There is no arguing that case studies are important strategic assets for businesses. As a single content item, a case study can offer an objective assessment of a company’s products and services. It can also provide a stamp of approval as third-party validation, as well as illustrate to existing and potential customers how they can succeed using your company’s products and services. Given these powerful benefits, though, many companies do not have case studies, or if they do, they do not have many effective ones. Worse, yet, we have seen many organizations try, yet have a hard time developing case studies.
But fear not, if you are intentional in your case study development approach, you can build a strong arsenal of engaging and authoritative case studies, which, will, in turn, help you grow your business.
1. Be Intentional, Methodical, and Timely – Make case study development an ongoing practice and weave it into your ongoing activities.
Contracts Can Help. You should be proactive and consider writing case study development into a few of the contracts with your clients. For instance, at the time you are signing the contract, see if they will agree to working with you to develop a case study. If they resist, perhaps you can negotiate a somewhat discounted rate in exchange for case study development.
Timeliness is a Factor. With each product or service launch, there is a time when all the work is fresh, and all the people involved in the project feel a great sense of accomplishment. So, this lends itself better to developing a case study than trying to ask for a case study long after this elation has faded.
Be Intentional and Methodical. Don’t think of case studies as a one-time undertaking, but rather build a schedule for their development and actually stick to it. Better yet, ensure that each partnership, major product launch or service deployment is accompanied with a case study.
2. What’s in It for Them, Meaning Your Customers and Partners – Make sure to articulate to your customers and partners the benefits that this case study will offer for them. Commit to promote both the case study and the client whose story it is telling in social media and via other channels.
3. Take Ownership and Accountability for the Process – Rest assured that your case study will not develop itself. The only way it will come to life is if you take full ownership of the process.
Prepare a list of objectives and develop a preliminary outline.
Speak with your client company with whom you are developing the case study and ask for their feedback. Ensuring that you are aligned on objectives early on will help bringing it to completion faster.
Schedule interviews with key decision-makers and players, who will be featured in the case study. Capture powerful quotes, and make sure to share these with them to ensure that they agree this is what they meant in the interview.
Make sure to have an agreed upon approval list for the publication. You should not have any surprises once the case study is ready for publication.
Ultimately, write, write, write, because remember, the case study will not write itself. Remember you can always edit to improve it further, but you need something to get started, so just write it. These days, you can expedite the process a bit by getting some AI help, but you must be judicious do double-check, cross-reference, and position everything correctly. That responsibility rests squarely on your shoulders.
4. Be Respectful of Confidential Aspects – Many customers have concerns about sharing a case study as they do not wish to share their “secret sauce” with the rest of the universe, especially with their competitors. So, then find ways to develop the case study with sensitivity to information that might be too revealing. Instead of saying, “Our product helped Dreamco, Ltd. grow its annual revenue by $20 million, going from $100 million to $120 million,” say “Our product helped Dreamco, Ltd. grow its revenue by 20%.” So, if Dreamco, Ltd. is a privately held company that does not desire to make its revenue information public, there is a way around that.
5. Clearly Define the Pain Points – Your product or service must be addressing and solving some pain points and problems, so make sure to clearly articulate what those are. It may be clear to you, but it may not be clear to your potential customers. So, make sure to paint the picture about the pain point in a way that is relatable to your prospective customers. Without establishing clear relatability, your case study will be pointless.
6. Clearly Articulate How You Helped Address a Pain Point – You need to then create a clear picture about how your product and service has addressed the pain point. Again, your case study must be relatable, it should show how the weight was lifted off the shoulders of your case study customers. Again, without this point being clearly made, your case study will have no value.
7. Write in Clear Language – For some reason, many case studies take on a stilted, pseudo-academic tone. Needless to say, this does not help and diminishes their value. A good case study is a good story. Think of developing a case study as storytelling. People love stories, be those about adventures, travel to far-flung places, or how a gadget helped build employee engagement and helped a company overcome a barrier.
8. Brevity Is the Mother of Wisdom – Don’t make your case study too long. For some mysterious reason, it appears to some that a case study must be this lengthy and boring document. Wrong. You should not measure the success of your case study by weight. Keep it short, crisp and to the point.
9. Illustrate Your Case Study – A picture is worth a thousand words. And we all love looking at pictures, otherwise Pinterest and Instagram just would not exist. So, make sure to enhance your case study visually. If you can develop an effective infographic based on your case study, go for it.
10. Don’t Sit on It – Share, Share, Share – Your case study should not become a best-kept secret. Once you have developed it, make sure to share it as widely as possible. Post it on social media, spotlight it on relevant pages on your website, share it in nurture email marketing campaigns. Make sure to bring your case study to life.