Continuing from the previous post on interviews and how to write them up into a white paper, here are 4 more customer interview questions for generating the information readers want to see.

4. What are some current approaches to solving this business problem? Why are they inadequate?

Your readers are already making do, but they’re not very happy with what they have in place because:

• it’s a chewing-gum-and-baling-wire hack
• it’s too slow/expensive/low-performing
• time is not on their side

That’s why they want to read your paper. This is also the opportunity to shake them out of their inertia by pointing out threats you’ve identified that haven’t yet occurred to them; e.g., “If another, less understood scenario of universal health care plays out, providers will also be on the hook for…”

5. Why/how can the approach you’ve chosen overcome these inadequacies?

This information forms the turning point for the paper, as discussion changes from listing problems to solving them. The SME’s time on this question is best spent relating how s/he has seen the approach work in the real world, in a variety of situations. Don’t soak up valuable interview time with a detailed discussion of the approach that already exists in other documentation, slide decks, technical content, etc.

Arm your readers with information and let them draw their own conclusions.

A true white paper will describe the approach rather than your product or service itself, then let readers figure things out on their own. If the paper needs to include a discussion of your product, label it a “technology overview,” “buyer’s guide” or similar. link to rant on mislabeling white papers>.

6. Which particular advantages do they get with your company’s implementation of the approach?

Again, in a true white paper, the goal is not to flog a product, but to build trust and educate. Describing a potential advantage to readers is more proof that you’re in their shoes, thinking of things that have not yet occurred to them.

For example, if the technology you’ve chosen for compressing digital movies also includes the advantage of encrypting them for protection against privacy, mention this in a clinical manner as a potential benefit, without naming it as a feature of your product.

7. Describe a few steps in adopting and integrating this approach in environments familiar to readers.

The white paper is not an implementation guide or a user manual, but this information anticipates the technology questions that will arise at the next level of scrutiny. The people responsible for installing, maintaining and living with the product or service have an itch that the white paper needs to at least begin to scratch, so don’t ignore that itch.

With the answer to this question, you can demonstrate your technical chops to all readers, even those with a business focus. Tell them about replacing the carburetor with fuel injection, but don’t go into which hoses to switch or bolts to loosen.

Once you see how to write customer interview questions that focus on real customer problems, you’ll begin to draw out the kind of information that builds trust with readers.

John White of venTAJA Marketing is a marketing communications writer for technology companies. He posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it. Download his eBook, “10 Questions to Ask When Hiring Your Marketing Communications Writer.”

photo credit: DeepCwind

Related posts:

1. B2B White Paper Interviews – 7 Questions (Part 1)
2. Steal This White Paper Outline!
3. White Paper Projects That Don’t Go Well – Part III

My new client’s CTO is bright and busy, and he talks fast. I was on time for my appointment in his office to interview him on server virtualization, and before I’d gotten to my second question, I saw his eyes dart to the clock on the wall behind me.

“You’d better let him do the talking,” my brain told my mouth. Mouth agreed, and we let the CTO tell his story.

“I want this piece to do two things,” he said. “I want it to differentiate us from our competitors in the areas of availability, failover and load balancing, and I want it to describe the benefits of each of those.”

Then he took off like a street fighter on global deployments, payloads and server utilization levels. I had no trouble understanding it, but my brain started nagging me again after a few minutes.

“Whom does he want to read this?” it asked.

“He hasn’t yet told us,” replied my mouth. “Shall I find out?”

“I think you’d better.”

“Excuse me,” I asked the CTO, “Who is the audience for this piece?”

The question seemed to catch him off guard. “Oh, well, I would guess that it would be…well, I suppose the people who would be interested in this are…I’m trying to couch it in terms that would matter to…IT managers and people who need to make equipment work properly in a data center.”

He paused for a moment as I jotted notes. “Yes, that’s right: IT managers.” I think he replayed most of the interview through his head to see whether he had indeed said things that would be meaningful to that audience, then recalibrated himself slightly and continued.

