The Advocacy Channel: A Customer Marketing Podcast

What happens when your referral program participants are literally trained to find holes in systems? How do you protect your program without making it so complicated that nobody wants to use it?

To explore this, we welcome Mariana Doncel to The Advocacy Channel. Mariana leads B2C product marketing at Hack the Box, a cybersecurity training platform where users learn ethical hacking through hands-on challenges. When your customers spend their days breaking into systems for fun, you learn pretty quickly what actually works for fraud prevention.

In this episode, Mariana and host Will Fraser get into the reality of protecting your referral program from abuse. Spoiler: it's not about building an airtight system with rules for every scenario. Mariana shares the pragmatic approach Hack the Box has taken, focusing on damage control and smart incentive design rather than trying to prevent every possible exploit.

In this episode, Mariana walks us through:

Mariana also shares how this mindset extends beyond referral programs to everything her marketing team puts out at Hack the Box, where every campaign has to account for users who will look for alternative interpretations.

Connect with Mariana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianadoncel/ 

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Want to build a customer advisory board that actually drives business value? Struggling to figure out where to start or how to prove the ROI?

To help, we welcome Cate Vanasse to The Advocacy Channel. Cate leads customer marketing at TalkDesk, where her team's mission is "igniting raving fans, driving growth, and building customers for life." 

With extensive experience building and scaling customer advisory boards across multiple companies, Cate shares her practical framework for creating CABs that strengthen relationships, influence revenue, and create real brand advocates.

In this episode, Cate walks us through:

Cate also shares insights from TalkDesk's CX Innovators Awards program, including how industry recognition has helped customers get promoted and secure internal resources. 

Her closing advice? The best customer marketing programs don't start with a spreadsheet. They start with empathy.

Connect with Cate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catevanasse/ 

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Want your referral program to succeed? 

Start with the foundation first. Make sure your product infrastructure is solid and can handle growth before you launch.

In this episode, we're excited to welcome Ashley Stead, Director, Growth Product at Nesto Group, a leading Canadian tech company building the mortgage ecosystem of the future. With over 15 years of experience spanning product management, UX research, marketing, and operations, Ashley brings a unique full-stack perspective to customer marketing and advocacy initiatives.

In this episode, Ashley and our host Will Fraser dive into what it means to think about advocacy as infrastructure rather than one-off campaigns. Ashley shares her framework for creating product-led advocacy programs that integrate seamlessly into the customer journey. 

From understanding the "micro-yeses" approach to breaking down complex customer paths, to navigating build vs. buy decisions and fostering collaboration between marketing and development teams, this conversation is packed with practical insights.

In this episode, you'll discover:

How to map customer journeys and identify the right moments for advocacy messaging without competing with other business priorities. 

Listen to this episode to hear more about how infrastructure thinking can transform your advocacy programs and help you avoid the common mistakes marketers make with referral programs. 

Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-stead/

AI prompt from Ashley: The Advocacy Channel | Season 2 Episode 9 AI Prompt

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In this episode of The Advocacy Channel, we're excited to welcome Yulia Shilkina from Gen3 Marketing, a leading performance marketing agency in the affiliate marketing space.

In this episode, Yulia reveals how the lines between customers, influencers, and affiliates are blurring—and why that's creating unprecedented opportunities for authentic advocacy. You'll discover:

Yulia shares insights on creating a unified partner ecosystem where customer advocacy fuels creator content, influencer partnerships drive discovery, and affiliate programs capture conversions. Learn why the most successful brands treat these channels as interconnected parts of the modern buyer journey rather than isolated channels.

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Connect with Yulia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yulia-shilkina/ 

Learn more about Gen3 Marketing: https://gen3marketing.com/ 

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In this episode of The Advocacy Channel, we're excited to welcome Andrew Noonan, who oversees Aeroplan's e-store, partnerships, and gift card programs at Air Canada. With over 15 years of experience in loyalty and payments, Andrew brings unique insights into creating meaningful customer engagement beyond traditional points collection.

Join us as we dive deep into the evolving world of loyalty programs and uncover strategies that transform how brands think about customer relationships. Andrew shares his expertise on:

Andrew emphasizes the importance of understanding your shared customer's entire journey: "If you're going to partner with a loyalty program, you need to understand the fundamentals because your customer is a part of that program."

Connect with Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewnoonan/

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In this episode of The Advocacy Channel, we're excited to welcome Katlin Hess, Director of Customer Marketing at G2, who brings a unique perspective from both sides of the customer relationship.

