Copywriters: Homework Makes You a Better Case Study Writer
Copywriters:
Today’s the first day back to school where I live. Neighborhood kids are donning their new backpacks, books and shoes.
Homework isn’t just for school kids. Now’s the perfect time to talk about the studying you have to do as a case study copywriter.
Say you’ve just signed a new client for case studies. How do you get started?
By being studious. Don’t just jump into the actual case study, no matter how much of an urgency there is for that story.
If you don’t fully understand your new client’s products and services, you’ll be hard-pressed to interview, understand and write well. The risk? Your story may not deliver maximum sales potential.
Simply said, if you know your client’s solutions well, you’ll be a more valuable asset.
Here’s the step-by-step on how to study a new client’s products and services:
1. Ask your client which products and services will be featured in the case study(ies).
2. Does the client have current, available marketing materials on these solutions?
3. Ask about product datasheets, brochures, press releases, white papers, existing case studies, demos, videos and any other materials.
4. Find out where these materials reside.
5. Spend 1-2 hours reviewing available information.
6. Lifesaver! Look up terms and acronyms you don’t know in search engines or www.Wikipedia.org.
7. Create a “Cheat Sheet” for yourself of terms and key messages. (If your client ever goes a while without doing case studies, and picks back up, consider this Cheat Sheet your way to refresh your memory on solutions.)
8. As you study, look for answers to questions such as…
How does the company refer to its products and services? What product names and industry terms does it use?
What do the featured solutions do?
Who uses them?
When?
What problems do they solve?
What are the main business benefits that users can expect?
9. Write down the product/service questions you have for your client, and don’t be afraid to ask them!
10. Also as you study, start a draft of your customer interview questions for these solutions.
Never forget to stop and do your homework. You’ll make the grade much faster with your new client.
What else is in your ramp-up process with new clients?
The ‘Tell ‘Em, Tell ‘Em, Tell ‘Em’ Approach to Case Studies
Ever heard this popular expression regarding presentations?
"Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. And then tell them what you told them." Or something along those lines.
Why should we repeat ourselves? Because people have short attention spans. By repeating, audiences hopefully go away having heard your most important points at least once, if not more.
In a written story, repeating ensures that skimmers catch your main ideas.
So how do you apply the "tell ‘em, tell ‘em, tell ‘em" advice to case studies and success stories?
Try applying these three ideas to your next case study project:
The Intro Summary
In longer magazine features or even the evening news, the story often kicks off with a brief summary of what’s to come – usually only about a paragraph.
For each of its case studies, Microsoft includes a summary just under the headline, before the body copy starts.
Keep it short and to the point. Ideally, mirror the rest of the story in that single paragraph by briefly mentioning the main challenge, how it was solved and the biggest benefit the customer experienced.
The Body Copy
Before you ever start writing, ask one question: What is the most important thing I want the audience to know? Then, structure your story around that message.
For example, maybe the #1 take-away is that the featured product enables faster customer support.
Early on, talk about the challenges of delivering customer support and how slowness has affected the business.
Follow that with solution delivery that indicates HOW the solution expedites support.
Finally, let the reader know that customer support is indeed faster, and back that up (hopefully!) with metrics.
Include customer quotes that touch on the speed of delivery through your story, and headlines as well.
With multiple mentions of your main idea, you not only "tell ‘em," but a case study lets you SHOW the audience.
The Wrap-Up Quote
Personally, I love ending a case study with a quote that’s the equivalent of a big bow around the whole story – something that truly encapsulates the customer’s experience.
Who should have the last word in a customer story? The customer. A quote feels more authentic than ending with a summary paragraph.
The perfect wrap-up quote doesn’t introduce anything new, but rather reflects the relationship in a nutshell.
To get a spot-on final quote, I usually ask this simple question, "Is there anything else you would like to add that we haven’t talked about yet?"
Often, the customer provides his or her own summary of the relationship.
If not, try, "What would you tell others about your experience of working with ABC Company?"
With your story written, go back and count where your key points pop up to make sure you’ve told them, told them and told them again.
Seen any great examples of companies that do this with their case studies? Send them my way and I’ll feature them on the blog.
Customer Presented on Your Behalf? Do More with a Live Case Study
This week, two PowerPoint presentations came my way.
My clients’ happy customers had actually presented these decks in live case studies (either in person or on a webinar). How fantastic is that – a customer willing to talk to an audience about success with your products and services?
That’s about as good as it gets.
Smart marketing teams know the next step: Turn that live presentation into something that you can re-use again and again.
Here are 4 tips for taking next steps with a customer’s live case study presentation.
1. Ask for permission upfront
You would think that standing on a podium and publicly discussing success with a specific solution makes a written story a shoe-in.
Not true. A written story, posted on the web, leaves a searchable and lasting trail of evidence about what your customer said. This scares some customers. They’re worried you’re the next Enron and they just don’t want to risk a public endorsement.
You need to ask for specific permission for a separate written story, and the customer will want to review it most likely.
While your contact may be fine with turning the presentation into written or video assets, the company may not agree. BEFORE you record that presentation or webinar, or write it, ask for official permission.