I still find it odd that people find that question odd. It almost always catches my interviewee off balance, but when I get a proper answer, it’s miraculous how much easier it is to write.

I’ve tried posing the question in e-mail ahead of time, but it has no effect on how people talk about the subject. Even when I raise it at the start of the discussion, the interviewee rarely sticks with it.

It is up to the marketing communications writer or content marketer to keep the interviewee focused on the ideal reader. Most people in an interview are simply too absorbed in telling their story to focus on the audience.

How do you keep an interviewee on track with the audience’s needs?

John White of venTAJA Marketing is a marketing communications writer for technology companies. He posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it. Download his eBook, “10 Questions to Ask When Hiring Your Marketing Communications Writer.”

photo credit: US Information Agency

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Leon Sterling of Compelling Concepts wrote last week about the blurred (or missing) distinction between Marketing and Sales in the minds of most people in a given organization.

True, Marketing is strategy and Sales is execution, but even that nuance is lost on, say, a draftsman or a QA lead or the bloke who runs the warehouse. Many of these people think that the main difference between Marketing and Sales is that Marketing lies and Sales lies even more.

I spend a lot of time with software engineers, and my rapport with them is important.

• Why? Because I need to get information out of their heads and into marketing content.
• Do they care what it’s for? No.
• Why not? Because they don’t realize that I need to feed the strategy (Marketing) beast so that the company can have some execution (Sales).
• Would it be better if they cared? Yes, I think so.
• Why? It’s possible to show these people that their contributions to Marketing can help move the Sales needle. That will resonate with some of them, and they will participate more actively.
• What should we do? I’m glad you asked.

Show them the marketing science

Consider that the reason that your co-workers don’t honor your work is that they don’t see the science in it.

You’re a marketing manager; do you feel the science in what you do? Is your organization helping you to promote that science?

You know what I mean by “science”: the data you collect that helps you justify your marketing spend.

Try starting conversations with your co-workers and subject matter experts with sentences like these:

• “81 percent of physicians online visit sites with content expressly for health care professionals. These physicians are our target market, and that’s why I need your expertise to help me develop the pieces we’re going to place there.” (Marketing metrics)
• “We get about 12 percent conversion based on the keyword ‘IT service management’ and over 22 percent conversion based on ‘service catalog.’ That’s why I want to interview you on customer requirements for the catalog.” (Web analytics)
• “In April we posted once a week to our blog. In May and June we posted two or three times a week, and three new analysts started following us. These people are influential, and I need you to help me keep blogging good content so we can ride and support that influence.” (Content frequency)

You know the data are there. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t have a job. Savvy marketing managers realize that they can turn the data not only outward, to help the sales effort, but also inward, to evangelize their co-workers.

They have solid marketing data and they’re not afraid to use it.

John White of venTAJA Marketing is a marketing communications writer for technology companies. He posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it. Download his eBook, “10 Questions to Ask When Hiring Your Marketing Communications Writer.”

photo credit: Rob Ireton

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1. Marketing = Starting the Conversation

Writer on the wrong path?

White papers – or any long pieces – need structure, and you need to agree on the structure before you write the paper. Be sure your writer includes these elements in an outline.

How often do you get started down a path in your work, only to realize you have to backtrack and go down a different path? Is there anything more frustrating than discarding work you’ve already done and restarting it?

For example, your marketing communications writer interviews three subject matter experts for a white paper you’ve commissioned, then writes up the interviews and sends you a draft. You read it. You scream.

“No!!!” you holler. “This isn’t where I want this to go. We have to tear this down and start over.”

White paper draft gone astray

Here’s what can go wrong on a long piece when the writer just dives in and goes straight to the draft:

• Off-topic – “This isn’t what I wanted you to write about,” you complain. “I don’t want the paper to describe the history of the industry. I want it to describe our technology.”
• Off-fact – Does the draft cover the facts I want in it? Think Thomas More in Utopia: “Include nothing false, omit nothing true.”
• Off-message – The white paper supports an organization’s goal and message – thought leadership, lead generation, sales support – and each paragraph needs to move the reader in that direction. If I’m trying to build trust over time, don’t give me content that bellows “Buy Now!”

