Market Your Business with Case Studies

Case studies help to market and build credibility for your business and your services. They are effective for almost any industry sector. A case study is a specific story about something your company accomplished for a client or customer. It describes the services you offered, any challenges you faced, and the results.


We often get this question when we discuss case studies:

Can a case study be used to promote referrals?

By communicating the positive results your business achieved, prospects may become interested in working with you. Well-written case studies fill the following business needs:

  • Offer a powerful statement about the effectiveness, quality and professionalism of your business
  • Serve as a testimonial
  • Build credibility

Case Studies Tell a Story

Make a powerful statement about your business by telling a story in the case study about a success achieved for a customer or client. The audience reading the case study will receive information and positive messages about the company, but they won’t feel like they are being hit with a heavy sales pitch. They will be convinced about the high caliber of your services or products through the story that is being told. The case study will help them to understand a problem that was solved or a need that was met.

How to Write a Case Study

Follow the steps below to write your case study:

  • Explain the situation or problem
  • Introduce your company and explain how it was hired to deal with a problem
  • Describe challenges
  • Explain solutions
  • Explain final results, using any statistics, and dollar amounts
  • Use testimonials to validate the results

Case Study for a Roofing Company

We wrote case studies for Fidelity Roof Company, a commercial roofing company in the San Francisco Bay Area. One case study shared the story of successfully retrofitting the iconic San Francisco Davies Symphony Hall for a large solar installation.

We also wrote a case study about a new roof system for a retail building. The case study explains the situation, the process, the materials used, and the results. People reading this case study will have a clear understanding of how Fidelity Roof approached the problem and worked to solve it.

Use Case Studies As Marketing Tools

Post case studies on your website, and link to them from your LinkedIn and other social media accounts. In addition, make them into a graphically appealing one sheet or handout to provide as informational material at a trade show, or to give to current clients and prospective clients and customers.

Repurposing the Case Study

Case studies are ideal for content marketing. Once you’ve written the case study, think about repurposing it in another format such as a video, blog, slide share presentation, or present it in a speech to a group or at a conference. Here’s an example of a case study video about a bridge construction project in Utah. It is one of several we produced for the Steel Market Development Institute in collaboration with the Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance.  In this example we used a written case study as the foundation for the companion video.

Contact Us

We have written case studies for clients in health care, marketing, economic development, manufacturing, engineering, and many other industry sectors. Contact us to get information on how we can help you write case studies for your business.

About the Author:

Hey, I’m Dianne Newton-Shaw, a principal at Placemaking Group.  I love what I do which is providing web development and web services that power small business. I also focus on creating the right content to engage customers — this is the fuel that drives engagement. Case studies – written and video formats – are great examples of relatable, shareable content. There is a lot that goes into making these two things happen, from strategy and defining the customer journey to defining what marketing tactics will most influence an audience.

I certainly don’t do this alone – I work with a very creative creative director, a customer experience expert, an amazing programmer, graphic designers and a cadre of videographers, content writers, social media strategists to bring this client work to life. For more about my background visit our team page, or connect with me on LinkedIn.

 


Post by Dianne Newton-Shaw