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How to write effective customer case studies

May 13, 2010 Leave a Comment

This is a guest post from Chris Lee, founder and managing director of PR and social media consultancy, Planet Content, and founder/editor of DIY PR and marketing blog RunMarketing.

Are you proud of what you have achieved for your customers and clients? Can you prove tangible benefits and returns on investment that really illustrate what your company does best? If you can, then this is where case studies come into play.

Publications love the “proof in the pudding” – real-life examples of where companies have used a product or service which has had a demonstrable effect on their business. Could you gain approval from a customer and draft an 800-word account on how you helped it operate more efficiently?

If you could, then this is how a customer case study – or ‘customer evidence’, to our friends across the pond – should be constructed:

Title: Hard-hitting, catching title outlining the crux of the case study in a single line (particularly benefits) – e.g. “Company X saves Company Y £X million a year with product Z”

Subtitle: Add some more quantifiable facts about the customer case study – time savings, staff efficiency etc

Introduction: You have a single paragraph with which to capture the audience and encourage them to read on, so make sure your opening paragraph is tightly written and neatly summarises all the key financial, time and efficiency benefits.

Detail: Under orderly sub-headings you should now go into further details outlining:

  • The existing problem
  • What your company proposed
  • Was the contract put out to tender? If so, what did you do that stood out to win it?
  • What challenges did you overcome, be they physical, financial, cultural etc?
  • What you did in practice and more on how benefits were achieved
  • What was the customer feedback? Include a customer quote
  • Conclusion – include a quote from your own MD, CEO or project manager

Try to keep it to around 800 words, use images and regularly deploy sub-headings to retain reader interest. Don’t forget to get permission from the customer to write the case study before you start drafting and run it by the customer’s marketing team to make amends and approve the final draft. They might not let you disclose everything, but highlight the benefits for them – free publicity, for one!

Also, keep the hyperbole to a minimum. Nothing turns people off more than sales spiel, so speak plain English and drop words like “market-leading” and “solution”.

Spread your wings

You could pitch the case study to a local publication, or vertical media outlet, depending on your target audience and the strength of the case study or customer brand. You could also build a page especially for case studies on your company website. If so, don’t forget to make sure that the text is optimised for your company’s keywords to help potential customers find you online.

Also, don’t forget to plug it on social media channels. Tweet the link to your website, or why not post it on Slideshare.net?

Here are some examples of customer case studies from corporations such as Xerox, Microsoft and Virgin Media Business. They vary greatly in style and format, from video to basic pdf.

If you’re worried that you’ve not got the right time or skills resources in-house to generate customer case studies then seek out a professional writer, it will pay off for you.

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Making working from home work for you

April 26, 2010 1 Comment

Judy Heminsley, author of Work From Home, and blogger of Work From Home Wisdom, provides this guest blog highlighting the benefits of working from home, and offering some pointers to make it work for you.

A survey carried out by Australian magazine Home Beautifula few years ago found that readers were afraid that if they worked from home they would become ‘fat, depressed and lazy’!  Many office-bound people I talk to have the same fears.

But actually research has shown that people working from home are more productive – BT came up with a figure of 20% more.  And all the home workers I talk to say they are much more effective and see this as one of the greatest benefits of working from home.

Build a structure

Perhaps the biggest change when you start to work from home is realising that you are now responsible for every decision about your working day – when to start, where to work, how often to take breaks, how to schedule your work, what time to stop etc.

Being in charge gives you freedom to design your working life to fit your own needs and habits and you will get the best results if you build it round a solid structure.

How to get started

The morning commute moves people into work psychologically and emotionally as well as physically.  You may need more than just the stroll into your home office, so devise a routine that signals the working day is starting.  A delegate at an event I spoke at recently recommended a ‘walk to work’ – a 15 minute stroll to stretch her legs, get some fresh air, say hello to a few neighbours and remind herself how lucky she is not to be sitting in traffic.

