Let’s rewind for a second. Do you remember when “false advertising” meant a brand made misleading product claims or used bait-and-switch tactics? Today, it’s not just about what was delivered in an ad or what showed up on your doorstep. It’s more dangerous: when a brand’s marketing promises one thing, but the actual customer experience delivers another. In a time where word-of-mouth often has a greater impact than any best-performing campaign, customers don’t separate brand from experience. To them, it’s one and the same.
And honestly? They’re not wrong.
This evolving reality isn’t just a marketing concern or a CX challenge — it’s a leadership opportunity to rediscover our ‘why’ and align every part of the business to it. Companies that embrace the intersection of marketing and customer experience, and follow their true purpose are the ones winning the hearts of their customers — and, in turn, market share.
The Overlap
If we think of marketing as setting expectations — it shapes perception, drives emotion, and builds trust — customer experience is where those expectations are either validated or, sadly, shattered.
Yet too often, they operate in silos. I’ve lived in these silos! You see the beautifully branded campaign, make the purchase, hit a snag, and suddenly you’re in chatbot purgatory or on hold forever with customer service. What brands sometimes forget is that these leave lasting memories. According to a leading advisory firm, 95% of customers will share a bad experience with others — and more than 60% will switch to a competitor after just one poor interaction. This disconnect is incredibly costly — and not just in lost sales. It erodes trust, and I believe trust is the most valuable currency a brand can hold.
When I’ve seen marketing and CX aligned, the brand isn’t just a promise. It becomes a living, breathing experience that customers recognize and return to consistently.
The Business Case
The data speaks volumes:
- 73% of consumers say experience matters more than price, according to a recent industry report.
- Brands that prioritize the customer experience grow profits nearly 50% faster and retain customers more than 50% better than their peers, based on findings from a leading research firm.
- And when teams are aligned across functions, they see revenue growth that’s more than double that of siloed organizations.
This isn’t just about customer satisfaction — it’s about sustainable growth. When marketing reflects the real experience, and the experience reinforces the brand, companies build deeper loyalty and stronger customer lifetime value.
Integration in Practice
In my experience leading teams through this transformation, I’ve learned that integration doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does mean there needs to be complete alignment on your ‘why.’ What is your company’s purpose? What are you hoping to achieve? And how do you want your customers to feel? Begin with this. Resources like Simon Sinek’s The Golden Circle are excellent frameworks for inspiration.
Then, by collaborating cross-functionally — across Marketing, CX, Operations, Sales, and beyond — you can dissect and understand the journey end-to-end from the customer’s point of view.
In practice, this means gathering data insights and using technology that connects the dots, such as:
- Marketing teams leveraging competitor and customer insights to inspire better storytelling — and CX teams being looped into go-to-market strategies.
- Bringing voice-of-the-customer data into campaign planning — ensuring messaging reflects real feedback, not just aspirational branding.
- Technology that ties it all together: journey analytics, shared dashboards, CRM insights, and customer data platforms that allow for cohesive personalization.
For a time, I worked with a luxury brand focused on creating exclusive experiences for their most elite customers — the kind of guests who expect excellence before they even arrive. Every detail mattered: the texture of the invitation, the featured talent, the flow of the evening, even the gift bag placed in their hands at the end. Nothing was left to chance. It was a meticulous collaboration between marketing, event planning, and customer experience teams — all aligned around one goal: making every interaction feel intentional and elevated. This integration wasn’t just about aesthetics or coordination. It was about building a cohesive engine where every interaction reinforced the brand promise, and every brand promise was grounded in deliverable reality.
Integration is not about having all the answers. It’s about building a shared language and a shared commitment to the customer and your purpose.
The True Connection
At the heart of this integration is something less tangible but even more powerful: culture.
When teams are united by a common belief that the customer experience is the brand, everything changes. Functions stop protecting turf and start solving problems. Campaigns aren’t just launches — they’re extensions of a relationship. Service touchpoints aren’t just transactions — they’re trust-builders.
As leaders, we need to model this mindset. To show that listening — to employees, to customers, to each other — is not a soft skill, but a strategic one. And to reward teams for working together in service of something bigger than their function: the full customer journey.
Leading the Shift – Marketing as CX
We don’t need to draw new org charts to get this right. But we do need to redraw the mental model: from marketing and CX to marketing as CX. From siloed strategies to shared accountability.
At its best, marketing is not a window looking out. It’s a mirror — reflecting the real experience customers will have. When that reflection is honest, human, and consistent across touchpoints, it doesn’t feel like marketing at all. It feels like being understood.
In the end, customers don’t care which department is responsible for which part of their journey. They only remember how they felt. When marketing and CX leaders work together to deliver on the brand promise, that feeling is one of trust, consistency, and connection. And that’s what keeps them coming back.
Bre Byrne is a growth-focused Global Marketing and Customer Experience Executive known for driving transformational change and positioning marketing as a strategic engine for business growth. With a proven track record leading digital and AI-powered innovation, she brings deep expertise in aligning strategy with execution across brand, demand generation, and customer experience.
Bre has led high-impact initiatives across healthcare, financial services, fashion e-commerce, and luxury brands — industries where trust, personalization, and innovation are essential. Her work has consistently improved business performance by modernizing digital ecosystems, optimizing marketing operations, and building more agile, data-driven teams.
