In this episode of The Peerbound Podcast, host Sunny Manivannan welcomes back Kevin Lau, Vice President of Customer Engagement at Freshworks, to discuss the evolving landscape of customer marketing and its increasing importance within organizations. Kevin shares his professional updates, including his new role and personal milestones, and dives deep into significant shifts affecting customer marketing, especially post-pandemic. They explore the fluidity between various roles like customer success, support, and marketing and how AI is reshaping these functions. Kevin provides actionable advice on elevating the role of customer marketers, achieving organizational visibility, and the importance of fostering cross-functional relationships. The discussion also touches on promotion pathways within customer marketing and the need for effective communication of program impacts to leadership. Kevin concludes with a hopeful outlook, emphasizing the unique opportunities for customer marketers to shape their career paths in an AI-driven future.

• (01:10) Kevin’s Big Career & Life Shifts
• (01:54) How Customer Marketing Has Evolved
• (04:09) Org Structure & Success Metrics That Work
• (07:16) Climbing the Ladder in Customer Marketing
• (11:21) How to Know You're Ready for Promotion
• (16:45) The “Orchestrator” Role: Driving Strategy & Execution
• (24:39) Earning Influence Across the Organization
• (33:27) How to Advocate for Yourself Without Burnout
• (38:47) Why the AI Era Is a Win for Customer Marketing

Featuring:
Kevin Lau:
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinkennethlau

Sunny Manivannan:
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnymanivannan/
X — https://x.com/sunnymanivannan

Follow us:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/peerbound-inc

Tune in:
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peerbound-podcast/id1708825056
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