Spotlight's Deena Zenyk on customer advocacy when AI builds the shortlist

Deena Zenyk, VP of Customer Engagement, Service Delivery at Spotlight, argues that customer advocacy stopped being a content quota the moment AI tools started assembling B2B shortlists from analyst research, peer reviews, and community threads. She and Greg Kihlström get into what that changes.

The first reader of your customer's testimonial may not be a buyer. Zenyk co-wrote The Messenger is the Message on the premise that a credible messenger carries the message — and revisits whether that holds when a model summarizes the messenger first.

Scaling authentic voices can fragment the company they describe. More reference calls, review posts, and analyst conversations running in parallel produce plenty of credible stories that don't add up to one recognizable company. Zenyk on what holds them together.

Advocacy earns standing through measures a CFO recognizes. Deal velocity, expansion, and competitive win rate versus the roadmap changes and early objections that never land in a number — and how to argue for both.

About Deena Zenyk

Deena Zenyk is VP, Customer Engagement at Spotlight. With more than 10 years' experience in advocate marketing, she is a world-leading expert and pioneer in advocate marketing. Her guiding professional principle is to make leading-edge marketing philosophies and practices accessible and actionable for the everyday marketer.

Deena Zenyk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dzenyk/

---------- Resources ----------

Spotlight: https://www.spotlight-io.com

This episode is brought to you by Spotlight. Spotlight is pioneering the future of influence orchestration in the B2B buyer journey. Trusted by over 165 teams globally, Spotlight is the world’s leading analyst relations consultancy and industry platform. Learn more at www.spotlight-io.com

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