Join us as Katlin Hess, Director of Customer Marketing at G2, shares her journey from being a G2 customer to leading their customer marketing efforts. Discover how G2 has transformed customer feedback into a strategic business driver, with 90% of their revenue team actively using customer stories to drive deals forward. Katlin reveals powerful strategies for:

Building a searchable AI library of customer proof points that spans case studies, call recordings, and reviews

Creating a unified customer communication strategy by auditing and aligning cross-functional touchpoints

Measuring the real revenue impact of customer advocacy programs beyond activity metrics

Katlin emphasizes that successful customer marketing is all about relationships, both with your customers and internally across teams. Learn how to make customer voice truly heard throughout your organization and turn customer feedback into your most powerful business asset.

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Send us an email at [email protected] 

Visit us at impact.com/blog/ 

Connect with Katlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katlinhess/

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Ever wondered when your company should launch an advocacy program or how to scale it globally? In today's episode, we're thrilled to welcome Brian Jambor, an expert in partnerships and customer advocacy who's held leadership roles at Infusionsoft, Sendoso, Uberall, and now Synthesia. Brian shares his wealth of experience, offering actionable insights into identifying the right time to launch advocacy initiatives, the critical milestones of product-market fit, and tailoring advocacy strategies for global markets.

Listen in as Brian reveals how to balance being hungry to learn and staying humble, the importance of clearly defining the problem your product solves, and the must-have technologies that will supercharge your advocacy programs. Plus, he dives into how AI and automation are transforming the landscape of customer advocacy, making it easier than ever to engage with your global audience effectively.

Whether you're launching a brand-new advocacy program or scaling internationally, this conversation is packed with practical advice to ensure your success.

Connect with Brian on LinkedIn: Brian Jambor

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In this episode of The Advocacy Channel, we're joined by David Yovanno, CEO of impact.com—the world’s leading partnership management platform, for an informative discussion on the transformation of marketing in the digital age. Drawing from his extensive experience since the late 90s, Dave shares valuable perspectives on how consumer trust and authentic relationships are reshaping the marketing landscape.

Join us as we explore the evolution from traditional advertising to modern partnership-driven growth. Dave provides fascinating insights on:

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Join us for an insightful conversation with Mal Chia, ecommerce growth expert and former Head of Marketing at Uber Australia. Now as the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Ecom Nation, Mal shares how DTC brands can leverage customer advocacy to drive sustainable growth through performance marketing solutions. Drawing from his experience helping numerous ecommerce brands with affiliate marketing, CRM, and loyalty programs, Mal provides valuable insights on the evolving landscape of customer advocacy in online retail.

Discover how successful ecommerce brands are forging deeper connections by building authentic customer communities. Mal shares practical tips on structuring reward programs for different customer segments, from casual buyers to brand advocates, and explains why some of Ryderwear's most successful ambassadors weren't traditional influencers at all.

Learn how modern ecommerce brands can balance performance marketing with community building to create sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive landscape.

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Listen to his podcast This Week in Ecommerce:

Connect with Mal on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/malchia 

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Send us an email at [email protected] 

Visit us at impact.com/blog/ 

Connect with Will on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/wifraser/ 

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Where should your customer reference program live in your organization? While most companies place it under Marketing or Customer Success, Sage Intacct took a different approach by putting it under Sales - with remarkable results.

In this episode, we're joined by Kara Manfredi and Simon Le-Fevre from Sage Intacct, who share their journey of transforming a struggling customer reference program into an award-winning revenue driver. They discuss how moving the program under Sales led to:

- Faster reference turnaround times 

- Stronger executive buy-in and budget support

- Better sales team adoption and engagement

- Direct connection to revenue impact

- Improved coordination with marketing initiatives

Kara and Simon share practical insights on making this transition, from gaining stakeholder support to measuring success. Whether you're looking to start a reference program or enhance an existing one, this episode offers a fresh perspective on organizational structure that could transform your approach to customer references.

Learn how this innovative move helped Sage Intacct win "Customer Marketing Team of the Year" at the Customer Marketing Alliance Awards. For anyone involved in customer reference programs, customer marketing, or sales enablement, this episode provides actionable insights on aligning customer advocacy more closely with revenue generation.

Connect with Kara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karamanfredi/ 

Connect with Simon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-le-fevre-614a2515/ 

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Get more customer marketing insights and strategies at impact.com/blog/  

Connect with host Will on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/wifraser/ 

Have a question? Suggestion? Email us at [email protected]