Being the most successful business owner is a goal you should strive for when running a company. That being said, having a good case study in place time and time again to grow your business is something not to overlook. With a sound case study model to work from, you can show prospective clients all the good things you’ve done for customers.
So, it’s imperative that you know how to do a case study. When writing yours for business growth, will you nail it?
How to write a case study
In determining why a case study is important to you and your business, here are some areas to hone in on:
- Prospects – A sound case study shows prospects why your brand is worth their time.
- Be relatable – Many people tend to buy products and services that they can relate to. This is also true of businesses in need of supplies and other services to stay operational. Seeing others having success with your brand can tempt prospects. That is into giving you a look and ultimately becoming one of your clients.
- Education – Having a case study that digs into a challenging topic can educate others. As an example, just say you are in the medical field and sell products or services to other businesses. These are products or services that can be a little complicated to explain. This would be to a novice or even someone in the business for a while. With a case study in hand, you can better educate prospective clients.
- Stand out – One of the big challenges a business can face is being seen as credible in their industry. With your case study showing your worth, you can be viewed as a go-to option in your line of work. You’ll want to show how you’ve helped grow a client’s sales and revenue, solved problems they were having, and more.
Getting your case study in order
Before you can even put pen to paper or in this case computer, you’ll need the permission of a client. That is so you can interview the client to highlight how you have helped them.
The goal here is to impress upon the client why a case study is beneficial to them.
Among the reasons would be more traffic to their website. It can also be potential for more sales and revenue. Finally, it can mean standing out as a leader in their respective industry.
When it comes to writing a standout case study, go right to the meat and potatoes of how you are helping clients. You have to keep in mind that there is a ton of info out there on the information highway.
As such, too many prospective clients can get a little overwhelmed. That is when they do a Google search for products and services that may benefit their businesses. Know that many of these prospects do not have the time or patience to weed through all that information. Use your case study as a way of differentiating your business from that of the competition.
Differentiating yourself from the competition can be why your brand is better than others. It can also be how you help business clients grow their own brands and why your customer service is second to none.
That case study can also lead others to recommend your brand. This would be to family, friends and other brands they know who’d benefit from doing business with you. At the end of the day, your goal is to put together a case study that will encourage a prospect to do business with you.
How to promote your case study
Even if you’ve put together what you feel is the best case study, what good will it do you if too few prospects know about it?
That said you’ll want to get your case study in front of as many eyes and ears as possible. As an example, you can use your company website to help promote and highlight your case study.
Make sure your website is updated on a regular basis and is easy to navigate. The last thing you want is a website that is a maze to work through. Also avoid one with too many broken links. Another problem is one that ranks low within your industry in Google searches. As you have other key website sections (products and services, contact info etc.), you can have one dedicated to case studies.
Another option along with your website would be to use social media. That is to let the world know of how your business sets itself apart from others. Use Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms to get your case study out there to the world.
Much like your website, keep your social platforms updated. Also, promote them as often as possible to grow your audience.
One of the growing forms of communication in the business world over the last several decades has been the podcast. Statista.com reported that more than 50% of all U.S. consumers ages 12 and above are podcast listeners.
So, you may want to do some podcasts to alert prospects on why your clients benefit from doing business with you. Once you have a case study podcast with a client ready to go, make sure you market the heck out of it. No matter how you promote your case study efforts, make sure the word is getting out there.
Learning from each case study you do
Like anything in life, there is much to learn. With that in mind, learn from each case study you do. See what works, what does not, and how best to improve upon your efforts moving ahead. You can also look at some brand examples of case studies.
While you never want to copy another company’s study, you may pick up pointers you can then apply to your studies. At the end of the day, writing good case studies can benefit your brand on a case-by-case basis.
