If you were an “IT professional”, which of these two content sites would attract your attention and then retain your interest?

1) Smarter Planet Leadership Stories

2) Cognos Business Intelligence and Performance Management Software

This is, of course, a loaded question because “IT professional” covers many roles and responsibilities.

From experience, I’d guess that many of the technical folks would find more to interest them at site 2), while those who spend a lot of their business day planning strategy and defending budgets would go for site 1).

The key message here is providing the right audience with the right content.

And now for Case Study Greativity¹

Dipping into site 1), it was interesting to see how IBM are using customer stories to demonstrate how their customers’ ideas, leadership and vision are helping to run businesses and organizations in a variety of markets.

Of course, IBM’s involvement is mentioned, but only to the extent that it helped customers better execute on their leadership and initiative to solve real business problems.

Wonderful content – especially if you’re in one of these markets or industries and maybe grappling with similar issues.

There are also  some nice creative touches with the inclusion of an audio-visual content page, including slide show infographics. Here’s the link to the Bangkok hospital content page.

In addition, for some of the stories IBM have posted the LinkedIn pages of customers featured in the video clips and case studies. This is the first time I’ve seen this done and would be interested to know how it improves followup engagement with prospects.

I’d like to think IBM chose to run with ‘greativity’ for this campaign, and it’s not just a typo on creativity¹ …

Mark McClure provides freelance case study and white paper services to the computer networking industry worldwide.

Based in Tokyo, Japan since 1994, he has over 18 years of computer networking experience and was a Cisco CCIE from 2002 to 2008.

This is an uncompensated and independent review of Peter Guber’s book, ‘Tell To Win’. I received an ‘uncorrected proof’ copy a while back and have finally made time to pen today’s post.

Peter’s long and successful career as a Hollywood movie producer (Rain Man, Gorillas in the Mist and Batman, to name just three) and as an entrepreneur, have provided plenty of material for stories and anecdotes.

I was particularly drawn to the author’s experience of creating and using stories that helped him win a deal, convince an investor, or persuade the rich and famous to help with a project or two.

However, most stories (I counted at least 89!) are centered around how well known people, such as Fidel Castro, Jack Warner and Wolfgang Puck, have tapped in to the human desire to emotionally connect with a vision or dream through the power of storytelling.

Peter’s a great believer in the importance of positioning a story within the context of a person’s values and aspirations. That’s why it’s difficult to fake a story or copy someone else’s, because people usually see through words that are masking subterfuge and deceit.

Reading ‘Tell to Win’ from start to finish was hard work! There were so many stories and details, that I often found myself leaving the book down for a while. Not a bad approach, as I realized later the author’s cleverness in including a cast of characters large enough to appeal to all ages and a wide demographic.

Of course, as a businessman, Peter has a long list of stories that were incremental in clinching deals, but he also shares some that cost him dearly. He stresses the importance of the back story and how due diligence is essential before making a pitch.

Although the thrust of the book is towards oral stories and the emotional strings they help pull, there’s much to think about for b2b customer success story and case study writers.

The two big ones for me are:

a) the back story for both the customer AND the client (who hires the writer).
This means getting in the same room or on the dog’n'bone (Cockney slang for telephone) and detecting all those vital details that are never going to appear in an email.

b) The headlines, slogans and killer lines!
Here are two of my favorites:

i) World famous designer Norma Kamali’s exertion to the leading actress in the movie, “The Deep”:
“Oh, just throw a T-Shirt on over it”.
30 plus years later I can still see the look that launched a thousand wet t-shirt contests.

ii) “Under Armour”. This is actually the brand name for a best-selling line of sports under shirts. And a very powerful image it is too. Who wouldn’t want such protection, regardless of sport or ability?

I’d recommend this book to all case study writers, for sure! However, there is little here about writing or telling stories. If anything, the emphasis is on connecting with others by using the emotive appeal of story and narrative, whether it’s a single word, phrase or a life’s work.
Business people who are trying to persuade others to do things for them will also find much to think about (b2b marketers come to mind!)

- Mark ‘IT case study writer’ McClure

Just a quick update to let you know that I’m very much alive and well in Tokyo. Of course, things are far from normal but life and business is continuing.

Despite major problems with communications networks in the aftermath of last Friday’s earthquake at around 2:46pm, Internet access worked without a glitch and I was able to use SkypeOut, Facebook and Twitter to keep friends, family and clients informed.

A more frequent posting schedule will resume just as soon as I’ve taken care of some personal matters. In the meantime, here’s what’s going on behind the scenes:

- Reading a promo copy of Peter Guber’s new book, “Tell to Win”. A review will appear on this blog in due course.

- Working on a number of case studies for a data center switch startup.

- Writing a first draft of the non-profit case study mentioned in a post about “Beers for Books“.

- Mark ‘case Study writer’ McClure

PS – The clock shown fell from the 9F wall of a building I was in that fateful Friday.

You can learn about what makes a technology market tick by following an expert who lives and breathes it every day.

One such person is Peter Radizeski, who is on my ‘Twitter Top 50′.

What I liked right from the start about Peter’s style is how the value he brings customers in his niche market is stated very clearly.

Take a look at his blog’s ‘About Me’ section (he has several blogs, serving different market needs) and notice how it actually isn’t about HIM – it’s all about YOU…

“Peter Radizeski, Tampa, Florida, United States:
As an NSP Strategist since 2000, I help my clients – ISP’s, CLECs, Hosting and VoIP companies – not just survive, but thrive in the marketplace with sales, marketing, messaging and strategy assists.”

(Source: Peter Radizeski, http://radinfo.blogspot.com)

And as the technical marcom needs of Network Service Provider (NSP) participants interest me too, not only in the US, but also here in the Asia-Pacific, this timely post caught my attention:

NSP Strategist: 5 Wishes for 2011

If you click over to read it you can see what Peter’s wishing for… and then check out mine in the post’s comments.

And with this post I will sign off for 2010 and wish my readers, prospects and customers all the very best for 2011.

- Mark McClure

(The first of those planned 150+ posts will appear after I’ve had a few days rest for Japanese New Year’s celebrations.)