My routine is a 21st century version of toast with the papers – eating breakfast while surfing the news, checking out business sites and updating Twitter.  Reading my emails and making the required responses hooks me effortlessly into work.

Stay connected

The idea of working alone, away from all the distractions of the average workplace, is certainly appealing, but the reality can present a real risk of becoming lonely and isolated.  That can quickly lead to a loss of perspective and a downward spiral in self-confidence and motivation.  So make human contact your top priority to keep your energy and creativity high:

  • Social media and internet forums help you connect with others socially and may prove to be sources of professional help.
  • Pick up the phone when your energy starts to flag – talking to somebody will give you a quick boost.
  • Get out and about – there’s nothing like a change of scene and being amongst other people for a shot of inspiration.  Coworking allows you to work alongside fellow freelancers and home workers in a relaxed atmosphere where people chat about what they do and exchange tips.  Check out coworking spaces and Jelly in your area and my website www.workfromhomewisdom.com for lots of information about both.

So that pretty much deals with the ‘lazy’ part of my headline.  And the great thing is that if you apply all these tips, it’s hard to see how you could possibly become fat and depressed either while working from home!

Filed Under: Guest posts, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Every ash cloud has a silver lining: mapping social media 2.0

April 22, 2010 Leave a Comment

This is a guest post by Jeremy Bramwell, Client Services Director at IAS B2B Marketing.

The biggest and most bizarre news story of the year so far has got to be the Icelandic Volcano (I won’t even attempt to spell it, let alone get you to pronounce it), its accompanying ash cloud and consequential lockdown of Northern Europe’s airspace for 6 days.

I heard about this the first morning via @skynewsbreak in my Twitter feed and immediately started to think about using Twitter to map the movement of the ash cloud over the UK. Mistakenly, I thought that we’d actually be able to see the ash cloud and so I asked my Twitter followers to @ reply me their postcode if the ash was overhead (of course, I got no replies).

I got the idea from @benmarsh who developed a very neat application to map the affects of the snow in real time last winter. That of course is too clever for me and my intention was to create a cardboard map of the UK, give it a dusting of ash from an instant BBQ, take a picture and post it on Twitter for a bit of fun (see original tweet).

This I did and the ‘UK Ash Map’ took off getting 1,700+ views on Twitpic over the next 2 days. I quickly realised that the story was going to run and also tweeted the UK ash map from the @iasb2bmarketing Twitter account with the line ‘Mum’s not going to Iceland’.

I also toyed with other ideas of how we could as an agency have a bit of fun, and help people stuck in other parts of Europe, I even considered ‘re-naming’ IAS as ‘Icelandic Ash Services’ for the week and using our network of agencies across Europe to assist stranded B2B marketing professionals get home but the logistics were too complicated so that had to be shelved.

I learnt a valuable lesson in on-line to off-line PR from my very first UK Snow Map back in January, which was even more successful getting over 10,000 views on Twitpic, so set our PR team to work in producing an IAS press release on the UK Ash Map which has already gained good coverage in our key trade publications. Our agency is very creative, fun and irreverent and the ‘cardboard maps’ I create fit our brand perfectly, we may even put together a 2011 ‘Cardboard Map’ calendar I just need a few more biblical events to stimulate my imagination.

So in the interests of ‘new media art’ we are giving away a framed print of the UK Ash Map at IAS’ Digital PR forum in Manchester today, if you’re lucky enough to win it, you’ll have a small piece of Twitter history to put on your wall.

Filed Under: Guest posts, News, Public Relations, Social Media, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Using your green credentials

April 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

Colleen Smith from eFIG (The European Federation of Interior Landscape Groups) guest blogs for us this week and plants the ultimate environmental message.

We are all encouraged to be ‘greener’ and we all know some of the simplest steps, from switching off lights or turning the heating down. But being green isn’t just about reducing waste, it’s about actively contributing to a healthier environment.

