Today’s Guest

About Rebecca Miller

Listen to this episode

What You’ll Learn

• How Rebecca distilled her knowledge and experience into her programs and packages
• The difference between a case study and a testimonial and how to use both
• Why journalists and editors really love case studies
• How to approach clients to do a case study for you
• When in the relationship to ask a client to be a case study
• What you need to know so you can share your case studies publicly
• Whether it’s worth doing a case study with a client if she wants to remain anonymous
• How to use your case studies and where to share them
• Rebecca’s proven formula for writing up case studies

Things We Discussed

• People Per Hour 
• Leonie Dawson 
• Carrie Green’s Female Entrepreneur Association 
• Rebecca Tracey’s Hey, Nice Package! 
• Rebecca Miller’s Biz Stars Facebook group 

Connect with Rebecca

• Freebie e-book – Creating Powerful Case Studies
• Website:
• Facebook:

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Transcript

The transcript for this episode can also be downloaded here (no opt-in required).

How to Use Case Studies to Get Great Publicity and Reach Your Ideal Clients 

HW:     Hello and welcome to the Business Mindset Podcast episode 184.  This is your host Holly Worton and I am here with today’s special guest Rebecca Miller.

Becks is a founder of Write and Reach, working with inspired entrepreneurs to help you promote your business, in a way that feels easy, creative and fun. Having spent 15 years working in charities and not-for-profits she took the leap and started her own business in 2013, her signature course, The Publicity Programme, teaches her tried and tested techniques to get your business featured in top magazines and blogs. Welcome Becks!

RM:     Hi Holly! It is lovely to be here.

HW:     I am excited to have you on the show! Publicity is always, it is one of those things that I think is kind of a mystery to a lot of people.  It is like, we all know we want it, we all know it would be helpful, but it is kind of this weird confusing thing.  So, very excited about this!

So, why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about your background and your business journey and how you got to where you are today?

RW:     Yeah, sure, so I had a bit of, I guess, convoluted journey into business, it almost a bit by accident, to be honest with you.  I had worked, as you mentioned, in the charity sector for most of my career beforehand, but I always had a bit of a niggling feeling that something just wasn’t quite right and that something was missing.  I had always been really, really, into art and really creative and, throughout my 20s, I just completely dropped that, I hadn’t done any creating at all; and, I was increasingly feeling more and more like my jobs weren’t servicing me properly but I just felt really stuck and I didn’t know what to do about it.  And, then, I was working for one particular charity, I was doing marketing and PR, and I was also the PA to their Chief Executive, and the charity went through quite a lot of funding cuts, as often happens in the sector and I ended up being made redundant, which was a bit of a shock to the system I have to say…  {HW: um hmm}

And there were a few of us that that happened to, and it was a very small tight knit team as well, so, that kind of, set me a bit off balance, but I picked myself up, thought right, no, and by this time I was really getting into the PR side of things, and absolutely loved it.  So, I ended up getting a job with another charity as their media officer, and that was going fine, for, I think I was there for about a year, and then there was another round of redundancies; this was a much bigger charity and they put our whole team at risk of redundancy.  And the process dragged on for quite a long time, and at the time I was also commuting to work, so I had a two-hour commute each way each day, which, yeah, was not great, it was over the winter, everyone was getting stressed not knowing what was happening with their jobs, I was driving, stuck in traffic jams, and I started getting really ill.  I was just having cold, after cold, after cold, nothing would make me better, um, I started getting very anxious as well and I was going to constant interviews and not really getting any traction.  Er, so in the end, I just said “that’s it, I am not going to apply for my job, I can’t deal with the commuting anymore, I am just going to leave and see what happens”.  Now, at that time, one of my colleagues, she said “oh you should check out a website called People Per Hour, where people do freelance work” and I thought ok, great, obviously, I need some cash coming in quickly, so I put a profile up on People Per Hour and within a day, I think, I had my first client.  And that was offering, I was offering, a PR service and, also, a blogging service.  And I was a bit taken aback thinking “ok, right, this is interesting, perhaps…” and I had always been a bit interested in the thought of people who were digital nomads and were able to work from all over the world, but I just couldn’t figure out how they were doing it; but I actually had all the tools I needed there already, it was just a case of putting all the pieces of the jigsaw together, So, I continued with People Per Hour and at that time, at the time I was still thinking of myself as “right, I am doing a little bit of freelance work, just you know as a stop gap until the next job comes along”, although I wasn’t really wanting the next job to come along in a way. {HW: laughing}

