In my last two posts, I outlined a recipe for creating customer success stories that meet most technology vendor’s requirements. But it’s possible to create case studies that take storytelling to the next level to make the story even more engaging and memorable.
Most standard case studies tell their story in a relentlessly positive, yet generic manner. They talk in terms of the customer company, not a particular individual, which depersonalizes them. And they don’t ever say anything bad. While it’s understandable that marketers hesitate to say anything negative for fear of putting a new doubt in the customer’s mind, is it the best policy for case studies to be entirely upbeat?
Attitudes are changing as more companies begin to incorporate the idea of brand journalism. Brand journalism seeks to use more of standard journalistic techniques to make customer stories more engaging and compelling.
Brand journalism takes advantage of two techniques not generally used in standard case studies:
Brand journalism brings more human interest elements into the story.
Stories that follow a brand-journalistic approach will not talk about a company in a generic manner, but rather, will talk about an individual and his or her concerns. Such a story will look at how a particular challenge impacted the actual person in charge of the issue at the company. Was there a computer crash that literally woke them up at night? How did they feel about it? Where were they sitting in the room when they realized they needed a solution? Moreover, these stories won’t necessarily be entirely positive or even neutral. After all, having a problem or challenge is sure to create some anxiety.
By incorporating human details and feelings into your story, you can help your readers more effectively empathize with your customer. This will make your story more memorable.
Brand journalism strives to tell a more balanced story.
While marketing tends to focus on the positive, a journalist writing a human interest story will try to include both positives and negatives. By talking about challenges and setbacks that occurred as the customer attempted to use the vendor’s product or service to solve the problem, your story will more closely match the archetypal “challenge” plot. In this type of story, the protagonist faces, and ultimately surmounts significant challenges. Think David and Goliath.
Challenge plots are by their very nature inspirational and meant to drive action. The reader relives the ordeal with the customer and is inspired by their successful solution. The more real details you can include about the situation, including problems and challenges, the more inspirational the story will become.
The trick, of course, is to select challenges that won’t make the vendor and its solution look as if there is a problem with the vendor’s solution. One idea would be to discuss a challenge that was slightly outside the standard scope of the vendor’s solution and how the vendor’s customer support saved the day by helping the customer perform some slight customizations.
How have you handled the issue of including real challenges while still successfully marketing your products?
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