If you can record it, ask HOW you can use the recording. Some might just give you permission to share it internally among sales reps, while others will let you post it on your website, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
2. PowerPoint is not enough for written
Even if you don’t plan to use the recording with external audiences, or don’t have permission to do so, a recording is valuable.
A PowerPoint presentation provides the visuals and highlights but it’s never the full story. The presenter adds that.
What’s missing from PowerPoints? Detail, explanation, complete sentences for quotes, and most critically, emotion.
Customer case studies are stories. Without real customer comments and emotion, you lose much of its storytelling power.
Personally, I always have more questions, usually lots more, when I receive a PowerPoint.
So, get it recorded somehow. If you don’t want to release the video to a writer, then get a transcript.
3. Interview the customer
For a couple of reasons, you may need to interview the customer further:
-
The customer’s presentation didn’t include some of the information that usually goes into a case study. Maybe the customer doesn’t go into why they chose your solution – a very insightful piece for prospective customers.
- Or, you did not get a recording.
Ask the customer if they are willing to fill in some of the gaps that the slide deck misses.
4. Got permission? Use it!
When you get specific permission to use these assets, make them work for you. Don’t shelf that rich information.
Post video, edited down perhaps, on demand on your website. Send the video link to prospects, Tweet about it, and distribute it on social media video sharing sites.
Write it up and post it online and among your sales assets.
Check out this list for 25 ways to use your customer stories.
What are your experiences getting more out of live presentations?
3 Tips for Finding Your Next Case Study Customer
Several times a week, an appeal for funds from a charity (or alma mater) arrives in my mailbox or inbox. The same organizations contact me over and over.
It’s annoying, but if they don’t ask for contributions, they usually don’t get them.
That’s just how it works. We have too much going through our heads. If you’re in an asking position, you have to be in the audience’s line of sight often if you hope to get a response.
The same goes for the quest for case study or success story candidates and reference customers. Marketing and reference managers are constantly looking for stellar customers to include in reference activities.
You have to remind teams inside your company and out – employees, partners and customers – what you need.
1. To start, make sure your wish list is current and specific.
Evaluate your inventory of references and case studies to ID what you need most. Maybe that’s financial services companies using your new Product M, or education industry customers that have recently migrated to your SaaS offering.
The point is, always know what you need.
2. Then, take your requests to all your communication channels that touch employees, partners and customers:
- Sales meetings
- One-on-one meetings
- Employee newsletters or intranet
- Partner/reseller newsletters and online communities
- Customer newsletters
- Social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter
- Partner events
3. Next, make it easy to submit a candidate or themselves. Ideally, direct everyone to a short online form to collect a few key details.
Then a marketing or reference manager can follow up to pre-qual the candidate.
Just remember, be specific and make it easy – and you should up your response rates.
What has worked for you in getting case study candidates?
How to Repackage Precious Case Study Content
Picking up from my last post commenting on Hubspot’s "27 Marketing Lessons B2B Marketers Should Know," here’s another tip from Hubspot that ties directly with customer case studies:
"Content is precious. Repackage existing content into different formats, such as blog posts, podcasts and webinars to drive more leads."
You can easily repackage customer case studies and success stories into valuable, reusable content throughout your sales and marketing communications.
Here are just a few ways:
1. Blogs
An estimated 77% of active web users read blogs. They’ve proven to be powerful drivers of search engine traffic.
Even better, those following your blog are interested in your particular topic, giving you the perfect target audience.
Share your best customer stories on your blog – either in full or linked back to the full story on your website.
Focus on the customer’s experience and path to success, not just tooting your own horn.
And finally, be sure to get the customer’s permission before you publish anything with their name on it.
2. Contributed articles
For editors, it’s all about the compelling story. They’re constantly looking for ideas and contributed articles that tell stories their audiences want to hear.
Many websites and publications take contributed articles.
Try submitting a story about your new product and see how that goes. Then try submitting a story about how a specific customer has succeeded with your product, and it changes things.
With just a little editing, you can turn a customer case study into a contributed article, preferably by-lined by your customer.
Just make sure it focuses on best practices and approaches without heavily talking up your product or service.
3. Press releases
The same thing goes for press releases as above.
When you announce news, such as a new product offering, pull an anecdote into your press release that ties the news to a customer’s success.
Ideally, you have some beta customers with early experiences of your solution that you can share.
A customer example makes a dry release much more interesting.
4. Industry awards
I’m big on awards these days – after seeing some Fortune 500 companies jump at the chance to tell their stories for awards opportunities.
Why? We all like to be recognized for our efforts. Your customers are no different.
If they’re doing cool, best practices things, and your solution helps with that, find relevant awards programs and ask their permission to submit them.
You might be surprised how on board they get for an awards submission when they might not publish their story as a case study.
If your customer wins, their story gets natural publicity through the awards process.
Also, once you have all the juicy details, ask if you can make that public on your website.
5. Newsletters
Feature a different customer success in each newsletter or e-zine that goes to customers, prospects and even employees.
Show all your audiences how you help customers solve their problems.
It will likely be the most read part of your newsletter.
But that’s not all. Check out 25 Ways to Build Trust (and Sales!) with Customer Success Stories.
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