A few CustomerXCons ago, there was a talk featuring a CMO. This CMO did a great job of describing her evolution to the C-Suite. The big takeaway was that executives exist in a different world when it comes to communication style, attention magnets and organizational demands. At some point, she asked the audience how many had aspirations of becoming a CMO. More than half raised their hands!
This post is all about getting in sync with how your executives think and work, whether that’s to further your career or to get what you need to run an effective, and appropriately valued CMA program. It’s about thinking differently, not just doing more.
The transition from contributor or line manager to strategic leader is marked by a shift in mindset, behavior, and visibility. And in customer marketing, the leap is especially nuanced. It’s not just about producing impressive numbers of things (peer reviews, case studies, new advocates, etc.)—it’s about becoming an widely acknowledged driver of business outcomes.
In this post, we’ll explore the five core mindset shifts needed to move from tactical execution to strategic leadership—and how you can apply those shifts to elevate your program and transform how executives perceive it, and you.
1. From Tasks to Outcomes
Managers measure success by activities completed. Executives measure success by business results.
That means shifting your focus from how much you’re doing to how well it moves the business forward.
2. From Team Goals to Company Goals
An executive doesn’t just ask, “Is my team performing?” They ask, “Are we helping the company hit its top priorities—revenue, retention, market position?”
3. From Function-Specific to Cross-Functional
Executives break silos. They don’t think in terms of "my lane"—they think in terms of impact across GTM, product, customer success, finance, and operations.
4. From Input to Influence
Managers support and contribute. Executives shape direction. They anticipate needs, guide decisions, and influence strategy—not just execute it.
5. From Reporting Activity to Telling a Business Story
Executives don’t want raw metrics. They want context. Insight. Implication. Leaders know how to synthesize data into a narrative that answers: “Why does this matter?”
So how does this apply to CMA program managers? If you want to move from being seen as a dependable executor to a strategic colleague, here’s how to apply those five shifts directly to your program and your role.
Shift 1: From Activities to Business Outcomes
Don’t just report how many advocate requests were fulfilled or content items published. Instead, connect those actions to pipeline influence, win rates, customer health, or deal velocity.
How to show it:
Shift 2: From Program Goals to Company Goals
Frame everything your program does in the context of growth, retention, and expansion. Show how customer voice is not just supporting sales—but unlocking trust, reducing friction in the buying process, and reinforcing value at renewal.
How to show it:
Shift 3: From a CMA Program to a GTM Growth Asset
Position your program as a scalable, cross-functional capability that touches marketing, sales, CS, and product. Show how it helps not just individual teams, but the whole go-to-market engine.
How to show it:
Shift 4: From Program Contributor to Strategic Advisor
Start asking—and answering—bigger questions:
When you think like this, you’re not just running a program—you’re informing GTM strategy.
Shift 5: From Metrics to Executive Narrative
Replace the laundry list of activities with clear, concise storytelling that connects your efforts to executive priorities. Avoid disconnected, arbitrary vanity metrics. Focus on strategic impact.
How to show it:
All of this probably sounds like the right thing to do. And it is.
But chances are you’re barely keeping up with the activity side of the job—sourcing speakers, sales reference requests, campaign coordination, data management, and one-off “can-you-help-with-this” Slack messages.
Shifting from execution to executive-level thinking can feel unrealistic. But it doesn’t have to be a monumental leap. Start by taking smaller, intentional steps—and keep at it.
Begin with the executive who holds the most influence over your program.
What do they care about right now—pipeline growth, renewal rates, analyst perception, team efficiency? Learn what makes them tick. Then, start feeding them one insight at a time that speaks to their priorities.
Keep going, month by month. Expand the narrative. Grow your relevance.
With persistence and discipline—traits every exec needs—you’ll build credibility as a useful advisor, not just a program manager.
Eventually, you’ll earn the right to make the case: “I can do even more of this if I had more time.”
That’s how you get budget. That’s how you get backing. That’s how you change your role—from support function to strategic leadership.
It’s not common to find CMOs who came up through customer advocacy or customer marketing. But frankly, it should be.
You already have what most execs spend years trying to gain: a deep, nuanced understanding of your customers—what they care about, how they think, what makes them trust.
That’s not just valuable.
It’s a requirement of C-Level leadership.
As this infographic illustrates, a mature advocacy program is responsible for continuously identifying advocates, maintaining accurate advocacy data, protecting customer relationships, and aligning with top company goals to accelerate growth.
The infographic contains six key components. Here's a description of each for you to translate into your own talking points.
Every advocate starts as a customer.
The journey begins when account teams, customer success managers, support teams, and services organizations create positive experiences that build trust and confidence.
As customers achieve success, some become enthusiastic supporters of the company, its products, and its people. These customers are identified as potential advocates and introduced to the advocacy team.
The advocacy team interviews these individuals, learns about their experiences, captures important details about their interests and expertise, and creates a searchable advocate profile.
The result is a discoverable advocate: someone who can be found, matched, and engaged when the business needs credible customer voices.
Without this process, valuable customer relationships remain hidden inside co-workers’ heads or team spreadsheets, unavailable to the broader organization.
Great advocates are rarely discovered by the advocacy team alone. It’s really just too much to ask of any one part of the organization. Every customer touchpoint plays a part in cultivating and retaining advocates.
Customer success managers see customer enthusiasm firsthand. Account teams hear success stories during business reviews. Support teams witness customer loyalty. Product teams interact with passionate users who influence future direction.
A successful advocacy program creates a systematic way for all customer-facing teams to identify and nominate potential advocates, as well as a means for customers to self-identify..
Think of it as building a talent pipeline.
The broader the participation across the organization, the stronger and more diverse the advocate community becomes.
This collective effort ensures the advocacy database reflects the full spectrum of customer success stories across industries, products, geographies, and use cases.
The advocacy team serves as the steward of the organization's advocacy data.
Their responsibilities fall into three primary areas.
First, they recruit continuously. Advocates change jobs, priorities shift, and customer enthusiasm naturally evolves over time. Maintaining a healthy advocacy community requires constant replenishment.
Second, they keep information current. Customer stories, product deployments, business outcomes, and willingness to participate all change. Outdated advocacy data quickly becomes unreliable.
Third, they measure and report value. Advocacy programs must demonstrate their contribution to business outcomes such as customer acquisition, retention, and expansion.
Beyond maintaining records, the advocacy team actively shapes the composition of the database to align with company growth objectives. This is essential if the program is to be seen by executives as a strategic lever vs. a low-level function an intern can run.
If the company’s strategic direction includes expanding into healthcare, launching a new product, selling through a new channel, entering Asia, or targeting a specific buyer persona, the advocacy team ensures the advocate population evolves accordingly.
In many ways, they function as portfolio managers for one of the company's most valuable assets: customer credibility.
Most organizations initially think of advocacy as a sales resource.
Sales certainly benefits from customer references, but advocacy creates value far beyond the sales organization.
The common thread is credibility.
Advocates provide something no marketing budget can purchase directly: authentic proof from real customers.
Most mature advocacy programs include additional components that extend value for both advocates and the business.
These activities are connected mechanisms that strengthen relationships, increase engagement, and create additional opportunities for customers to contribute.
Together, they help transform advocacy from a transactional activity into an ongoing customer experience.
The ultimate purpose of customer advocacy is not activity.
It is business impact.
In Summary
Advocates are valuable assets. The advocacy team's job is to make sure those assets are available when needed, protected from burnout, and aligned with the organization's most important priorities.
When done well, customer advocacy transforms customer success into measurable business value. It is an enterprise capability built on trusted relationships, reliable data, and authentic customer voices.
.svg){kind=icon}