As a business, one way to start your greening process is to bring in some plants. Such an investment is about more than just flashing your green credentials. Plants clean the air and refresh it with oxygen, turning your office into a more positive environment for staff and visiting clients alike. What’s more, plants can help to keep us calm and improve our concentration and productivity.

Whilst cleaning the air, they mop up the cocktail of toxins which are emitted into the air by everyday products from paper goods to electrical products which often can’t escape at work especially if there is no natural ventilation. Interior planting can noticeably reduce levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the indoor air as well as other toxins some of which are known to be carcinogenic.

Whilst it’s not as simple as to say they can help reduce your carbon footprint – the calculations are more complex – plants certainly say you care about your staff and the environment they work in.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With:

Will VoIP ever be good enough to risk ditching your landline?

April 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

There are significant cost savings to be made by making calls over the internet, but ditching the landline can seem like a big risk in a world where communications have to be consistent. Businesses aiming to project a professional image can’t subject callers to choppy sound and dropped lines, so we asked Chris Marling of Broadband Genie whether the technology is up to the job.

For a startup business to run efficiently, you have to get really mean on those bills. As well as making sure you’re thrifty when it comes to office essentials such as phone tariffs and broadband provider, without the luxury of being able to speed dial IT support, you’ll also want to make sure you can rely on all your essential communication set-ups.

The technology is there for users to be able to make calls over the internet without having to worry about expensive call time. Known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), the most common internet calling service is Skype. A firm favourite for those with family overseas, Skype is fast becoming the preferred VoIP service for those who want to be able to call landlines and mobile phones around the world at low, per-minute rates, or have the option to pay for unlimited calls in advance with a subscription.

But whether Skype is currently good enough to ditch your home phone is debatable. If you’re working from home or a small office, your phone is often your lifeline, so technical problems are just not acceptable.

Although it’s improved since its launch in 2003, it’s not uncommon for Skype users to complain of technical hiccups. As well as often experiencing problems with its initial connection to a dialled number, sometimes voice calls can seem a little distant or crackly. Outages are also a potential hazard. In the past, Skype users have fallen victim to lengthy service disruption – sometimes stretching out as long as three days. That’s bad news if you have important clients trying to call you.

The obvious answer is to keep a landline for incoming calls, but use Skype or another VoIP as a way of cutting back on expensive telephone bills, especially if you’re often calling overseas. At the moment, most broadband providers ask you to cough up for phone line rental anyway, so just having a phone on your desk seems like the obvious answer.

Of course, there is one way you can connect to the net without the obligation of line rental and that’s by using a mobile broadband dongle. Technically you can use Skype with mobile broadband. As long as you have a good 3G connection you should be offered enough bandwidth to talk online and you may even be lucky enough to use the video calling function without too many issues. Additionally, 3 UK even allows Skype to be used on their mobile phones.

However, other providers aren’t as relaxed about VoIP use over their networks, and although the likes of Orange and Vodafone haven’t specifically blocked Skype, their terms and conditions for VoIP make the rules a little hazy.

Additionally, last month 200 million Nokia users with a Symbian smartphone were given access to free Skype use. Shortly after, O2 said it would be blocking this service on its network as VoIP is strictly prohibited within its excessive use policy.

Industry experts have predicted sales of VoIP hardware to rise significantly this year. And with improved sales should come a more reliable service.

The future certainly looks promising for VoIP and with obvious money-saving benefits it’s a great feature for small offices. For now, however, if you do want to make the move over to Skype, or another VoIP service, it’s worth keeping your desk phone handy. Just in case.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing

Preparing tomorrow’s PR pros

March 29, 2010 1 Comment

This is a guest post by Jane Crofts, a PR Lecturer at the University of Lincoln. I asked Jane how the university is preparing the next generation of PR pros for the changing landscape amidst the rise and rise of social media

So how are we preparing the youth of today to be the PRs of tomorrow? Particularly bearing in mind that many of the tutors of today are the PRs of yesterday… and bearing in mind that the advent of Web 2.0 sees PR changing faster than it has for very many years!