You need to see structure before you see the draft. A good writer will take care of that for you by first providing an outline.

White paper outline

Look for these four elements in the outline of a marketing or technical white paper:

1. Summary – Sometimes airily called “Executive Summary” – hey, we’re all executives now, so let’s get over this – this will tell readers what they’re going to get out of the paper, and in a draft it tells you what the writer understands about the subject. Frankly, most people would argue that draft-stage is too early for a summary, but it shows you which path your marketing communications writer intends to take the reader. If you don’t like it, this is a good time to let her know.
2. Main messages – Three (count ‘em) bullets in a box either just before or just after the Summary. Bullet 1 states the problem and why it costs customers time and money; bullet 2 mentions the inflection point, or why things are ripe for change; and bullet 3 vaguely describes the new solution and how it will help customers save time and money. The writer must get these right, and you must agree with them.
3. Bullets for the rest – A reasonably well thought-out series of bullets that build the argument yet give readers the impression that they’re drawing their own conclusions from facts you’re presenting. Be sure they include nothing false and omit nothing true.
4. For More Information (How to Follow Us) – Homework for you. The writer isn’t responsible for what you want readers to do once they’ve finished the paper; that’s your job. By including this in the outline, the writer is giving you time to talk to Customer Service or your sales team or your Web team and put the plumbing in place for readers who want to take the next step.

Isn’t this the kind of structure you want when you’re spending big money on a project like this? What do you put in place to keep your writer from going too far down the wrong path?

John White of venTAJA Marketing posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it.

photocredit: pfly

Related posts:

1. “It’s a Good Outline, But I Hate It.” – Making Outlines Work
2. A White Paper Project That Went Well
3. White Paper Projects That Don’t Go Well – Part I

Je pense, donc j'essuie.

In a customer interview, your marketing communications writer can get more out of interviewees or subject matter experts if she can make them think.

Years ago, my boss at the time, a VP of marketing, gave me the secret to working with our infuriating, inscrutable, mercurial CEO:

You’ve got to make him think.

Frankly, I wasn’t adept at it then – hence, my being laid off some months later – and I’m still not good at it, but I’m working with a marketing communications writer who knows how to make our subject matter experts and even our customers think.

I heartily enjoy seeing them rise to the challenge.

Making the Customer Think in a Customer Interview?

This seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? Why would you run the risk of antagonizing a customer or engineer who is doing you a favor by allowing you to pick his brain for a white paper or case study?

This writer is smart enough not to try to impress the interviewee with her knowledge of the business or technology. She doesn’t need to know more in those fields to make the interviewee think.

It’s all in the three questions she poses them to explain it.

1. “How cool is this technology, would you say?” She doesn’t ask about the novelty or even the cost-effectiveness of the technology. She’s looking for The Cool. In fact, she’s not even looking for it, but asking the interviewee to lead her right to it. Is the cool thing about predictive text entry on a cell phone that it only takes up a few KB of phone memory, or that it helps you text faster, or that it can guess which letters you want to enter next? And how cool is it?
2. “What can you tell me about this story that would get readers to want to share it with other people?” This is a big part of writing for social media, which she understands quite well. It’s thinking one step past the ideal readers, to their desire to share the story with their social network.
3. “If you were looking for a story like this on the Web, which search terms would you use?” Not everybody can get away with asking this question – I cannot – but she can. It’s the ultimate search engine optimization question, of course, and while interviewees can’t vouch for every possible keyword, their insight is valuable.

Questions like these might lead you to think that her drafts consist of keyword-stuffed, awkward copy. If she didn’t process the answers to these questions as well as she does, they would be awful copy. But, as a marketing communications writer, she knows what I want out of the piece, and she understands our audience very well, so she knows what to do with the answers.

By making the interviewees and subject matter experts think, she’s done more than tell our story: She’s told it without making our readers have to think.