And then I went to, kind of by chance, I was put in touch with a local organisation here in Bristol, called Outset, who were offering free training for people who wanted to set up their own business.  So, I was like: “ok you know I will go along to that it sounds interesting”, and it was just an absolute eye-opening revelation to me, that what I was doing could actually become a business.  And I met, through that, I met a lot of other people locally, who were setting up their own businesses and it was just really inspiring and a couple of them actually told me about, firstly Leonie Dawson…  {HW: Yes} Who I am sure you know about, and lots of your listeners will know about, and I just absolutely loved her stuff. I was also told about Carrie Green’s Female Entrepreneurs Association.  And I just started kind of really reading and listening and avowing all the information I possibly could about this kind of entrepreneurial online business set-up and it just started really sparking all the creativity in me, and I felt alive in a way that I really hadn’t done for years, you know, throughout my 20s, I would say.  And yeah and then, so I kind of, the actual set up of my business, I went through a couple of different names, and it took me a little while to decide exactly what I was offering and how I was offering it.  And I designed my own website which took me probably… about a year.

HW:     ooh {laughing}

RM:     {laughing} So, I didn’t do it in a fast, speedy way, but I did it in a way that really helped me to build my own confidence, with what I was doing, and enabled me to really learn and engage with the online sphere as well, yeah, so that’s kind of how I started.

HW:     Excellent! And, so, what were some of the biggest challenges that you had to overcome as you were building this business?

RM:     There were a lot of mindset challenges, my own confidence, my own confidence in my ability and what I was offering, and, actually, you know, thinking of myself as “yes, I am a business owner, I am an entrepreneur, I am not just playing at this, this is a real thing, where I am making money”.  And definitely, kind of, the money mindset, is still an ongoing thing which I work on, you know, as much as possible, and I think a lot of people have that things like knowing how much to charge.  {HW:     hmm}

But, yeah, so kind of just really stepping into my own kind of light I guess? And believing what I am doing, and believing in myself and the fact that I can do it.  And it has been a bit of a journey, and I think it is, you know, a constant journey, but it has just been amazing to go through it, I have really loved it, yeah.

HW:     Hmm, excellent! I think that going into business for ourselves can be such a big personal development journey, in terms of expanding our mindset, and working on all the stuff that comes up for us.

RM:     Definitely; yes, so much so.

HW:     And how did you go about the process of distilling all of this knowledge and information you had, in terms of your media experience and publicity experience, into packages and products and services and things that people needed in the entrepreneurial online business world?

RM:     Yeah, um so, I had a few ideas and I went through a few different incarnations of things I was offering but none of them quite chimed properly, and I did a kind of self-study course, by a lady called Rebecca Tracey, her Hey Nice Package, which was all around packaging up your service, and finding out what your dream clients want and need, and putting it together in a way that is going to really resonate with them.  And that really helped me to start to get down and focus on what exactly I wanted to offer.  And I always had this idea of doing a course and I really wanted to offer some kind of online program, because I taught myself PR when I was working in the charity industries, so I know for a fact that it can be done.

And I know that, actually, as business owners, we are the best people to promote our business and especially when you are starting out, it is hard to afford really expensive PR, a PR agency, or something like that, but I still think it is really important as business owners that we know what PR is and what it can do and the benefits it can have for your business. And when you get to the point where you can grow, and you are ready to bring someone in, that you have a bit of an understanding of how publicity works, and how it can help grow your business and that’s going to help you bring in the best person to support your business as well. {HW:     Hmm}

Yeah and I did, earlier this year, I joined, Joanna Hennon, who I know you have also interviewed a couple of times, I joined her mastermind group, and that was just a massive shift for me because um she was showing me how to really get into the soul of my business, and to really… And I think having worked in a more corporate environment I was finding it hard to, I have always been, had quite a lot of the woo woo in me…  {HW:  laughing} But I have kind of had to hide it you know, {HW: yes! laughing} I always felt I had to hide it, so it’s a bit like: “can I say this stuff in public, is this it ok?” So, she really helped me with combining the two in a way that really aligned with me, and with the services I was offering, as well.

HW:     Hmm, excellent, I love that.  So, today, one of the things I wanted to talk to you about is how entrepreneurs can use case studies in particular, to get great publicity and to reach more of their ideal clients.  So, tell us a little about case studies and how they fit into publicity?

RM:     Yeah, so, when I was working in the charity sector, one of my key roles, was going round the country interviewing people who we worked with and collecting these case studies, or success stories, you could call them as well, and I would write them up and send them out to the regional press, er, because the local newspapers absolutely loved these really great human interest stories.