At the University of Lincoln we are a small but beautifully formed team of ex-practitioners and academics setting PR in the business context alongside Marketing, Advertising, occasionally Management or HR and even less occasionally Journalism. Our purpose is to give students a solid academic grounding in their chosen subjects but with a practical dimension to give that added extra to their employability. To this end we encourage them to get as much paid or unpaid work experience as they can find and to develop a portfolio of work they can show off to potential employers.

Increasingly we are encouraging students to develop this portfolio online in the form of blogs and integrated web pages taking advantage of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn used appropriately – Facebook is very much the ‘Uni life’ and softer side of the portfolio! So, we are inviting our protégés to embrace Web 2.0…and then explain it to us!

The portfolio may also be a repository for some of their assignments for example in their studies of Managing PR the assignment is a blog about developing team working skills and a reflection on how the individual has learned about their own strengths and weaknesses as a team player. As part of PR for organisational communications part of the task is to develop a real campaign for an organisation of their choice – a charity or voluntary group – and to get as much of it implemented as possible.

But of course this is just part of the picture, it’s getting those blogs and pages noticed that will count. ‘Behind the Spin’ the Chartered Institute of Public Relations student online publication provides a great outlet for the students to write about their experiences, review books and observe about developments in PR. Recent contributors from Lincoln have attracted comment from far and wide resulting in offers of help with their careers and even jobs. Subjects have included a discussion of the role of Twitter in crisis communications and aspects of the debate between students from different schools at the University – is PR killing Journalism? One book review by a Lincoln student prompted the book’s author to make contact and another student’s observations about a PR campaign to stamp out spamming in PR attracted interest from the campaign manager.

Dissertations form a critical part of the final year of study and students are encouraged to explore something new. This year social media is a popular subject including its role in the workplace as an internal communications tool, its impact on music PR as well as the afore mentioned crisis management. The students are developing a wealth of original thought and creating new angles on old models such as the popular Grunig and Hunt four models of communication (Managing Public Relations, 1984).

So, to return to the question, I guess the students are preparing themselves very well and in true academic style we are guiding them to think independently, take risks and try new ideas in a safe environment. I am confident, therefore, that tomorrow’s PR specialists and thought leaders will be able to shift and change to meet their clients’ needs and provide wise counsel to ensure PR objectives are fully integrated into a powerful package of communications using the most appropriate tools and techniques from the ever expanding kit bag.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Public Relations, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How to get the best from your BT Tradespace profile

March 29, 2010 Leave a Comment

This a guest post from Amy Cutbill, Communities Manager, BT Tradespace.

I’m often asked “Why should I get a Tradespace profile” or told “Well, it isn’t doing much for me, so I don’t do anything on it”.

The truth is, if you give your Tradespace some TLC and keep it updated with fresh content, you will soon be seeing the benefits! If you just register your business name and never do anything else, you won’t get the brilliant results you are hoping for.

When setting up your Tradespace site, or taking a fresh look at your existing site, the best thing to do is imagine you are the customer you are wanting to attract – imagine them landing on your Tradespace profile. What would they think of you when they got there? Would they instantly know what you offer? Would they want to buy from you or get more information? Chances are, if you just have a business address and business name, they won’t go much further. But if you had a logo, a header image that suits your business/product or service, an ‘about us’ description, news and posts, images, products to purchase or services and perhaps some video… you’ll be well away!

People want as much information as possible before they make a purchase these days, they want to know what other people think of the item/business and they also want to know who they are buying from; using your Tradespace allows you to give them all that. You are able to show them the person behind the business and most importantly, show them you care about their business. People want to buy from people they know and trust after all.

One of the great benefits of BT Tradespace is the fact that you can add so much content to your site, you can add keywords to all content you are adding which all helps in getting you noticed. BT Tradespace profiles do very well on search engines such as Google and we often hear from people that they have their Tradespace site ranking higher than their actual website.

