The Peerbound Podcast

Chris Dalton, Director of Customer Marketing at Clari, on Proactive Customer Marketing

Episode Summary

Chris Dalton, Director of Customer Marketing at Clari, reveals how he runs multiple advocacy programs as a one-person team at a 750-person company. He shares his vision for proactive customer marketing, why AI unlocks entirely new capabilities rather than just saving time, and the productivity habits that help him move faster than teams twice his size. Learn why tools don't solve psychology problems, how to build strong relationships with revenue teams, and why the future of customer marketing is about delivering what teams need before they even ask.

Episode Notes

Episode Description

Chris Dalton manages customer testimonials, speaking engagements, reference programs, peer reviews, a customer advisory board, and ad hoc requests, all by himself. His secret? Building autonomous systems and focusing relentlessly on what actually accelerates revenue.

In this episode, Chris shares how Clari's CMO mandates voice of customer content in every campaign, why content utilization matters more than content creation, and how he's building a proactive customer marketing system that serves the right references and content at exactly the right time. If you're trying to scale customer marketing with limited resources, this conversation is packed with strategies you won't want to miss.

What You'll Learn

• How to build autonomous customer marketing systems that run without daily involvement
• Why the shift from reactive to proactive is the future of customer marketing
• The utilization problem: why having 100 case studies means nothing if reps don't use them
• How AI enables entirely new work rather than just replacing existing tasks
• Productivity habits from Deep Work and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that create real efficiency
• How to build strong relationships with revenue teams and prove your impact
• Why tools don't solve behavior problems and what actually drives adoption

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
• 00:44 Chris Dalton's Career Journey
• 03:14 Role and Responsibilities at Clari
• 04:17 Challenges and Innovations in Customer Marketing
• 06:41 The Future of Customer Marketing
• 10:53 Voice of Customer and Its Importance
• 14:47 AI in Customer Marketing
• 19:33 Efficiency and Productivity Tips
• 26:22 Building Relationships with Revenue Teams
• 34:37 Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Guest Bio

Chris Dalton is Director of Customer Marketing at Clari, where he runs all advocacy programs as a one-person team. With over a decade of experience at companies like SurveyMonkey, Evanta (now Gartner), and Clari, Chris has mastered the art of scaling customer marketing through automation, AI, and strategic enablement. He's known for his efficiency, his strong relationships with revenue teams, and his vision for building proactive customer marketing systems.

Key Takeaway

The future of customer marketing isn't about getting really good at reactive work. It's about building systems that deliver the right content, references, and insights before your teams even know they need them. When you shift from reactive to proactive, you unlock the full potential of voice of customer content and create measurable revenue impact.

Connect with Chris Dalton: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daltonchristopher/