Customer stories let you showcase your customers’ experiences as examples of what to expect from your product or service. They’re some of the most powerful resources you can use to encourage prospects to jump that final hurdle and buy from you.
As long as they’re compelling.
In this episode of The Content 10x Podcast, I spoke to Linode’s Senior Director of Marketing, Rob Yoegel about repurposing and delivering compelling customer stories that your prospects want.
Press play to discover Rob’s insights into repurposing customer stories…
Or listen to our interview on the podcast…
Or keep reading to learn how to create content that resonates with your customers.
When it comes to your content strategy, your audience should influence everything you do – from the ideas you brainstorm to the content formats you choose.
“It’s super important for content marketing to be done well and to be done right because there’s tons of noise and you have to stand out. It’s not just about creating content; you need to distribute it and measure it. You need to respond to your potential buyers, your customers, what they need and want.”
As an award-winning business and marketing leader, corporate storyteller, digital publishing pro and event organizer who builds outstanding marketing programs, Rob is an expert in visualising a successful content strategy then realising it.
At Linode, a cloud hosting company that specializes in making managing complex cloud infrastructure easy, Rob oversees central marketing functions for content marketing, advertising, social media marketing, influencer marketing, demand generation and lead generation.
Here, I’m sharing the three key steps Rob takes to create customer-first content. It’s the very same process Rob takes to make sure Linode’s content makes prospects want to book a demo or schedule a consultation.
1. Know who your customers are
When it comes to content marketing, knowledge is power.
A good content strategy starts with thorough audience analysis. To define a target audience, you need to really dig beneath the numbers and understand them in relation to their:
- Motivations
- Needs
- Behaviors
- Challenges
- Pain points
- Goals
Whether they’re your past/existing customers or prospective groups, knowing your audience allows you to understand which content topics and formats are the most relevant to your customers, then find the focus of your customer story.
This will empower you to craft tailored content that makes them say, “This was created specifically for me.”
2. Understand what your customers want
Knowing and understanding customer needs is at the centre of every successful content marketing strategy. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to create content that engages them and leads them further down the funnel.
So, once you’ve worked out who your customers are, ask the question “What kind of content are they most interested in?”
In Linode’s case, Rob shares that their customers care more about how their product helps people like them solve similar problems than what it actually does.
“Let’s face it, prospects don’t want to hear it from us, they don’t want to hear it from the brand. They want to hear it from the users of the product.”
After all, facts tell and stories sell. Because stories have the power to draw us into the lives of others, cause us to feel empathy, and motivate us to act.
3. Meet your customers where they are
Like most businesses around the world, Linode has pivoted their content distribution effort from offline to online since the pandemic.
But the internet is a vast place.
Your content needs to reach the right people to move the needle, and with so many distribution channels at your disposal it’s hard to know where to focus your energy and resources. This is when your knowledge of your audience and the type of content they like to consume comes in very handy.
Armed with this knowledge, you can now assemble a list of all the channels that are most likely to help you reach the right people.
This is where repurposing comes into play. And the repurposing story of Linode’s Craft of Code podcast series is one to behold!
It all started with customer interviews that Linode was conducting with the intention of turning them into promotional print material to be handed out when they were exhibiting at trade shows and events.
With events brought to a halt due to the pandemic, the team at Linode had to think outside the box and explore other channels to distribute these invaluable customer insights.
That’s when they engaged with Content 10x.
Since the interviews were recording on Zoom, we were able to repurpose them into a narrative-style podcast series, social media and YouTube video content, quote graphics and blog posts.
Their customers have really enjoyed the series, so much so that we just launched Season 2 of Craft of Code, which you can listen to now.
Here are a few very kind words from Rob on his experience working with us to make his content go even further:
“The team at Content 10x is easy to work with, incredibly organized, professional, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. They managed the entire process of launching our Craft of Code podcast. Everything was seamless, from the onboarding process to working with our Creative Director with designs and saving us some valuable time by fully-absorbing our brand guidelines and mastering our content's style and tone.
The podcast certainly wasn't a straightforward or typical project: Content 10x repurposed a series of Zoom interviews that we initially used to create customer stories and turned them into a narrative podcast. Then, they repurposed the podcast into social media content, blog posts, and more. Thank you, Content 10x; you're amazing at what you do!”
There’s more to your customer stories!
The story of Linode’s Craft of Code shows us that customer success stories are powerful content that shouldn’t be relegated to the Case Study page on your website.
Evidently, they make great video content and podcast episodes, but they’re also perfect for blog articles, social media posts, newsletters and can be used in your white papers and eBooks to strengthen the viability of your product or service.
Why not repurpose and distribute them to reach an even wider audience?
Want to repurpose your customer stories and share them with even more prospects?
Repurposing your content not only helps maximize your time and effort, but it expands your reach, increases your brand presence, and enables you to achieve multiple goals.
Want to know how we can support you with your content repurposing? Get in touch and we’ll discuss how we can transform your customer stories into content for your website, blog, podcast, social media channels, and more!