If you ask, your clients are generally happy to put out a good word for you. They might refer you to their friends and colleagues, respond to customer satisfaction surveys with high marks, or even leave favorable reviews on Google or Facebook. Unfortunately, while this feedback is positive, it often falls flat. It doesn’t guide the reader through a compelling narrative—a story with a clear beginning, turning point, and resolution—that’s crucial for activating empathy. And empathy is what makes stories stick.

When I interview customers on behalf of my clients, I often uncover unexpected insights—moments that reveal what truly matters to the people they serve. These interviews provide a double value: they create marketing stories that build trust and uncover actionable insights that help businesses improve how they serve their customers.

Case studies can play a crucial role in your 2025 content strategy, but it all starts with finding the best customer success stories to tell. These stories aren’t just about filling up your blog or feeding your social channels—they capture the moments where your work solved a real problem, exceeded expectations, or helped clients achieve something meaningful. They demonstrate the impact your work has had—solving real problems, exceeding expectations, and helping clients achieve meaningful results.

Customer success stories should be in your content marketing mix if you want to set yourself apart from your competition. When you tell the stories that only you can tell, you give prospects a tag to remember you by. If you take the reader up and over the dramatic arc with your story, an empathetic response is stimulated that can lead to action. This isn’t going to happen, however, if you don’t get your stories in front of your prospects.

Think about the actions you take as you research and choose a product or service online. If part of your process includes reading about the experiences of other people, then you’re not alone. In the B2B world, case studies are the most effective content to convert and move prospects along on their buying journey. (Demand Gen) And in the consumer world, 88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. (Search Engine Land)

You just published a client success story on your website. As you look at the text on the web page, you recall all the effort that went into the piece. It’s not always easy to get people to open up, but not only did you get a unique angle with which to describe the outcome of your work, you also got some great insights about your client’s experience that you can take to your team. Now is no time to sit back and bask in your client’s glowing words. It’s time to get to work to promote your success story.

Customer success stories should be in every company's marketing strategy. The usual format takes you through three phases: the situation, what the vendor did, and the outcome. It’s common to focus on the middle phase and blow your own horn talking about yourself and your work, but there’s a different way to tell your client stories that will enable sales and guide your prospect to a decision.