Are you familiar with the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff? A Norwegian fairy tale, repurposed as a bedtime story for kids. It involves three goats needing to cross a bridge to get to a meadow, where they will feast on the lush grass. Under the bridge lives a troll. The troll wants to eat goat.

One by one, each goat crosses the bridge and meets the troll. In turn, the first two goats convince the troll to wait for the next goat, as it will make for a bigger, tastier meal. The greedy troll bides his time. When the third goat arrives, much bigger than the first two, he butts the troll off the bridge. All three goats make it to the meadow; the troll is wet and hungry. I think the lesson is ‘don’t be greedy’. Or ‘send the little one first’.

I’m often reminded of this story when assessing the right moment to tell a customer’s story. Too early, and you lack evidence of impact. Wait too long for killer metrics and you risk the story being old. You’ve missed the moment, and your sales team went without the references they needed.

There is a sweet spot. There are also other storytelling opportunities.

The sweet spot might be, let’s say, six months after a new solution has been deployed. Enough time to have worked through the implementation glitches, and for the impact to be noticed. But it need not be the only moment to document the story.

As a managing editor, you would be planning an editorial calendar, allowing you  to develop the appropriate content at the appropriate time of the year. It means you’re less reactive, with the ability to plan a high percentage of your content in advance. Forward planning then gives you more time focus on immediate story opportunities.

For advocacy storytelling, it can help to have some useful points in the diary.

1. When the deal has been signed. Create an industry press release or news update for your internal teams.
2. Immediately after the deployment. Chart the implementation, understand lessons learned, share with sales & technical account teams. This content could help inform deployments with other customers.
3. Six months after deployment. The case study.
4. One year after deployment. A short update to 4, with fresh metrics and anecdote. A chance to wring extra value out of the original story.
5. 18-months after deployment. What is the customer working on next? This can be a personality-led piece, and a reminder that you continue to have a relationship with the customer.

For those able to make long-term plans, if the story is truly transformational, you might also want to return five years after the initial solution sale. The Oral History format, where you interview multiple stakeholders, is a good way of retelling an old but important story from fresh perspectives.

Finding multiple points to tell a story is never a bad thing. It allows opportunities to create unique content for different audiences needing different information. It also reminds your customer that you’re invested in their story. Not just a dine-and-dash.

Coming soon: a Gruff prequel explaining how the Troll came to be living under the bridge, and an expansion of the Gruff cinematic universe featuring a farmer’s struggle to protect his meadow from marauding goats.