Content Strategy - Step 3 - Telling the Story

For reasons given in the last post, good customer stories are absolutely central to a content strategy.  This might sound like bad news if you've struggled with consent around this, but if you go about this properly, you will have a much better chance of getting the cooperation you need.

The problem is, customers have seen the phony, template-bound approach that marketers often use for "case studies", and they generally don't want any part of it.  They don't want to support any implied conclusion that your solution saved them zillions of dollars when this is not true, and they don't want to look like they were hopeless until you came along. 

How you position the interview is critical.  Point out that your source will be free to describe the situation in their own way, and will be allowed to see the story and make corrections before it is published.  If necessary, offer to let the customer tell the story off the record - a story without a name is far better than none at all, and in some industries, this is normal.

Record a 30-minute interview with the customer either in person or over the phone.  Questions should be open in nature.  Here are some examples:

-How did you first get started with X?
-What were the problems that you wanted to solve?
-Who was involved in your organization?
-What were some of your early uses of X?
-When did people first see positive results from X?
-What were some of the biggest challenges?  How did you overcome them?
-Were there any surprises?
-What measurable results have you achieved?
-What results to you hope for in the next two years?
-What advice would you offer companies like yours looking for a similar solution?

Note that these questions are very open.  We don't push them for ROI stats, kudos, or anything like that, but simply ask the customer to tell their story from their perspective.  If the numbers are good, or if they love your product or service, they will volunteer it, and it will sound way more natural than it would have if you had pushed them.  Trust me.

A final word on the interview process.  If you do it well, your customer will enjoy the process, and will thank you for allowing them to share their story.  Authentic interviews build relationships.

That's enough for one post.  In my next, I'll give you some tips for writing up your story.