You can also network with other businesses on BT Tradespace. By getting involved in the communities on site, or creating your own you can meet like minded people, get advice on new ideas and build a support network for your business. Community activity also helps you get noticed online, Google picks up the activity so make sure you give your posts relevant keywords to get yourself seen!

We’ve recently added some new features to the site and there are even more ways to network and increase your visibility. By using the Fan feature, you are able to build up and manage your online reputation. By adding some Q&As to your free customer service community, ServiceSmart, you have yet another way to increase your online visibility as Google also picks these up very well.

We’re a friendly bunch at BT Tradespace and are always looking to promote the fantastic businesses & content on site, so if you are on BT Tradespace and you have something you think we should be featuring on the site, please do get in touch or you can always find us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/bttradespace).

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

The problem of defining a marketing budget

March 25, 2010 Leave a Comment

pile of moneyThis is a guest post from Crispin Read, co-director of Optimum Financials, specialist bookkeepers and accounts support. As Crispin knows a thing or two about how to use accounts to guide business decisions, I asked him for his experiences when it comes to deciding on a marketing budget.

Google for ‘How Much Should I Spend On Marketing’ and you are going to get about a half million pages of suggestions – from the sublime to the ridiculous; from everything you can afford to a clinical 20% of all revenue.

Taking the cold hard 20% of revenue as an example, let me tell you my story as a specialist bookkeeping service of three staff serving Lincolnshire and the East Midlands.

The routes we chose

The majority of marketing that we do at Optimum Financials is:

  1. Telemarketing
  2. Membership of tight referral networking groups
  3. Loose networking groups
  4. Advertising
  5. Web-based approach including new website, blogging, and email marketing

Quantifying results

Clearly the ideal is to know your target market and the channels you need to use to get to them, so that they can choose your products and services.  One of the first steps that we took was to engage a marketing consultant who specialises in supporting SMEs to help us define these very points.  After this, however, when you are starting out there is a temptation to spend as much as you can afford until you can work out what works and what doesn’t.

So, the most important question became, ‘how can we quantify which marketing method is the most effective?’ because, as one commentator has said: you have to insure against those impulse decisions which may result in nothing.

Because there are many ways in which you can calculate your marketing budget I suggest it matters not which method you choose, only that you quantify the results.  After all, this decision is like any other business decision – you need to show a return on your investment.  So whether you decide to invest 20% of revenues on Marketing, or everything that you can afford, each marketing method will have costs and revenues which must be quantified allowing you to calculate that ‘return on investment’ (ROI) .

Our marketing results

In terms of ‘getting out to the market’ – we do this well, we do a lot of marketing.  Some of this is a time investment, and some is an outsourcing investment.  Ultimately, based on what we have said must be done, we calculate our marketing AND sales based on the ROI as we see below:

Budgeting table

The jury is still out on web-based marketing, although as with each method with the exception of telesales/marketing there is a fairly long lead time and I don’t expect technology to provide any quicker results – just a quicker way to achieve a presence.

Factors influencing your return

In conclusion, my results suggest that doing almost anything consistently will produce a return.  That return will be dependent upon:

  1. What type of business you are
  2. The value of your product/service
  3. How likely you are to gain repeat purchases
  4. The cost of the marketing method

And if you don’t know how to answer those questions, well – that’s when you might need to ask for help.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Six questions to help your designer frame your words effectively

March 15, 2010 3 Comments

Tick boxes

This is a guest post from Andy Clayton of printing.com Lincoln & Newark.

So you’ve written – or had someone else write – some great copy all about your business, ready to go into print. The question now is how do you make this into a leaflet / brochure / flyer / booklet (delete as appropriate)?