And the thing with a case study is, it doesn’t just have to be limited to the local newspapers, either, you can use them on your website as a way to dive deeper into the work that you are offering, and what it would actually be like to work with you, and the transformation that people go through, and you can use little snippets of it on your social media, you can use case studies if you were perhaps going to pitch a guest blog or even you could potentially, if the person who was acting as your case study was happy to do it, you could both be interviewed together on, say, a podcast or a radio show, which I think would be a really great way to showcase your business in a different way.  And the thing I wanted to talk about, first, is the difference between a case study and a testimonial.   {HW: Yes}

RM:     Because, yeah, we do see testimonials a lot, and people are always saying “you’ve got to make sure you are getting your testimonials, they are great on your sales page, they are fantastic when you can send them out on social media, they give people an idea that you’ve done some work and that you are great.” And the thing with a testimonial is, it tends to be written in your client’s words.. {HW: hmm hmm}

RM:     And it is really about how great you are, how great it is working with you, how much difference it has made to them, and they tend to be little short snippets, as I said, that will go on your website or sales page, sometimes they will go a bit longer, but, they are much more in your client’s words and they are quite promotion-y.

Whereas a case study is much more about the case study herself, so it is her story, and her transformation and the journey that she has been through and the way that she has worked with you is almost like a little aside of the story that people will realise as they read the story and start to resonate with what she is saying and the struggles she has been through and how she has overcome them with your support. {HW: mm hmm}

So they are much more of a deeper dive into the way that people work with you, but it is really celebrating your case study as well, as the person who you have got as a success story.  And showcasing how you work but in a really non-salesy way.  And I think this is why journalists and editors really love case studies, because if they are kind of done correctly and written well, they are all about the person, they are not about the business owner, they are not just a massive sales pitch which editors don’t like.

And if you think about it, if you are reading a magazine or you a reading a newspaper, you are going to get really bored if you are just reading an advert after advert after advert, whereas if you are reading something about a person, who has got a really interesting story, and you are thinking: “oh wow, yes, gosh that’s exactly what it’s like for me, or I really understand that, that totally is ringing bells for me” then as you read through the story and you realise what she did to help herself, or how she worked with you, and that’s the key to help herself, then the aim is for your ideal client to be reading that and to think “ok, great, I want a bit of that action, I am going to go to your website, I am going to look at how I can work with you as well.”

So, there are various steps that I talk about for actually collating your case studies, the first one would be actually choosing the clients, who you would want to approach and see if they would be happy to act as a case study.  Now you always need to obviously make sure that you get consent {HW: yeah} from your client, before you doing anything like that.  And also it is important to check that they are happy for you to send the story to the press, or to blogs, or any kind of media as well.  And, to be honest with you, I found, that often people are really happy to.  I mean it will depend on their backstory, and you’ve got to make sure that you are very mindful of how much they want to share, as well.  But, more often than not, people are really happy to help.  It can also be a bit of a win-win for you, and your success story, for example, if she has a business as well then her business gets a little plug, and your business gets a little plug, so you are both working really nicely in sync with each other?

HW:     Um hmm; so, when in the relationship do you ask this client if they want to be a part of a case study?  Is it when you first start working with them? After you have had a couple of sessions? At the end?

RM:     For me it is normally at the end, because, by then you will have built a good rapport with your client and you will get a good idea whether or not they are the kind of person who would be willing and happy to be promoted in this way. Because, you know, understandably a lot of people are a bit nervous of having their name or anything like that, or their picture in the newspaper. And the other thing is, that you want to be, it is nice to be able to illustrate their whole journey all the way through. So, you know, if you have come to some kind of natural end-point, in the way you are working with each other, then that almost adds a nice bit of an ending to the story that you are writing up as well.

I mean, once you have got a bit of a body of case-studies you can send these case-studies out to potential new clients, or I would have them on my website, or my client’s website, so that they get an idea of what it is like to work with you. So, they will already be aware of the fact that you are using case-studies in your marketing as well. So, when you come to asking them if they would like to do one, they are going to kind of know what you are talking about hopefully. And yeah, what I do is, I really like to interview people face-to-face. When I was working with the charities I would actually travel round the country and actually meet up with them and talk to them face-to-face, obviously, that is not always possible. But it is just as easy to do it over Skype. And you can send out a questionnaire if you want to. But the good thing I find with speaking with someone face-to-face is that you tend to get a bit more information from them? {HW: um hm}

RM:     Things come up as you are chatting as I am sure you probably find as well, with the podcast?

HW:     Yes!

RM:     That wouldn’t necessarily just have come up if you had just sent a list of questions?

HW:     Oh god no.

RM:     Yes, so I like to do it like that, and I record the interviews and I let them know that I am recording the interview and that just helps with the writing up process.

