This section of our style guide covers how to approach the different content streams that we rely on as a marketing tool.
It is intended as an overview, and should you have further questions don’t hesitate to get in touch with Josh Baines to discuss in more detail.
Reports
Reports highlight results of survey data either run by Cint or in association with a partner. These tend to be topical and time-bound, and can cover both of our market research and media measurement businesses and audiences.
Reports are around 10-18 pages in length. Some will extend beyond this page count parameter — especially if we have a lot of findings that we want to showcase.
However long the report runs, the copy should always be succinct. The report should have a clear narrative structure, and where possible it should link that story back to Cint products, solutions, or services.
With reports, the data is the star.
White papers
Our white papers are written on topics that are relevant to the research and measurement industries, and should always be prepared with specific customer types in mind. By their nature, white papers will tend to be more evergreen in their approach than reports.
A white paper may form part of a broader campaign, or could be a standalone piece of work.
They should be built on interviews or conversations with experts within Cint, and there should be ongoing dialogue between the writer of the paper and the relevant product marketing manager (PMM).
The reader should come away having learned about an industry topic and Cint’s specific viewpoint on that topic.
This should be a piece that a reader would want to reference back to — keep that in mind when writing one. Your big question should be “Is this the guide to this topic?”
White papers will be between 10-25 pages in length, and there will be more focus on copy than there is in reports.
Guides
Our guides explore a concept, teach a process and/or share industry best practices. Guides are tactical pieces of content. They should be evergreen in nature but ideally also easily updatable when needed.
The reader should come away with a clear understanding of a process or concept related to research and measurement.
This should be achieved by building the copy around contributions from internal Cint staff or external industry experts. These contributions can be sought over email, but it is always best to have a conversation (either face to face or over Google Meet) with the relevant person, following up over email or Slack for any further clarification or necessary details.
As ever, keep the copy clear and as concise as possible: we want a reader to really get what we’re talking about. To this end, guides are 8-12 pages and ideally broken up into numbered steps for ease of reading.
Customer stories
Customer stories are based on transcripts provided after a recorded call with a customer. These calls are arranged by our PMM team and take place over Riverside.fm.
The PMM will provide a first draft of the copy, which will then be iterated upon before publication.
Customer story pieces should use quotes from the interview as proof points. Do not use quotes for the sake of it — work through the transcript and see which sections offer real value and clarity to a reader/prospective customer.
Customer stories run to around 800-1000 words.
Our customer stories follow a specific outline/framework:
- Introduction: Who is the customer, who do they work for, what do they do and what does their company do?
- Challenge: Outline the research or measurement problem the customer was facing.
- Solution: Explain how and why working with Cint was the perfect fit for the customer in question. How did we solve their problems?
- Benefits: Write up three of the major benefits for the customer that have arisen as a result of their relationship with Cint.
- Results and conclusion: This closing section should have specific detail around results — be as granular as the customer is willing to be.
Blog posts
There are a few things to bear in mind when it comes to writing a blog post for Cint.
The first is that if it is a product-specific article, the original brief should come from a PMM. The writer should speak with them about the key themes that need to be addressed and there should be clear sources of information that need to be kept in mind when doing the actual writing.
The second is that blogs should be direct: minimize the waffle and give the reader the key information as early on in the piece as possible.
The third is related: blogs should be customer-centric. Think about the audience you’re writing for and refer back to our extensive documentation around personas — these are the people you’re writing for, so make sure their needs are addressed in a clear manner.
Try not to write more than 1200 words for a blog post. Going long can be fun for the writer but frustrating for the reader.