The Swiss army knife of marketing
Customer stories do it all, feeding PR, sales and content marketing initiatives — but only if they have the right features
Customer (or client) stories are the Swiss army knife of marketing — they are so useful in so many situations that every enterprise should have them on hand at all times. Their value is easy to see: who can say you’re awesome more credibly than your customers? What’s not always easy to see is what makes a good customer story — the kind that’s persuasive, compelling and usable all over the place.
Good customer stories aren’t just about good customers, or about how good you are to them. The most effective stories illustrate the type of customer you work with, how you work with them, and why that work is valuable. Following are four key elements of stories that sing.
The right subject. When considering candidates for customer stories, ask yourself, are you truly proud of your work? Can you talk about results? (Some customers are willing to say generally nice things, but are leery of revealing specifics; sometimes you’ve made the customer happy, but can’t point to any specific outcomes.) Is the client willing to talk to reporters? (This is important if you plan to use the story in a media campaign.) Is the client someone prospects will relate to? Is their business representative of your market or a segment of it?
A propulsive story structure. A good story draws readers in and pulls them through to the end. And while it needs a beginning, middle and end, it often shouldn’t start at what you think of as the beginning. Why? The beginning is usually boring. (I got up this morning and made coffee. Then blah, blah, blah.) The classic case study format — challenge, solution, results — is classic for a reason. Even if you don’t follow it literally, it’s a good touchstone: the customer’s challenge is likely to be an intriguing starting point.
Personality. Canned, generic quotes make for bland, unmemorable stories. And the less genuine a story sounds, the less credible it is. The best stories incorporate actual quotes in a customer’s real voice, and possibly staff members’ real voices. They may even recount a stumble or two on the way to success.
Results. The more specific you can get about the benefits you delivered, the better. At the same time, it’s smart to think broadly about what constitutes a result — quantitative measures aren’t everything. What did your work enable the client to do that they couldn’t have done otherwise? Are there benefits for the client’s community? Did you help the client do something innovative? Did you do something innovative?
Get all these elements right, and you’ll have a story with true value (even if you can’t open a bottle of wine with it).
Originally published at thinkshiftcom.com on October 29, 2013.