(Tip of the hat to Steve Krug of Don’t Make Me Think fame).

photo credit: Dionetian

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Think about three scenarios before you contact – let alone hire – the writer:

Ducks in a row

You already have available all of the relevant material the writer will need. It may be necessary for her to conduct a couple of interviews, but you’ll provide the subject-matter experts. In this case, the writer’s main job is to assemble what you have into a cohesive whole that tells your story.

The Rub: Be prepared for the writer to organize it in a different way from your way, and maybe even draw a conclusion you hadn’t seen. If that happens, will you be open to it?

Let the writer do the research

You know that you want a lot of data in the paper. It needs to go beyond telling a good story; it needs to convince the reader completely, and relevant data are necessary. But…you don’t know where to find them. “Somebody out there must have the information,” you muse, “so I’ll send the writer to do the research, because I don’t have the time.”

The Rub: No ordinary writer will do. You need to find somebody who both knows where to find research on your industry and is willing/able to write a paper for you. This will cost a lot. In technology, science and education, there are writers who can do this, but in many industries (e.g., transportation, construction) which are not known for extensive literature, you’ll do better to get the research from the expert, then have the writer work with it.

Find me a clairvoyant

You have the idea for the paper – typically because an immediate sales opportunity demands it – and you need it pretty soon, so you think you can find a writer who can pull it out of thin air, with no real research.

The Rub: You’re asking for disappointment. I’ve worked with sales managers who thought it was that easy, and I’ve always had to set them straight. The finished product is going to be only as good as what goes into it, and if all you give the writer is your inspiration, then you’re going to get a paper that makes little sense to the reader.

So, before you pick up the phone, ask yourself, “Do I want the writer to perform the research, or am I going to do it?”

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“But if you want a technical case study, why interview the VP of marketing?”

“He’s the interview we can get. Make it work.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. One of my best friends is a VP of marketing and a very technically knowledgeable guy. He can keep up with engineers, but he knows that writing is the process of taking the cut-up dead chicken parts that engineers use to describe things, and turning them into “finger-lickin’ good” marketing content.

Most VPs of marketing don’t think that way.

So, when we got him on the phone, the VP spent most of his time telling us about Zog Systems and its 24-carat, ironclad commitment to customer satisfaction, instead of how his employees use our products. I gently guided him back to talking about our tools, but it was obvious from his bland remarks that he didn’t know much about them. He also pointed out that he couldn’t tell us much about his customers (“too confidential”) or very much about the applications on which Zog Systems had used our tools (“mostly consumer and high-tech electronics”).

Also, since our product manager was on the call, the VP misinterpreted the interview for a focus group, first by telling the product manager how to make the tools better – to which lecture the product manager studiously listened -  then by educating us on how we should position the tools against competitors.

After the call, I confided to the product manager that the interview had left me with little more than a bag of rocks, but that I was pretty confident I could make something of it. That the conversation had been a flop was lost on the product manager.

“I thought that went pretty well, didn’t you?” he asked.

Nyet.

So I wrote up the case study and the product manager liked it. He asked me to send it to the VP at Zog and to get some graphics from him to include in the piece. That was in September. After several empty assurances via e-mail that he would review it “right away,” I reached the VP by phone in late November. “I’ve got too many things going right now and I can’t focus on that until next month,” he barked.

I told the product manager that I didn’t want to strain a lucrative business relationship over a two-page case study, and that it was his call, since it was his relationship. In February they conversed, and after a few more weeks Zog’s VP gave me approval on the case study along with a graphic.

It wasn’t a disaster, but it certainly didn’t go well.

Morals:

• There’s something about VPs of marketing as subject-matter experts that doesn’t always work to the writer’s advantage.
• Record your interviews, because if you can’t find any meat on the big bones, you need to be able to pick through lots of small ones to salvage a decent story.
• Inform any of your co-workers on the call that the objective is to get a story, not to collect product requirements.