HW:     Ok. So, it is the entrepreneur herself who is writing up this whole case-study and this whole…?

RM:     Yes, so, say for example you had worked with me, you would be writing up the case-study about my transformation.

HW:     Ok.

RM:     So I think with the interview as well I have like some questions that I generally ask, but as I said it is quite nice to have a bit more conversation and a bit more flow and so be prepared that things might come up. But you do want to make sure that the questions are really open ended so that people aren’t just giving yes or no answers, they are giving you a bit more information. I also think that it is really great to actually talk a bit more about their feelings and so I always include questions along the lines of: “how are you feeling?” before we work together. “What impact is this having on your life or your business?” “What difference did it make to you?” And then looking at how you are feeling now. So, you are actually really getting into the impact of a human interest, and it is not just, it is not just a dry write-up, it actually has got a bit more feeling and a bit more person behind I suppose.

HW:     Ok. So how long does this whole process take? Because you have got all the work that you do normally working with a client, plus you have got perhaps a questionnaire, you have got the interview, you have got to write this whole thing up? {RM:    Yeah} How long is the project of doing each case-study?

RM:     Ooh. That’s a really good question! So, I mean, I suppose I would normally allow an hour for the interview, and then writing up the case-study is, well I suppose, because I do a lot of writing myself, I find that creative process quite easy and I enjoy the process, so for me, it would probably take a couple of hours, sometimes a little bit more. Um, but, once you have got it written up there are so many different places that you can use it, you can send it to the press, use it on your website. And it is good to keep, even though…the key with the write-up is that you don’t want to try and cram all of the information in there, just pick out the key bits that are really important and you think are going to resonate with your readers. And the other information that you have collated isn’t going to go to waste because you could potentially do another write up or another pitch to a different magazine, or a different blog editor, with a slightly different take on the story. Taking some of the other information. Which is why I think it is great to get as much information as you possibly can when you are doing the case-study. {HW: Hmm}

RM:     So you have a write-up, I mean the pitching process itself, so when you are contacting editors, and journalists and um radio presenters or podcast presenters, there is often a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing so that can take a little while to get the coverage, and to make sure that the story is right for them. {HW:     Right} It is really, I think as well, I think it is a really great way of promoting your business and I think it is something as entrepreneurs we almost don’t use enough. And as I said with the charity sector that is one of the key ways that they get people involved and get people behind their cause. Especially with a lot of the kind of heart-centred caring entrepreneurs out there, it is a really nice way to show that aspect of your business as well.

HW:     Yeah, I think that is a very, very, unique take on it, because as you say, a lot of entrepreneurs don’t do this. So where would you put these case-studies on your website? Would it be like a blog post? Do you have a separate section, like how most people have testimonial section?

RM:     So, at the moment on my own website, I just have them as a blog post and then I will link to them on the different pages throughout the blogs. But you could just as easily have it as an actual page, as a case-study page, and that’s quite often how the charity sector would do it. So, once you have got a little bit of a body of case-studies you could have a page with say, for example, when you click on the case-study page and then you could have it by theme, or you could have it by name, and it is nice to have an image of the person so that people can put a face behind the story. So, you could have kind of three different images and then you click on each of the images and then you go for a full write-up as well, I think that is quite a nice way to lay it out on your website.

HW:     Um hm. Excellent. So, is there any kind of specific format to be writing this up in? Or guidelines to lengths?

RM:     Yes, so I think of all my case-studies in three sections and I do kind of follow a little bit of a format when I am writing them up. And this is something that I think the press also like this format, which helps if you are sending it out to other places as well as using it in your own marketing. So, I start with the introduction, which introduces the person, and talks about their backstory and introduces the problem that they were feeling and kind of introduces the negative impact that that was having on their life or their business as well. And then you move into the middle section, and this is where, you can really start getting creative and talking about the journey and the feelings that are involved and looking at how this person has transformed what they were doing, whatever their pain point is. And you can start bringing in how you worked with them as well.

And it is really nice to intersperse the write-up, I write it in the third person, but it is nice to intersperse it with a few quotes from the person themselves, in the first person. And when you get to the final section, which is the conclusion, this is where you kind of have a really big celebration of what you are doing, and this is where it can become a little bit more about how you have worked together as well, and a bit more big-ing up you as the entrepreneur, as well as the success story. And I do think it is really nice, as well, to finish on a really, really, strong quote from your client. This can be, almost like a testimonial quote: “Absolutely fantastic working with Holly, I have never looked back. It has really transformed my business and my life and that kind of thing, so that people will come away from the story, they have been taken on a little bit of a journey and as they come away, they feel uplifted as well? {HW: Um hmm}

RM:     And, if your, say for example you are sending it out to be featured on a blog, then it is worth including in the write-up, just like one or two links back to your website, so that you can click and come back to your website. And you want to do it in a way that feels quite natural, and isn’t too self-promotion-y. And quite often they will include a little blurb at the end as well, and often with the newspapers, they will include a little bit at the end about the actual organisation that helped.

