What the heck is a case study anyway?
/A case study is a story. A success story where your client is the hero. For your business, it’s the best kind of story because it tells the tale of how your product or service solved your client’s problems. And really, what’s more interesting than that?
Two groups of people will love your case studies: one is you because you love reading about your own success (who doesn’t?) and the other group is your prospects. They’re out there, searching the internet like nobody’s business to find a solution for their current problem. That’s how they found your organization and why they read all your sales copy.
What does a case study do?
In essence, a case study makes a connection with your target audience. You tell the story, your prospect reads the story and if you’ve captured the right elements, your prospect makes the connection for you because they recognize themselves. Remember, even the most selfless people tend to relate whatever they’re doing back to themselves. Case studies can help you take advantage of that.
But what do you care about a connection in someone else’s mind? You want the sale, the cold hard cash, not some loosey-goosey ‘connection’. Okay, hold your horses, that’s what we’re moving towards!
Hold your horses.
Once your prospect connects your case study story to themselves and the problem they’re trying to solve, it softens them up a bit. This isn’t a sleazy sales person strong-arming them into a buying decision (not that you do that), it’s a real client talking about just what your prospect is interested in. That client in your case study doesn’t have to share the story – in fact, it’s easier not to – but they are sharing it. Your prospect knows that a case study naming real clients is more believable than all your slick marketing collateral (though I’m sure it’s lovely and all true). That’s how we assess things. When high praise comes from an unbiased third party, it just seems more legit than high praise coming from ourselves!
So that airy-fairy connection is actually selling the efficacy of your product or service to someone who has a problem that your product or service solves. Not so group-huggy anymore, is it?
Come on, is it a story or a sales pitch?
Now, now, don’t be cynical. It’s a story and a sales tool working double-time to reach your prospects and contribute to your bottom line in the not-so-distant future. It’s one to two pages of usefulness. A case study helps your prospect see a real-life (and successful) application of your product or service, it’s free publicity for your successful client and it helps turn prospects into buyers which is good for your business. Done well, case studies give all parties what they need.
And case studies do one more thing, not often talked about: they lift your spirits. Reading about how you’re helping your clients solve their problems is good for solving the problem of having a crappy day at work.
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