Podcast Summary: Inside Customer.io’s B2B Marketing Strategy: Org, GTM, and Growth Channels with Jason Lyman

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Exit Five CMO Podcast
• Host: Dave Gerhardt
• Guest: Jason Lyman, CMO of Customer.io
• Release Date: July 10, 2025

Dave Gerhardt, the founder of Exit Five and former CMO, hosts this insightful episode featuring Jason Lyman, the Chief Marketing Officer of Customer.io. With over 200 employees and a dedicated marketing team of nearly 30, Customer.io has established itself as a formidable player in the B2B customer engagement platform space. This summary delves into the key discussions around organizational structure, goal setting, marketing strategies, and future challenges in B2B marketing.

1. Introduction

Dave Gerhardt opens the episode by introducing Jason Lyman, highlighting his extensive experience and the robust setup of Customer.io's marketing team.

“My guest on this episode is Jason Lyman. He's the CMO of Customer.io... we have almost 30 people on the marketing team.” (06:10)

2. Company Overview and Growth

Customer.io is a customer engagement platform designed to help marketing teams build campaigns and journeys that engage and convert across various channels like email, push notifications, in-app messages, and SMS. Jason emphasizes the company’s data-driven approach, leveraging first-party data to create contextual and adaptable campaigns.

“We help you leverage your first-party data to really drive campaigns that are contextual and adaptable based upon how customers are engaging with your brand.” (03:26)

Jason discusses the company's significant growth, transitioning from a bootstrapped startup to a mid-stage company with over 7,500 customers, thanks to recent investments from Spectrum Equity.

“We took some investment from Spectrum Equity about two years ago, which has really helped us accelerate our growth.” (05:01)

3. Organizational Structure and Marketing Teams

Customer.io employs a structured organizational model to support its dual go-to-market (GTM) motions: sales-led and self-serve. The marketing team is divided into three targeted focus teams and two centers of excellence.

Targeted Focus Teams:

• Product Marketing (PMM): Responsible for storytelling across the customer journey.
• Demand Generation: Split into revenue-led and self-serve funnels to prevent competing interests.
• Marketing Growth: Focuses on expanding market reach and scaling efforts.

Centers of Excellence:

• Brand Studio: Manages brand consistency and creative assets.
• Marketing Operations: Handles analytics, tracking, and process optimization.

“The structure is really centered around three what I call targeted focus teams and then two centers of excellence.” (09:49)

This structure ensures specialized focus while maintaining alignment with overall marketing goals.

4. Goal Setting: OKRs and KPIs

Jason elaborates on Customer.io’s approach to goal setting, utilizing a combination of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

KPIs:

• Revenue Targets: Central to assessing business health.
• Churn Rate & Logo Retention: Indicators of customer satisfaction and product-market fit.
• Active Message Sending Accounts: Measures engagement and product utilization.

“The KPI'S that stand out to me would be like ARR net expansion, mps, logo retention rate...” (18:20)

OKRs:

• Designed to stretch and push the team beyond standard performance.
• Set at the company level and cascaded down to ensure alignment across departments.
• Example: “OKRs are green if they achieve 85-90% of the target, encouraging aspirational goals.” (21:57)

Jason emphasizes that aligning OKRs with company-wide objectives fosters a unified direction, minimizing departmental silos and enhancing collaborative success.

5. Marketing Channels and Strategies

Jason shares insights into the effectiveness of various marketing channels, highlighting both successful strategies and those facing challenges.

Successful Channels:

• Events: Regained prominence post-COVID, fostering authentic relationships and brand trust.

  • Innovative Events: Examples include casual gatherings with live entertainment and interactive webinars that engage attendees beyond traditional formats.

    “When we see prospects that meet the team, when they hear from our customers... it builds way more conviction.” (28:12)

• Content Marketing: Continues to play a significant role, but with evolving strategies to adapt to new AI-driven search behaviors.

Challenging Channels:

• SEO: With the rise of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, traditional SEO is becoming less effective. Customer.io is shifting focus to optimize content for AI consumption rather than solely for human readers.

