By Liz Wilson
People are fascinating. People’s stories are compelling. Don’t you agree? It’s why we enjoy reading or listening to interviews, why we love fiction and biography.
When you want to feature customers in your content marketing, you can create compelling stories as an alternative to traditional testimonials. One way of doing this is by talking about the whole person rather than just the “customer.” You can get everything you need from a simple interview done via email and Skype with an audio recording add-on or a webcam.
You don’t have time for interviews, I hear you say. It does take a little time and effort, but it will be worth it if your communications are more widely read and enjoyed. What would you rather read: a testimonial, or a real story?
If you have a budget you can hire a professional writer, but if not, you could try my way — maybe it will work for you, too.
1. Research. Find out as much about the person as possible: not just how they use your product or service, but also their background, their passions, their ambitions.
I interview eight to 10 people a month and I thoroughly research each one through their blog, website, LinkedIn profile, Twitter and Facebook accounts, and any other interesting links.
Build up a picture of them before the interview so that you can make your questions highly relevant. They will appreciate the time and trouble you took to do some research.
2. Prepare questions. Using your research, prepare around 10 questions. I suggest that four of them relate to how the interviewee uses your product or service, and the others ask about their business, their dreams, their leisure interests – or whatever comes to mind from your research.
If you are having trouble finding the right questions, try adapting these:
- What made you start your business?
- What do you enjoy about it?
- What’s your typical working day like?
- Have you overcome any challenging times?
- What plans do you have for the future?
- How does my product or service help you?
- What tangible difference has it made to your business?
- How have you found our customer service?
- What tips do you have for someone starting a new business in your field?
- What do you do when you’re not working?
Send the questions to the interviewee by email at least a week before the interview. This gives them time to think about the answers. I do this by email, and I explain my process and ask them to suggest a time to talk on Skype.
If you need a photo, ask for it when you email, as it often takes people a while to dig out one they like. (You can also search flickr for one, and then check that they’re happy with your choice).
3. Skype and record the interview. Make sure it’s OK to record them. As you’ve both prepared, the interview will be focused. But you don’t have to stick to the prepared questions if something more interesting comes up.
How long should it take? I usually allow 30 minutes. If the interview is too long, you will have a time-consuming job taking the information from your recording later.
There are a number of Skype recording tools. I use Riviera, which should cost less than $20 (price may vary from country to country). I note down key phrases as we’re talking, and I have the full recording to go back to when I’m writing up the interview.
Some of the other tools are MP3 Skype Recorder, your iPhone or iPad, and ecamm. This post on TheNextWeb lists five options.
5. Write up the interview. I suggest doing this in Q and A (question and answer) format. You’ve already got a structure from the questions you prepared. So you only need to transcribe the quotes you want, perhaps edit them, and add an introduction and a headline. You can make it as long or short as you like.
There’s nothing to stop you using the audio to create an edited podcast, or using a video recording app for the same purpose. I don’t currently do either of those, but a future post may follow!
To confirm accuracy with the subject, send the finished interview over for a quick check, and mention a deadline for sending it back.
How do you tell stories about your customers?
Liz Wilson is a freelance writer, editor, blogger and content curator. She is also Staff Writer for Paper.li http://paper.li/, the content curation tool that lets you publish an online newspaper from Twitter or RSS feeds, or any other Web content. She applies her journalist’s skills to creating and editing content for a variety of clients including small and large businesses and nonprofits. Follow her on Twitter @lizwilson2, check out her blog www.dotcomma.me and her LinkedIn profile or subscribe to her Paper.li. Read her interviews for Paper.li.
Image by Flickr user Daehyun Park (Creative Commons)
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