The Key to Authentic Marketing, Part 1: Human Stories at Every Touchpoint

At Snoball, we use case studies, early wins, and what we call snippets to infuse every touchpoint with the voices of our clients and partners.

Let’s dive into how we do it.

• Case Studies
  • 3 Types of Case Studies
  • Recording Enhancements
• Early Wins
• Client Snippets
• Bringing It All Together

Case Studies

We work hard to infuse every touchpoint with as much humanity as possible. We share real stories to connect emotionally with our audience in a way they can relate to. This includes case studies, not just a writeup, but an in-depth video interview.

3 Case Study Types

Let me introduce you to three places to start with your customer stories. It’s great to have these in your back pocket while you’re waiting for results to roll in. You can always mine these other opportunities for stories that are very compelling and will resonate with your audience. These approaches include:

1. Deliver Great Results

We start by pursuing the most obvious type of case study, highlighting those clients who’ve had impressive results with the Snoball platform. These stories showcase the bottom-line impact and are by far our most popular. 

For example: Better Earth case study. Our results were fantastic, so we specifically called them out. I drafted questions for them to answer about the results they saw. Then, we asked them how that improved their day-to-day. This is one of our most popular case studies and is promoted prominently throughout our website and on our Success Stories page. We’ve also created a PDF version that we arm our sales team with.

2. Make Their Life Easier

For clients who are early in their journey and haven’t seen major results yet, we highlight the fact that they have their sanity back. We aren’t just marketing to the company, but to the people who will use our software. Thanks to us, now they can simply hand their word-of-mouth marketing over to us, and some internal admin isn’t going nuts anymore trying to manage all the referrals, follow-ups, payouts, and monitoring—showing prospects how great their life will be once they sign on. This makes for a great case study.

For example: Atlasta case study. Cassandra, our guest, excitedly describes how her old referral process included sticky notes and piles of paper. Now, after a few clicks, she’s done. The results were good, but the real, everyday win was how easy Snoball made her life.

3. Provide Ongoing Guidance

In his book, ‘Building a Storybrand’, Donald Miller talks about the fears that prospects have before pulling the trigger. One of them is that actually implementing and using the product will be a nightmare and that they’ll be left alone to figure it out. We address this with case studies that show how simple the implementation is and how great our support team is to work with. 

For example: Suntria case study. Their results were pretty good, but Estephany really loves working with our client success team. She called out members of our team by name and talked about how they helped her every step of the way. Capturing this and focusing on our people shows how much companies will love working with us after they sign on. 

These are the types of case studies we create, but the problem is, we don’t have a ton of resources, so we do these interviews over a webcam. Sometimes things don’t go perfectly while recording these interviews.

Recording Enhancements

We have a few tricks up our sleeve if the recording has a few hiccups. We use internal employee clips to frame the conversation and clarify key points. We like to include team members who have worked with the client and can speak to the results or their interactions. 

For example: JK Moving case study. I didn’t ask the questions very well during the interview. That meant that during the editing process, the questions and answers didn’t flow from one to the other very well, making the transitions really clunky. So, we put Curtis from our client success team in front of a camera and asked him to share a few things to make these segments transition smoothly from one scene to another.

Another issue we run into is low-quality audio in the recording. Luckily, we’ve found an AI tool that helps. Descript is a video editing software with an AI ‘Stereo Sound’ setting that can improve the sound quality even without a professional microphone. You have to be careful with it—you can turn up or down the intensity of the feature. If you go too high, it’ll have a tinny sound or remove ‘S’s. So use it carefully.

Another problem we see is that sometimes our guest isn't looking into the camera. We use Descript’s ‘Eye Contact’ feature, which uses AI to adjust their gaze. It's still in beta, so be sure to review the video carefully to ensure it looks natural.

For example: ReNu Solar and Roofing case study (coming soon!). Our guest was fantastic in the recording, but he wore eyeglasses that created glare, making him look like he was looking at his desk. After we applied the tool, I was surprised at how natural the final video looked. Even through his glasses and when he blinked and turned his head, it looked like he was naturally looking into the camera.

We also use stock footage to cover up awkward moments or enhance the overall quality. And remember, adding an intro, outro, graphics, and music can really elevate even a webcam case study video.

These interviews don’t have to cost thousands of dollars to produce. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the impact a case study can have even if recorded over a webcam and enhanced with the tools I mentioned.

Early Wins

We celebrate our clients’ “early wins” by posting graphics that highlight the number of reviews and referrals they receive. Instead of bragging about our software, we frame our messaging to showcase how amazing our clients are.

We have a HubSpot alert that pings Slack, our office communication tool, every time a new company has an especially successful referral campaign. The client success and marketing teams receive notifications about these early great results.

My team then creates a graphic highlighting the successful campaign. We send it to the client and tell them we want to sing their praises on social media. Our approach isn’t to focus on how Snoball is great at getting referrals; instead, we frame it as, "Good companies get customers. But great companies get customer referrals." We share the number of referrals gained, showing the world how great the company is and how trusted they are to get so many referrals from their happy customers. 

For example: New York Power Solutions. We shared their results, shining light on how trusted they are. Additionally, for another company, Sunrun, we highlighted their new reviews. Not only did they engage with our post, but later they reposted it, creating another wave of attention.

Whenever we share these wins, we encourage everyone at Snoball to engage with the post. We swoop in, like a social media swat team, with our clients, ambassadors, and others on social media by liking, commenting, and reposting their content. This helps fan the flames of their success. Plus, we quote our clients in our thought leadership blog posts, ensuring every touchpoint is filled with their voices.

Our clients love it, and Snoball rides the wake of all the attention their company is getting.

Client Snippets

We incorporate client quotes, what I call “snippets," throughout tons of our content, like thought leadership articles on our Content Hub. We also invite partners, ambassadors, and industry leaders to join our podcast, The Snoball Effect, and often quote these individuals in later content, adding another layer of human touch throughout every touchpoint.

For example: Matt with Atlasta was interviewed for a case study. He shared several insights and well-phrased quips that we’ve used throughout our other thought leadership content. Most recently, we quoted him in our article about crafting referral incentives. Creating another way to give our clients a voice and to make our content more human.

Bringing It All Together

At Snoball, our approach to marketing is deeply rooted in human connections. By leveraging authentic customer stories, celebrating early wins, and incorporating snippets from real experiences, we infuse genuine and relatable human elements throughout our materials. This strategy not only strengthens our relationship with existing clients but also attracts new prospects who can see the real-world impact of our platform.

Our case studies showcase the diverse ways our clients benefit from Snoball, whether through impressive results, simplified processes, or outstanding support. We enhance these stories with creative techniques, ensuring even a webcam interview can look and sound professional. Early wins highlight our clients’ immediate successes, turning their achievements into shared celebrations on social media. And our use of snippets keeps the voices of our clients and partners front and center across all our content.

This human-centric approach is not just a strategy; it's at the core of who we are and how we operate at Snoball. As we continue to grow and evolve, we'll keep prioritizing the human touch, ensuring our marketing remains as authentic and impactful as the stories we tell.