Wrong! Just because you have a story explaining how a customer is successfully using your company’s technology, doesn’t mean you’ll always get media coverage. One journalist from an online IT publication told me recently, “New tech implementations are installed every day, so we can’t cover every announcement.” And some tech news sites have told me they don’t cover customer stories at all anymore.
So, how do you maximise the chances of getting your customer success stories covered? Here are some practical tips:
1. Offer a customer interview
If you can get a senior customer spokesperson to get on the phone in an online meeting to talk directly with a journalist, it adds credibility and humanizes the story. Most Tier 1 tech publications prefer to create their own narrative and hooks in this way, using your press material as a reference.
2. Make it timely
The more current the installation, the more attractive it is to the media, so ensure you pitch your story as soon as it goes live. Some tech publications want to cover IT deployments that are part way through or before the full geographical roll-out – so they can write an as-it-happens story. However, this is often a tough call in the real world – where customers seldom let you publicise an installation until it’s complete.
3. Say it with pictures
An interesting image that captures the eye (not the onbligatory shots of computer hardware that publications are already inundated with) can often mean the difference between getting covered and being consigned to a journalist’s deleted email folder. And research shows that people are much more likely to read a story with an interesting image next to it! Choose visuals that tell a story – photos of the technology in use or customer teams working on-site
4. Offer an exclusive
The UK B2B technology media sector is crowded, and journalists are often incentivised to get stories that aren’t being covered by the competition. If you know a publication that’s very highly read by your target audience, consider giving it an exclusive. Try to adjust the content to align with its specific editorial focus.
5. Tailor it to different sectors
Some customer stories might be of interest to several different publication sectors. An online retailer using new payment software could be relevant to IT, retail, and financial media – if framed appropriately. You can increase your coverage chances by tailoring the pitch to suit the styles of the different verticals – emphasize efficiency improvements more for IT outlets for instance, and the customer experience gains more for retail.
6. Jump on the bandwagon
If the media’s all excited about a particular trending issue or technology – AI or ESG for example – then be explicit about how your customer story touches these areas. Obviously, if your link to these areas is more spin than substance, you’ll be ignored! But when it works, it can really work. I once used a customer story about an IT deployment to land coverage on the BBC and The Times national newspaper (as well as dozens of IT trade media) by aligning it to the trending topic of the digital divide.
Customer success stories are a powerful PR tool, but only when properly executed. Tactics such as offering customer interviews, pitching stories as soon as they’re live, using compelling visuals and tailoring your pitches to multiple verticals are some ways to maximise your chances of getting coverage.