activate engagement internally, you empower teams to deliver consistent, scalable value. When you activate it externally, you generate trust, proof, and momentum where it counts most—your customers.

In this episode, Jennifer Ells breaks down what true engagement looks like today and why the most successful B2B organizations treat it as a company-wide discipline, not just a marketing tactic.

What You'll Learn

• How internal alignment fuels external customer wins
  See how cross-functional clarity and shared goals translate into better customer experiences, faster execution, and measurable business impact.
• Real examples of high-performing engagement programs
  Learn from programs that are already driving retention, revenue influence, and competitive differentiation in the market.
• How to build an engagement flywheel you won’t find in any playbook
  Discover the mindset and framework behind sustainable engagement—so your teams and customers stay connected, energized, and advocating.

Why it Matters

The best brands don’t just talk about engagement—they engineer it from the inside out. This episode gives you the play-by-play so you can do the same.

About this Episode

Featured Guest: Maria Sturgeon

This episode is part of the Advocacy Accelerator series. In this episode, Stripe’s Maria Sturgeon and Alison share how to build a solid foundation for advocacy — setting strategy, aligning stakeholders, and planning for long-term impact.

Launching or scaling a customer advocacy program takes more than enthusiasm and good intentions — it requires thoughtful planning, strategic alignment, and a clear vision for long-term impact. In this episode of the Advocacy Accelerator Series, Alison sits down with Maria Sturgeon from Stripe to unpack what it really takes to build a strong, sustainable foundation for customer advocacy.

This conversation is designed for customer marketers, advocacy leaders, and community builders who are either starting from scratch or looking to evolve an existing program into something more strategic, scalable, and impactful.

Planning is often underestimated in advocacy programs, yet it’s the difference between reactive, one-off engagement and a mature program that delivers value to both the business and its customers. In this episode, Maria shares real-world insights and practical guidance on how to approach advocacy planning with intention and clarity.

What this Episode Covers

Listeners will learn how to:

• Define a clear advocacy strategy
  Understand how advocacy fits into your broader customer marketing and go-to-market strategy, and why alignment at the outset is critical.
• Align internal stakeholders early
  Learn how to bring sales, marketing, customer success, and leadership into the conversation so advocacy isn’t siloed — but supported.
• Plan for long-term impact, not short-term wins
  Explore how to build a program that grows with your customers and your organization, rather than one that burns out advocates or internal teams.
• Set realistic expectations and goals
  Maria discusses how to balance ambition with feasibility, especially when resources, headcount, or buy-in may be limited.
• Create a foundation that scales
  From process to measurement, this episode highlights the building blocks that allow advocacy programs to mature over time.

Why Planning Matters in Customer Advocacy

Customer advocacy is often misunderstood as simply asking customers for references, reviews, or testimonials. In reality, the most effective advocacy programs are rooted in trust, mutual value, and intentional engagement. Without proper planning, programs risk becoming transactional, inconsistent, or difficult to scale.

Whether you’re in the early planning stages or reassessing an existing program, this conversation will help you think more strategically about how advocacy fits into your organization’s long-term success.

About this Episode

Featured Guest: Sunny Manivannan

In this episode of The CustomerX Files, host Alison Bukowski sits down with Sunny Manivannan, founder and CEO of Peerbound, for a bold, no-BS discussion on the future of customer marketing. From breaking down why the function has long struggled to gain recognition as a revenue driver to how AI is reshaping the game, Alison and Sunny tackle the conversations others often avoid: revenue alignment, organizational placement, and why owning outcomes—not just tasks—will define the next generation of customer marketers. Together, they dig into the hard truths customer marketers are facing today, from persistent questions about revenue impact to the realities of operating within leaner, more outcome-driven organizations.

Strategic Positioning

Sunny brings a refreshingly direct perspective on why customer marketing has historically struggled to be viewed as a true revenue driver. Rather than blaming a lack of effort or creativity, he challenges the function to rethink how it defines success. Throughout the discussion, Alison and Sunny explore the difference between executing tasks and owning outcomes—and why that distinction is critical for customer marketers who want a stronger voice at the leadership table. They also unpack where customer marketing should sit within the organization to maximize influence, alignment, and long-term impact.

Customer Marketing and AI

A major focus of the episode is the role AI is playing in reshaping customer marketing today. Sunny explains how AI can serve as a powerful “force multiplier,” helping teams do more with less while increasing relevance, personalization, and speed. Instead of viewing AI as a threat, he encourages customer marketers to embrace it as a strategic advantage—one that can free up time, sharpen insights, and enable teams to focus on higher-value work that directly supports revenue and growth.

Customer Marketing Strategies

Whether you’re navigating the pressure of smaller teams, questioning how to future-proof your role, or looking for ways to elevate customer marketing beyond “nice-to-have” activities, this episode delivers actionable insights you can apply immediately. It’s an honest, forward-looking conversation for customer marketers who are ready to step up, claim ownership of outcomes, and shape the future of the function.

Listeners will gain practical guidance on how to better align with sales, speak the language of leadership, and position customer marketing as a strategic nerve center within their organizations. Alison and Sunny share real-world examples and clear advice on building credibility, demonstrating impact, and influencing cross-functional teams—especially in environments where budgets are tighter and expectations are higher.

