Case studies are a powerful and important tool for businesses. You may have your prospective client almost convinced, but if you can’t provide a case study when they ask for one, all previous marketing efforts could be useless.
If you’re writing case studies incorrectly or not providing useful information, consumers won’t convert. Not only are case studies important for conversions, but they also increase your leads. According to an eMarketer survey, 62.6% of respondents say that they’re effective in generating leads.
If you’re looking to maximize your conversions, boost lead generation, and add to your sales arsenal, this blog is for you. Read on as we discuss the best case study format and tips to consider.
What is a Case Study?
All companies make claims for marketing purposes, but how many show hard data to back them up? A case study features concrete evidence of your business’s success. These studies are made up of quantifiable data in an easily-digestible way. It should prove your organization is one customer want to do business with.
These case studies are meant to persuade your client. They are essentially showing your customers what you’re capable of and why they should trust your organization. For that reason, they are used as marketing and sales assets.
Display your case studies on your website or send them to clients when they are looking for more information about results from your business.
How to Write a Case Study
1. Get Specific
Case studies should be data-driven and quantifiable. They should not be the initial attraction; instead, they should prove your marketing claims. Consumers often see numbers that stand out in headlines. However, in your case study, you’ll want to provide all of the hard data at your disposal.
2. Get Personal With Your Prospective Clients
Picture this: Your sales team is talking to a client and giving examples of your business’s successes. You share your best-performing metrics, but the client asks, “What about a case that matches my situation?” You’ve previously conducted those services, but you don’t have the specific data or details to back it up. The customer needs specific facts to trust you.
The secret to case studies is that they should apply to all clients and relevant to the situation they’re asking about.
If you decide to include case studies on your website, include examples for different audiences. Also consider organizing them by industry or services. And if you use it as a sales asset, give your sales staff a variety of case studies to present to prospective customers.
3. Answer Your Clients’ Questions Before They Ask Them
As you probably learned in a high school English class or from television shows featuring lawyers, the strongest arguments prepare for rebuttals before they’re even presented. When you make a claim, you should explain why its counter is incorrect.
You need to take the same approach in your case studies. Craft answers and objections your prospective clients might have, and naturally weave them into your case study. Having the information on hand and in writing is much more effective than scrambling for answers.
4. Tell a Story on Different Platforms
The key to most marketing tactics is storytelling. You may be giving quantifiable numbers, but that doesn’t mean crafting the story isn’t important. Grab your best content writers and storytellers. The content needs to be just as well-executed as any other marketing collateral you would publish.
In addition to being thorough and interesting, your case study also needs to be easy to read. Use lists, bullet points, and write in short sentences and paragraphs.
Don’t make your prospective clients’ job harder than it needs to be. Good writing is all about making it easily digestible.
After you’ve written the perfect story, it’s time to share it! Include your case study in blogs, create podcasts, develop videos, and create infographics. This will not only get your content out there on a variety of platforms to increase exposure, but it will also appeal to all different types of audiences.
5. Talk About Your Strategy
Don’t just write about how your cases were successful. Write an excellent story and reveal how your organization was able to accomplish its goals. If there were challenges throughout the process, show how your team solved them.
Get into the nitty-gritty details. Every good story talks about overcoming challenges.
6. Include a Call-to-Action
Every marketer knows that including a call to action (CTA) is essential to getting a lead to move through the funnel. However, if you don’t what to be too overt and obvious in your CTAs, you can use a soft sell instead of a hard sell.
However you choose to write your CTAs, they should encourage your prospective client to act and convert.
Think of your case study as any other marketing or sales asset. Complete it with a CTA – see what we did there?
7. Incorporate Landing Pages
Don’t forget to incorporate landing pages into your strategy. You can either have your landing pages include a case study, or you create landing pages specifically to be sent to clients. Either way, get creative when integrating these case studies. Set yourself up for success by having these pages lead your customer to the next step in the journey.
Create Your Perfect Case Study
Do you need help with any aspect of your marketing strategy, including case studies, content, and landing pages? Reach out to Zero Gravity Marketing today to learn about how our organization can help yours.
No matter what aspect of digital marketing you need help with, we’re here to assist you.
