I played a key role in managing program operations for product updates and launches, leading cross-functional teams and owning the Bill of Materials (BOM). This experience strengthened my ability to support teams across the BU, including Sales, Product, Customer Success, Demand Gen, Event/Field Marketing, and Engineering.

Bill of Materials

Following my initial experience in product marketing, I was selected for a special assignment, code-named Project: Customer-Powered Marketing, Red Hat’s first foray into customer advocacy and advisory. This initiative led to the launch of the Red Hat Accelerators, a customer advocacy group developed within Marco Bill-Peters’ Customer Experience and Engagement BU. The program evolved into an award-winning engagement strategy, building a vibrant community of customer champions.

Red Hat Accelerators

Brand Video

Company brand video

One of Red Hat Storage’s GTM tactics was a bi-weekly webcast called “The Storage Hangout,” which provided a consistent demand-gen vehicle that allowed Product Marketing to share the latest updates and solutions.

'The Storage Hangout'

PHASE 1:
RECRUITING THE
FOUNDING MEMBERS

I start by gathering recommendations and referrals from trusted colleagues, and researching NPS Promoters, past trade show speakers, and customers featured in success stories. I then compile a candidate database and conduct interviews to identify the best-fit advocates to support and shape the program.

Below is how I traditionally build a thriving customer advocacy community to drive awareness, adoption, product amplification, and pipeline growth.

Building an advocacy group involves managing multiple parallel workstreams, including engagement platforms (e.g., Influitive or Slack), communications, sign-up processes, social media, and member tracking. Once the infrastructure is in place, I recruit founding members to a private platform for networking and engagement.

To maintain engagement, I create an editorial calendar with regular updates, product news, insights, and poll, as well as host meetups on timely technical topics. Once the community is active, I establish a steady cadence of connection through ongoing meetups, roundtables, and Slack discussions to sustain momentum and collaboration.

Once the community is established, I invite product leaders to share roadmaps and collect feedback. Vocal, passionate members are identified to form a customer advisory subcommittee, a valuable resource for product marketing and sales to validate messaging, refine positioning, and support future product releases.

In 2019, the program received such strong internal recognition that I was honored with the prestigious Red Hat Product Marketing Award in the Customer Impact category. It remains a major milestone in my career.

As an example, once the customer advocacy community and executive advisory subcommittee were in place at Red Hat, the group became a vital part of the product development process. More than 30 product teams began receiving real-time, unsolicited feedback from FORTUNE 500 enterprise executives and practitioners, many with over 20 years of experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The program became a lasting cornerstone of the product launch readiness journey.

PHASE 2:
BUILDING THE FOUNDATION

PHASE 3:
ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY

PHASE 4:
CREATING A CUSTOMER
ADVISORY BOARD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR
ACHIEVEMENTS