Featured Guest: Kristi Faltorusso, Chief Customer Officer at ClientSuccess.
In this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison Bukowski and Kristi Faltorusso cut past the hype and tackle the real barrier standing between AI strategy and AI success: adoption. You can buy the best tools on the market, but if your teams aren’t aligned, enabled, and ready to work differently, your AI investment becomes… shelfware. Kristi brings a blunt, real-world perspective on what leaders consistently miss when rolling out AI across customer-facing teams. Spoiler: the technology isn’t the problem. The humans are—and the organizations that get AI right are the ones that build change management into the foundation, not as an afterthought.
Key Topics

✔ The biggest myths about AI in CX

Why most teams assume AI will “just work”—and how that mindset derails adoption before it even starts.
✔ Why change management—not tech—is the true failure point

The uncomfortable truth every leader must face before implementing AI.
✔ How to prepare teams for AI-driven workflows

What “readiness” actually looks like, from skills to communication to process redesign.
✔ What customer marketing and CX leaders must do to drive adoption

Your role in removing friction, building alignment, and enabling confident day-to-day use.
✔ Practical steps to turn AI strategy into measurable impact

Actionable steps you can take this quarter to ensure your AI roadmap delivers more than a press release.
Who Should Listen

Whether you’re a customer marketing leader, advocacy professional, or cross-functional growth partner, this episode offers valuable perspectives on how to elevate your Customer Marketing & Advocacy strategy and effectiveness by breaking down the barrier between AI strategy and success: user adoption.
Listen now for a candid, inside look at what it really takes to make AI stick inside your organization—and how you can turn your investment into real, sustained impact.

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison sits down with Darren Smith, CTO at Point of Reference, for a candid, behind-the-scenes look at how AI is reshaping the world of Customer Advocacy and Customer Marketing. This conversation is packed with practical, real-world insights. Darren shares powerful ways AI can elevate your day-to-day work.

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison chats with Lauren Turner, CEO and Founder of CustomerCentrx, for a candid and insightful look at the current landscape—and future—of customer advocacy in Corporate America.
From the rising influence of AI to the growing demand for measurable impact, Lauren shares her unfiltered perspective on what it really takes to thrive in this space. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just getting started in customer marketing, this episode is packed with practical wisdom and bold predictions to help you future-proof your career.

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by Ian Hameroff, Founder of the Fulcrum Group. Ian reflects on his 20+ year career in product marketing and helps shine a light on the world of a product marketer, a partner to customer marketer often misunderstood or undervalued. Alison and Ian talk about misconceptions between these two marketing disciplines and how they can complement each other quite nicely, perhaps even be on the same team. This is a must-listen for customer marketing and advocacy professionals that want to take their relationships with internal stakeholders to the next level and level-up their programs.

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by Antu Buck, Director of Customer Marketing & Community at Gigamon. Antu shares several pearls of wisdom on the importance of creating a 30-60-90 day plan, whether you're new to building a program or just looking to refresh an existing one. Everything from the data required, key questions to ask, and tips and tricks for accelerating efforts that will set you up for long-term success...plus some bonus insights into the mind of a sales person (Antu used to be one!). Take a listen!

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by Point of Reference customer and Global Customer Advocacy Manager, Kristin Sanderson. The discussion centers around the unique, but essential combination of how relationships contribute to revenue - and how we measure the value of those relationships when considering the business bottom. From collaboration with stakeholders to holding those same stakeholders accountable, this is a discussion CMA practitioners don't want to miss.

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by the CEO of UserEvidence, Evan Huck, someone who has witnessed first-hand the evolution of the customer marketing and advocacy industry. Alison and Even discuss the evolution of customer marketing and advocacy, alongside the advancing sophistication of the technology and strategy behind this industry. What has changed, yet stayed the same? How can we leverage our craft alongside the right technology to advance our careers and build enterprise-wide solutions?

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by Daniel Palay, Head of Customer & Community Marketing at Grafana Labs. Daniel has shaped his varied professional experiences to craft exceptional customer advocacy strategies across several organizations. He understands what it means to deliver results to his organization while creating exceptional voice-of-the-customer content that highlights the reality behind the customer experience. Tune in to hear how you can have content as a cornerstone to your customer advocacy strategy and deliver impactful results!

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by CMA thought leader, Asha May. With over twenty years of experience, Asha has had great success as both a customer success and CMA professional; she understands what it means to look at the customer experience and break down relationship barriers to achieve that success. Tune in to hear how you can build a more successful program through CS collaboration!

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by award-winning CMA thought leader, Carlos Gonzalez. With over twenty years of experience, Carlos has fabulous insights into addressing key business challenges of building a customer advocacy program: gaining leadership support, user adoption, strategically structuring a program for sustainable success, and more. Tune in to unlock the secrets to building a sustainable, strategic, and strong customer advocacy program!

On this episode of The CustomerX Files, Alison is joined by Shannon Howard, the Director of Customer & Content Marketing at Intellum. This discussion is all about goals - everything from creation to execution - and a few golden nuggets in between about if they even matter, or how we get them to matter the most for not just our organization, but ourselves professionally. And not surprisingly, Alison & Shannon talk about identifying gaps in organizational goals and how the customer experience plays into that identification process.