This is where design comes in, and where things can start to go wrong. The common myth is that design is all about making things look pretty, but this is far from the truth. Design is fundamental to the success of a print marketing exercise: it’s about making the copy work, creating mood, attracting attention and initiating an action. For this reason, the first thing you need is someone who is skilled at acheiving these ends, and the next thing you’ll need is a good, clear design brief.

The following are the six questions I go through with each client before commencing any design work:

Who are you targeting?

Be specific – think about who this is actually aimed at. Every sector is different and designers will know the best way to attract the attention of different people whether it be by industry / role / gender / age. The worst answer any marketeer can hear is ‘everybody’ or ‘anyone, really’ as it is impossible to produce any material that targets everyone successfully.

What is your corporate identity?

You need to supply details of any relevant logos, images, fonts and colours so that the designer can keep to your business identity. Consistency is key in marketing. If you constantly change your image, you will dilute and weaken your message.

How do you wish to appear?

This is about how you want to position your offering in this particular piece; do you want to be seen as traditional or modern? professional or informal? luxury or budget? With this information, your designer can look at the appropriate fonts, images and colours to make sure the perception is correct.

What is the purpose?

Is this aimed at attracting new businesses who are unfamiliar with the brand or is it to give information that has been requested by clients? Designers need to know the purpose of the material so that the design can be maximised to that effect. It will dictate how the content is laid out and the focus throughout the piece.

How are you distributing?

Will you be posting, handing out or taking to an event? It is important that the design is done to the correct specification from the start as it saves time at the end. For example, if its to be posted then you need to remember the rates go up after A5 so therefore you need to either keep to that size or if it’s to be folded then it needs to be designed in such a way that the fold looks right.

What is the expected outcome?

You need to decide what you want people to do, as this defines your call to action. You need to spell out what the readers should do next and the designer needs to know this so that the design can emphasise and draw attention to the preferred action or point of contact

The questions above are there as a guide to help you create the best possible brief. By taking the time to collate the relevant information, you can reduce the time taken to produce designs, ensure your designer incorporates all relevant aspects, and therefore increase your chances of achieving success with the final piece.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Copywriting, Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Harness Twitter for your brand and add value for your followers

March 12, 2010 Leave a Comment

Working on sofa

This is a guest post by San Sharma of Enterprise Nation, the home business website.

It used to be that the measure of a successful website was how many hits it had. But more recently, when people have asked, the question has felt intrusive, as if they were asking to see our medical records or our bank accounts!

These days, however, it’s about engagement – and not hits – that determines what makes a successful website. And it’s a measurement that’s far more transparent anyway. You can pretty much see for yourselves when a website has comments beneath its blog posts, activity in its forums, @replies or retweets on Twitter.

And that’s why, at Enterprise Nation, the home business website, we started #watercoolermoment. It’s a Twitter trend that happens every morning at 11am, when homeworkers across the UK gather to discuss topics ranging from last night’s TV, to family, to books and business. It’s a chance for our followers to recreate that feeling of ‘office buzz’ without any of the downsides of working in an office. You can always tune out, we say, if you’re too busy, which is where we think we have the edge!

How it works is we tell our followers to use the hashtag #watercoolermoment in their tweets between 11am and 12pm each day. We usually set a topic beforehand (apart from on ‘freestyle Fridays’!) and tune into Twitter’s live search results to see the responses. Our followers can too. So, what you get is a huge conversation taking place, linked together by the hashtag we came up with.

It’s a fantastic way for us to increase engagement with our followers and to raise awareness of our brand. Their followers might wonder what #watercoolermoment is, and if they click the term, they’ll see the conversation taking place and us leading it. More than that, it’s a fantastic way for our followers to get to know one another, to overcome the cabin fever of working from home and share ideas and experiences.

#watercoolermoment is only in its third week, but it’s already a huge success. We love getting involved! It’s great for us and it’s great for our followers. And it works because it achieves our goals and adds value for our followers.

Visit Enterprise Nation at http://www.enterprisenation.com and follow at http://twitter.com/e_nation.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,
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