#7-case-studies-stories

@Carmel Anderson Customer awards are always a nice way to at least be able to use their name / logo publicly, even if you can't get them to agree to create content with you. Hard to say no to winning an award.

And this is obvious, but getting your Execs to make the asks of their execs has higher conversion rates. So maybe create your dream list and chat with the Sales leaders or company leaders who might be meeting with those customers.

Our biggest issue is that we don't present the value of logo use during the sales process. At one point, our contracts were written to say we WILL NOT USE their logos WITHOUT approval.

Not tested yet - but some ideas I'm working on for 2026:
• Get ahead of the legal red tape. Work with legal on pre-approved language for the customer's legal team as part of the sales process (specific to logo use).
◦ Make logo use a requirement in exchange for any discounting.
• Sell the value of logo use. Make it something they want, not something we need. Build advocacy into the contract/monetize approved advocacy as a specific price tier value. Logo placements at in-person events, on-stage thought leadership speaking opportunities, and industry-specific sponsorship opportunities (like monthly industry-specific meet-ups). Spotlight stories on social media, mentions in press releases, VIP experiences with senior leadership

One mental frame that can help - divorce / dissociate the individual user from the corporate organization.

Eg let's say your selling a translation solution to a big bank like Wells Fargo. Having sold to them before it's really damn hard to get WF to do a proper case study, or give you logo rights, or anything that's going to go thru legal or PR approval.

But let's say you have 40 users spread out across departments and regions.

Approach these users w a lower friction ask for feedback that doesn't connote "big case study you need to ask corporate for approval on."

@Wynn Tanner’s suggestion of awards is a great one that would fit this description very well.

And there are others -
• Feedback survey where you can at least publish detailed, substantive testimonials and proof points in a blinded/anon way (granted helps to have 3rd-party validation on these but anything is better than nothing)
• Playbooks / best practices guides/webinars/blog posts - don't frame the story as an "endorsement" - frame it more as a story that promotes the user as the hero (Lauren Turner has written some good pieces on that) or a best practices tactical guide
Approaches like that allow the individual user to feel more comfortable sharing some detail about their deployment (and the association that they are a customer is prob still pretty obvious) w/o having to go thru the big corporate machine.

I have had success with media opportunities and industry awards for senior level executives at large enterprises. As an example, I found a CIO award for an executive at a very large financial intuition. He was not required to provide a specific testimonial for our product but we sponsored the award and his company provided approval on logo use and a press release. His winning that award led to an interview with WSJ which did included a solid testimonial about our product, followed by speaking at a keynote at our very large (cybersecurity) users conference a few months later.

Here are some things that tend to work well for me:
• If you have a strong customer success and/or account management function, try to join QBRs or check-in calls to get in front of key customers. Having marketing be on the agenda and coming to the call with a reason why you want to build the story is key. So something like "I've heard from the team about how you've [use case / result / etc.] and I know other [role]s would be inspired to learn from you. I've recently worked with [customer examples] to capture their stories and would love to explore this with [account]. Here's how the process typically works..."
• Anticipate the questions PR/comms/legal will have and give the customer the answers so it's easier for them to get a yes. A kind of case study FAQ to show it's a low-risk, high-value opportunity.
• If a customer has done something else with you, e.g. spoken on a panel or presented at a CAB etc., proactively draft a case study based on the inputs you've got so they have a clear sense of what you intend to produce. This helps get to yes more easily too.
• Play the long game! I have one customer who is at a very large enterprise company who loves us, however they've got a serious approval process for this sort of thing. I had one of the champions speak on a panel with us in April and I've been in touch with her ever since. We are co-designing the process so that we are working with the company's timelines and I'm keeping her engaged along the way, providing info, checking in on how their expansion is going, etc. Our plan is to publish a case study around March 2026, and despite the long timeline it's what's best for the story since the account has expanded and grown with us quite a bit.