Listen to “251. Investing in Brand, Affinity, and Owned Media w/ Anthony Kennada” on Spreaker.

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon

Customers and marketers alike are tired of the tired, old game. The constant attempts at sliding from the promo tab to the primary inbox, the cat and mouse of open rates, and the wave of automated messages create a stale relationship between sender and receiver. How do we curate affinity instead of apathy?

If we think of the customer lifecycle, the brand mission is not always a bullet of that journey — that’s the first mistake many brands make. If we don’t educate customers on what problems we solve, why we solve them, and how we uniquely solve them, they will not see a need to engage.

The “voice of the customer” should drive many marketing decisions. However, your brand serves as a filter over every stage of the customer journey to keep those decisions in line with the overarching mission. When these elements align correctly, affinity rises, and your outreach becomes welcomed.

The key is to lead with value and end with value at every step of the journey. What does that look like in a media company, and where do Customer Success Managers come in?

We spoke with Anthony Kennada, Co-Founder and CEO of AudiencePlus. Anthony was also the founding CMO at Gainsight, served as CMO at Front and at Hopin, and is a master at weaving brand and customer experience together. He brings a well-versed understanding of changes in B2B sales and marketing over the last 15 years and what that means for brands seeking to build affinity.

Anthony helped transform Gainsight into a media company through content and community for Customer Success managers. He and his team were pivotal in putting the role of Customer Success Manager on the LinkedIn map via promo — the position grew from 100 people holding the title to one of the fastest-growing jobs on the platform.

Now, he and the AudiencePlus team are helping companies act more like media companies through the owned media movement. If you’re not sure what, exactly, that means … listen in!

Listen in to learn from Anthony:

What some of the main changes over the past 15 years in B2B sales and marketing are
How to break through the increasing noise by building emotive experiences
How and why more companies should behave like media companies
What the differences between audiences, communities, and customers are – and where intersections exist
How to navigate modern challenges like social media algorithms while staying aligned with business goals

Investing in Brand, Affinity, and Owned Media

Hear Episode 251 with Anthony, as well as any other episode of The Customer Experience Podcast, in your favorite podcast player:

In your favorite podcast player, make one extra click to leave a rating – or even type up a quick review. Thank you for helping!

We also embed the full conversation and make it searchable right here in these blog posts. The recording with Anthony Kennada is right here …

Listen to “251. Investing in Brand, Affinity, and Owned Media w/ Anthony Kennada” on Spreaker.

Video Highlights with Anthony Kennada:

Check out the top five video highlights from our discussion about investing in brand, affinity, and owned media …

1. CX as Feeling and Emotion

2. The Function and Value of Brand

3. The Fear of Investing in Brand and Content

4. The Media Model: Rented to Owned to Monetized

5. A Direct Route to Customer Empathy

Links Related to This Conversation:

Other Episodes You’ll Enjoy:

CX 61 with James Carbary of Sweet Fish Media “Instantly Creating Connection with Anyone You Want to Know“
CX 84 with Sangram Vajre of GTM Partners “10 Rules for Building a Category and Community“