Why Customer Marketing and Brand Metrics is the Secret Weapon of Marketing

February 10, 2025

Welcome to the second episode of GTM Rapidfire. In this series, we sit down with inspiring leaders from around the globe to uncover how they're driving success and leading their teams—while sharing valuable insights along the way. The concept is simple: we ask our guest just 5 focused questions, keeping the conversation sharp, impactful, and packed with actionable takeaways.Our second guest is Julien Sauvage is the Chief Marketing Officer at Cordial and has over 15 years of experience under his belt at places like Salesforce, Gong, Clari and more.

Julien Sauvage

Tune into GTM Rapidfire with Julien Sauvage, CMO at Cordial, as he shares insights on customer marketing, PMM, and career lessons from his journey.

Introduction

Our special guest today is Julien, who brings over 15 years of tech experience from leading marketing teams at Salesforce, Gong, and Clari, and now serves as Chief Marketing Officer at Cordial.

Starting his career as a data scientist in France, Julien transitioned to consulting before discovering his passion for marketing. His technical background and product mindset made product marketing a natural fit. In 2012, he moved to San Francisco, where he continues to build his impressive career.
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Turning Customers into Raving Fans with Limited Resources

When asked about turning customers into raving fans with a small team, Julien emphasized that customer marketing is critical in today's landscape:

"Product differentiation is becoming thinner and thinner every day with AI and other factors. SaaS is really going through a big shift, and ultimately, people don't want you to tell them, they want you to show them. Customer validation is everything - it's paramount."
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The Underrated Power of Customer Marketing

Julien believes customer marketing deserves more recognition in the industry:

"I think customer marketing as a function is probably one of the most well-kept secrets of marketing. It still feels like PMM maybe 10 years ago. I hope customer marketing continues to get the awareness and exposure it needs because it's really the secret weapon of everything you do."
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Practical Tips for Small Teams

Even with limited resources, Julien recommends these customer marketing approaches:

Partner closely with your Customer Success team
Listen to customer calls for valuable insights
Leverage available tools like Zoom for call recording
Feature customers in every piece of content you produce
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Common Marketing Mistakes in the AI Era

When discussing common marketing mistakes, Julien highlighted the artificial separation between brand and demand:

"People continue to separate brand and demand in their heads. I know thousands of articles have been published on the topic, but I still see it all the time. Sometimes it's like 'this is a brand awareness play' or 'this is a pipeline generation play.' I don't like that separation."

Julien advocates for seeing brand and demand as integrated parts of the same journey:

"If you do things well, it's the same thing - the brand program or campaign of today ultimately turns into pipeline tomorrow. Brand is demand; it's just a matter of timeline."
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Effective Brand Metrics: Beyond Single-Metric Measurement

On measuring brand value, Julien shared his comprehensive approach to brand metrics:

"I have my brand/category scorecard where I track all sets of metrics, and it's pretty detailed. You can't have just one metric to track the power of the brand - that doesn't do justice to it. You need multiple metrics across all channels to better assess how your brand is resonating."
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Key Brand Metrics to Consider

Julien recommends tracking these brand metrics:

Whether your narrative words appear in customer conversations
Word-of-mouth indicators
Branded search performance
Customer validation metrics
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PMM Hot Takes: Focus and Ownership

Regarding product marketing, Julien offered this advice:

"PMM is fascinating - potentially the most impactful function in marketing, but also the hardest. No one fully understands it or knows how to measure it."

His "hot take" for PMMs: Own one clear metric rather than spreading yourself too thin across many KPIs.
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Personal Growth Through Experience

Julien shared his transformative experience walking the Camino de Santiago during a career transition. This journey reinforced his philosophy about embracing life's randomness:

"Life is just a succession of encounters and experiences, but you need the right mindset to be open to that... The people who end up stronger or happier are the ones who have an open mind towards that randomness."
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Final Thoughts on Customer-Centric Marketing

As marketing continues to evolve in 2025, Julien's insights remind us that customer marketing and comprehensive brand metrics remain fundamental to success. Beyond technical solutions and AI advancements, creating genuine customer connections and measuring their impact strategically will differentiate winning marketing teams.
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Looking for more insights on customer marketing and brand metrics? Follow Julien's upcoming book release and stay tuned for more episodes of GTM Rapid Fire!

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