HW:     Oh excellent. So, let’s say you have a client that got great results with you, they are just a wild success story, they are happy to share their story, but they would rather do it anonymously. Is that still worth doing? As I imagine it doesn’t quite have the power that a named…?

RM:     Yeah, yeah. I think, it is definitely still worth doing, definitely for your website and your newsletter. FI you were looking at local press, they particularly want local stories that involve people who live in your area, so they are less likely to cover it if you haven’t actually got the name and the photograph. But if you are pitching it to some of the more online magazine style publications or blogs, then they, I think, would be more likely to publish it. So, if you do, I am just thinking of magazines I read, and quite often there are stories and they have the little star and its says you know “name changed for…” so, you know I don’t think people mind that necessarily. And if they have got a fantastic story then it is definitely, yeah and make sure you don’t pressurise them, because depending on the work you do there is quite often some quite delicate subjects.

HW:     Right. And, of course, they are doing you a favour in the end.

RM:     Exactly, yeah. So, you want to share as much as they are comfortable with. And yeah. I think you know if you explain to them that you want to celebrate the work you have done together and that it will help them to reach more of your like-minded clients and give people much more of an insight into what working with the entrepreneur is like, then I think most people would want to.

HW:     Yeah.

RM:     But some people don’t and that is absolutely fine.

HW:     Yeah. I think that is a very important thing to say.

RM:     Definitely

HW:     So, Becks, this has been super-useful. How can our listeners or other women entrepreneurs who may come across you, how can they work with you?

HW:     Yes, so my business is write and read, and my website is www.writeandreach.com and I have various different ways you can work with me, I offer one-to-one publicity coaching and there is the option for one-off or different packages, which is quite a nice place to start as well. I do also have the publicity programme which is the self-study course which we mentioned earlier, and that is really nice if you want to boost your skills and kind of really learn quite in-depth about how publicity can help you and your business. And then I do have a couple of VIP packages where I work really closely one-to-one with entrepreneurs as well, and, yeah, one of them is quite new up on my website so I am quite excited about that.

HW:     Ooh!

RM:     So {laughing} yeah.

HW:     Excellent. So you have mentioned your website where else can people find you online? What social networks do you tend to hang out on?

RM:     I am on Facebook, I love Facebook. I am on Facebook probably more than I should be.

HW:     {laughing}

RM:     {laughing} Yeah so, I am Becks Miller on Facebook and I love to hook up with other entrepreneurs and they are more than happy to friend me. And I have also got a Facebook group, it is called Biz Stars, and it is quite a small intimate, friendly Facebook group where we chat and I offer my PR and publicity tips throughout the week as well.

HW:     Excellent. Well, thank you. So, are there any final words that you might have for listeners who think “Wow, this sounds amazing, I have never heard of this before, it sounds really powerful. It also sounds really daunting…”

RM:     I think step-by-step, takes things step-by-step, make a plan, don’t think to yourself “right, I need to go out there and get ten case-studies, just approach one person who you have really enjoyed working with and you know has really enjoyed working with you and chat to them about it. And um when you do the interview you don’t need to think, oh I’ve got to send this out to the press straight away, you can start off by putting it on your website and seeing what interest and traction that has. And then, formulate a little plan, and then I would say, if you want to send it out to the media, just choose one place. Don’t think you have to send it out to loads of different places, just choose one place and use it as a way to build a relationship with the editor and to start chatting about how you can help them, and how you can start promoting your business, and once you have done it once, and seen your business out there, it is a real buzz and you think “ok, maybe this isn’t so daunting, maybe I can actually do this…”

HW:     Yes. I think that is excellent advice. And I think it is also really important about what you said about how you can help each other out, because, the media obviously need stories, they need stories that are relevant for their publication, but they need content, so if you can help them out, and if you are a good fit, then it is a win-win.

RM:     Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

HW:     Excellent. Well thank you so much for joining us today, I think this was super, super, useful and I think it is a very different take on media and publicity and PR than we are used to hearing.

RM:     Thank you, Holly, it has been absolutely great.

HW:     Great, thank you. And thank you for listening and remember to visit https://www.hollyworton.com/184 for the show notes on this episode. Thank you.