  “SEO will not play a big role in the future... optimize our positioning and our content for AI consumption.” (34:16)

Emerging Strategies:

• Personalization: Leveraging comprehensive customer data to create highly personalized and adaptable marketing efforts.
• Omnichannel Marketing: Meeting customers where they are by understanding their preferred engagement channels.

6. Event Marketing

Event marketing is a cornerstone of Customer.io’s strategy. Jason describes innovative approaches to events that go beyond traditional formats to create memorable and engaging experiences.

• Unique Event Formats: Examples include hosting events with live artists to create casual and enjoyable atmospheres without overt sales pitches.
• Virtual Engagements: Creative virtual events like painting webinars that combine entertainment with valuable content.

“We're trying to avoid just running what is traditionally been called an event. So we've experimented with formats that are a little bit different and unique.” (29:10)

Jason emphasizes the importance of follow-up post-events to convert engagements into pipeline and advocates for a portfolio approach where some marketing efforts yield long-term benefits even if they don’t provide immediate results.

7. Digital Marketing and SEO

While events thrive, traditional digital marketing channels like SEO are being reevaluated in light of AI advancements. Customer.io is adapting by:

• Optimizing for AI: Ensuring content is structured in a way that AI models can accurately interpret and present.
• Rethinking Demand Gen: Adjusting strategies to account for changes in how buyers discover and interact with content.

“How do I optimize our positioning and our content for AI consumption, not just human readers.” (34:16)

Jason advises marketing leaders to balance creative, out-of-the-box initiatives with data-driven decision-making to maintain effectiveness and avoid wasting resources.

8. Positioning and Alignment with Product and Sales

A critical theme in the conversation is the alignment between marketing, product, and sales teams. Jason highlights the role of marketing as a bridge, ensuring that product development is informed by market needs and that sales strategies are supported by compelling narratives.

• Market Feedback: Marketing provides valuable insights to product teams about customer preferences and competitive landscape.
• Sales Enablement: Equipping sales teams with the right tools and messaging to effectively communicate product value.

“Marketing is like this bridge that sits in between product and sales.” (37:59)

Jason stresses that clear and sustainable positioning is essential, especially as AI becomes more integrated into market dynamics. Consistent and differentiated messaging helps maintain brand relevance and drives long-term success.

9. Future Marketing Challenges and Data Access

When asked about one wish to solve any marketing challenge, Jason expresses a desire for complete access to comprehensive customer data. This would enable unparalleled personalization and adaptability in marketing efforts.

“I would have complete access to the data that gives a full overview of my customer and the data that helps define who they are and what they value.” (39:57)

He believes that deep customer insights are crucial for creating omnichannel marketing strategies that resonate on an individual level, especially as buyer behaviors become increasingly influenced by AI.

10. Conclusion

Dave concludes the episode by thanking Jason and encouraging listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn for further insights. He also promotes the Exit Five community, a private platform for B2B marketers to network and share knowledge.

“Go find Jason on LinkedIn, connect with him, send him a message, be like, man, I heard your interview on the X5 podcast, and I thought it was great.” (43:28)

Key Takeaways:

• Structured Marketing Teams: Dividing marketing into targeted focus areas and centers of excellence ensures specialized and aligned efforts.
• Balanced Goal Setting: Combining OKRs with KPIs aligns team efforts with overarching business objectives.
• Innovative Event Marketing: Creating unique and engaging event experiences fosters deeper customer relationships and brand trust.
• Adapting to AI in SEO: Adjusting content strategies to optimize for AI-driven search mechanisms is essential as traditional SEO declines in effectiveness.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Strong collaboration between marketing, product, and sales teams enhances overall business success.
• Data-Driven Personalization: Access to comprehensive customer data is pivotal for creating personalized and impactful marketing strategies.

Jason Lyman’s insights provide a comprehensive look into effective B2B marketing strategies, emphasizing the importance of structure, alignment, innovation, and data-driven decision-making in achieving sustained growth.