Not only that, but I’m glad there’s apparently no such company as Zog Systems, a name I just concocted. Maybe I’ll buy the domain just so I can use it in future posts…

Related posts:

1. A Case Study That Went Well

1. Tell the writer about the interviewee’s specialty and personal characteristics, the kinds of information to elicit, and what you want out of the interview. If I know that I’m trying to get information from an engineer on how the company’s technology was developed, I’ll steer him/her away from discussions of product marketing and trade shows. When you provide this kind of background, you save yourself time and money in the long run, even if you have to brief the writer a bit.
2. Tell the interviewee what you’re trying to accomplish in the interview and in the written piece. Most interviewees never get this picture. The writer can provide it during the conversation, but it’s awkward, and you as marketing manager are in a better position to describe the goals in terms that will mean something to your co-worker or customer.
3. Take part in the meeting or call. It’s a good idea to be part of the conversation yourself, especially with a new writer or a new project. If your writer has done six case studies with your customers already, and you’re confident about the work product, then there’s no need to attend. But if you’re asking your press release writer to interview an investor, you should plan to be a fly on the wall to keep the conversation going the way you want it to go and help the writer through unfamiliar territory.

Yes, of course, it makes perfect sense. But so does flossing your teeth, and a lot of people don’t do that either. This is really cheap insurance on the project for which you hire a new writer.

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I spend a lot of time reminding – “pestering” is a less compassionate way of putting it – reviewers to turn copy around, because writers need time to incorporate changes, and some reviewers forget that until the eleventh hour, then expect final copy in no time flat.

An “E” occurred to me as the best shape in which to describe this; hence, the figure.

The lower you are in the organization – say, a marketing coordinator or below – the longer it takes you to run a review loop and return the draft to the writer. This is because you’re not empowered to make decisions about such things and need to route them around the organization among those who are so empowered.

Paradoxically, the higher you are in the organization – say, a vice president or above – the longer it takes you ALSO to run a review loop and return the draft to the writer. This is because you are very busy putting out fires and your time is precious.

If you’re in the middle of the organization, however, you can run a pretty short review loop and keep the project moving. You understand the project, you know whether the draft meets the organization’s goals, and you’re already responsible for outward-facing content.

It goes deeper. In the middle of the organization, you probably view the writer as a peer, rather than as a superior or a subordinate. It’s easier for you to sympathize with a good writer’s objective – to do a good job in the shortest time possible – and easier for you to want the writer to succeed.

Do you see this “E” as you route drafts through your organization? How do you deal with it?

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1. Happy Writer, Happy Client

There’s no denying, though, that most slide decks – pardon me for avoiding the trademarked term, “P****P***t,” from the company in Redmond – are pretty dry. There’s also no denying that there’s a lot of gold in them, if you know how to mine it.

Here’s how I describe it to clients:

“Your president or subject matter expert (SME) goes to a conference with a brilliant idea in her head. She creates a slide deck around it and presents it to 500 attendees, all of whom agree that it’s brilliant. They all get copies and forward them to their colleagues back at the office. These colleagues open them up and see…a bag of bullets. No narrative, no anecdotes, no flesh on the skeleton – just a bag of bullets.

“What happened to all of the brilliance, and how can we preserve it? We convert the presentation into a white paper or technical article, then make that available, instead of the slide deck.

“Once it tells a story, Marketing can use it, our PR company can use it, Sales can use it, even the execs can use it.”

We’ve done this for several presentations from product managers. We need the content out of their brains and into print anyway, and getting it from a conference presentation is usually the most efficient way of packaging it, because they’re always to busy to sit down and commit their knowledge to the printed word.

Here’s what your writer needs to do this properly:

• a copy of the slide deck
• a recording – audio or audio/video – of the presentation
• access to the SME in case of questions
• 15-30 hours

Important: Some SMEs try to record their delivery while commuting to the office, or while shaving, or while waiting for their children’s soccer games to start. The results are not as crisp as in a recording from a live delivery of the presentation before a live audience, which ensures the requisite amount of adrenaline and lack of self-consciousness for a properly delivered, playing-to-the-gallery, think-on-your-feet presentation, warts and all. Digital audio recorders, Flip cameras, and sound panel recordings from the conference engineers will get your writer what he needs.

How do you prise this kind of 24-karat content from the heads of your SMEs and execs?

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