«Return to Blog List Create Quotes That Stand Alone
By Casey Hibbard
In any customer case study, quotes are the gems that shine through – the actual voice of the customer.
Customer quotes add major credibility to your story. AND, they are extremely valuable pieces of content that you can use throughout your marketing…
• Peppered on a website
• Showcased in social media
• Included in proposals
• Highlighted in sales presentations
• And more
That means that, within a case study, customer testimonials must be able to stand alone. In other words, if you pulled them out and read them outside the context of the case study, would they make sense?
Try this: Copy and paste quotes somewhere separate from the rest of the story. Then read the quotes by themselves.
Does they make sense? Do you need to add a word here or there?
Here’s an example of what a quote might look like before taking this step, and after…
Before:
“The ability to plug in our office communications anywhere allows us to hit the ground running when we arrive on site.”
After:
The altered quote below gives context and greater importance to the quote…
“Our annual convention, in conjunction with the NCAA Men’s Final Four, is our marquee event every year. The ability to plug in our office communications anywhere allows us to hit the ground running when we arrive on site.”
And another…
Before:
“Encryption secures our data end-to-end with no performance degradation, so we can meet SLAs and performance and security expectations at the same time.”
After:
Often, it’s simply a matter of adding the vendor’s name to make it a more valuable quote for your sales and marketing. Also, spell out acronyms.
“Datrium Blanket Encryption secures our data end-to-end with no performance degradation, so we can meet our service-level agreements and performance and security expectations at the same time.”
If you have a case study checklist – items and steps to cross off before you complete a case study – make sure to add “create stand-alone quotes.” The goal: make every single quote sparkle and connect with the audience no matter where they read it.
