What motivates marketers to engage more deeply in success story marketing?
How do they justify their efforts? I was getting feedback from one of my clients recently. This firm doesn’t have a big marketing budget but felt like it was an investment that’s really paying off because it opens the door to some bigger companies. To be able to say, “We’re working with X,” makes it more likely that they’ll be able to get in with company Y. They are able to show the actual return on investment with other companies and that has made the difference for them. You mention in your book several companies that are deriving success stories from their customer reference programs. Do you see these programs as a further extension of success story marketing? Definitely. I don’t know a lot of companies that have reference programs. But having some reference function is important – even just tracking happy customers and what they’re willing to do, even if it’s not a case study. Are they willing to do a press release? Participate in reference calls with prospects? It’s important that
