How to Write a Case Study ( 10 Examples & Free Template! )

How to Write a Case Study (+10 Examples & Free Template!)

Ah, the case study: One of the most important pieces of marketing content for a business, and yet all too often, also the most boring. The problem with this is, lose a reader and you lose a customer. It doesn’t have to be this way!

In this guide, I’m going to show you how to write a case study that prospects will actually want to read. An attractive, inspiring, and convincing case study that turns readers into customers.

What is a case study?

A case study is a self-contained story about how a real customer overcame their problems using your products or services. Notice how I used the word story. Marketers are obsessed with the notion of “storytelling” (usually without actually telling stories), but a good case study is a story with protagonist (your customer) who has a problem but who wins out in the end.

By the end of a case study, the reader should be able to visualize themselves as the hero of their own story. They should be able to relate to the problems of your featured customer, and see themselves achieving their own goals by using your product or service.

What is a marketing case study?

In marketing, a case study is an in-depth study of the effectiveness of a certain tool, tactic, or strategy. It focuses on measurable outcomes, like an increase in sales, visitors, or production hours.

What are the different types of case studies in marketing?

2. Explanatory case studies: These case studies explore the impact of a phenomenon or tactic, such as the company’s marketing strategy and how it impacted their growth. In this case, it’s not based on first-hand experience, but rather observation and inference.

3. Implementation case studies: An implementation case study takes the average client case study a bit further, focusing on the actual implementation and covering it in detail.

Examples of excellent case studies

1) Adobe: The Royal Bank of Scotland

This case study focuses on the solutions that Adobe provided for the Royal Bank of Scotland. Their top challenges included fostering a culture of data driven decision making, eliminating disjointed systems, and delivering digital experiences that are relevant and easy to use.

Adobe’s approach and delivery resulted in a 20 percent increase in conversion, as well as improved internal communications, faster optimisation, and a reduction of their content management footprint.

2) Bitly: Vissla

3) LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: Hubspot

HubSpot, in search of high quality leads, turned to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions to engage with marketing professionals in small to medium sized businesses. Targeting them with ebooks, webinars, and how-to guides. Sponsored organic content appeared in members’ LinkedIn feeds.

What to do with your finished case study

So, you’ve written a case study, got it approved and it’s live on your (or your client’s) website… now what? Well that’s the (sort of) easy part over. Next, comes the hard part – getting it out there, letting it be seen and generally making a fuss of the wee thing.

Remember the audience. We wrote some case studies for an ecommerce company. They were 1,000 words long but we were only allowed to mention the product in one paragraph. The rest of the piece had to be a proper story designed to appeal to the company’s target audience. In terms of PR coverage these case studies were – by far – the most successful we have worked on. Why? Because journalists could see the point and people actually wanted to read them.
New delivery media. What about a customer evidence blog? How about turning the source interview into a five-minute podcast? Perhaps combine three or four case studies in a particular sector, say accounting, into a single feature article about technology in that sector. What about the Q&A format? Put the interview up on YouTube?
One case study, multiple presentations. The source interview and research don’t change, but perhaps you could write a traditional case study, a bullet point summary for the web, a killer quote for an email newsletter and a longer more journalistic story for PR purposes. The incremental cost of the extra writing is marginal compared the cost of going through the process to produce the basic case study. Twice the content for just 50 percent more money.
Build a database. We use Notion as an extranet to allow everyone involved – client and agency – to access our work. This means that past case studies are always available and searchable for our use, even if that’s just for referral for formatting future content.
Build in measurability. Too often, people seem to think that the end of the process is getting the case study signed off and uploaded to a central customer evidence website. That is only the beginning of the process. It must be possible to build in more measurability. We work with Hubspot, which offers a boatload of analytics tools so you can track visitors that view your case study, showing where they can from, and if they clicked on a CTA or contact page.

Your case study strategy doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be effective. Utilising just ten percent of the advice we’ve given you above will help you seriously improve your case studies. At Articulate we eat, sleep and breathe case studies because we’ve seen first-hand just how powerful they can be for business. If you need support and help then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Source:

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/04/03/how-to-write-a-case-study
https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/marketing-case-study-examples
https://www.articulatemarketing.com/blog/writing-case-studies-that-drive-leads
How to Write a Case Study ( 10 Examples & Free Template! )

How To Write a Case Study Step-by-Step (With Examples)

A thorough and well-constructed case study uses metrics, such as key performance indicators, to show growth and success that support the idea that a business or salesperson is trying to convey. This strategic use of data and measurement value makes case studies more effective in marketing and other areas than other commonly-used techniques.

Case studies are often found in industries like health care and psychology to help doctors and mental health professionals provide better care. However, they can also be used in business and marketing to increase organizational effectiveness and strategic marketing across many industries. In this article, we explain how to write a case study step by step to help you write your own.

What is a case study?

A case study is a document that focuses on a business problem and solutions. In marketing, this is often used to tell a story about a customer journey, interactions and how a product or service solves a specific issue. Case studies can be used in all levels of business, however, and all industries, not limited to marketing.

The goal of a case study is to encourage the evaluation of a business problem, be it related to customer or client care, or finances or other operations. The case study demonstrates solutions that solve the issue, or case.

Case studies can be used internally to promote effectiveness within an organization. However, in marketing, case studies are often used to show a potential client or customer how working with an organization or buying a product or service can enhance their life or solve their problem.

What is a case study?

How to Write a Case Study… Effortlessly

Add Testimonials, Quotes, and Visuals

Proofread and Tighten Your Writing

My high school English teacher’s mantra was “tighten your writing.” She taught that impactful writing is concise and free of weak, unnecessary words. This takes effort and discipline, but will make your writing stronger.

Also, keep in mind that we live in an attention-diverted society. Before your audience will dive in and read each paragraph, they’ll first scan your work. Use subheadings to summarize information, convey meaning quickly, and pull the reader in.

Be Sure to Use Best Practices

Stay laser-focused on your client and the results they were able to achieve.
Even if your audience is technical, minimize the use of industry jargon. If you use acronyms, explain them.
Leave out the selling and advertising.
Don’t write like a Shakespearean wannabe. Write how people speak. Write to be understood.
Clear and concise writing is not only more understandable, it inspires trust. Don’t ramble.
Weave your paragraphs together so that each sentence is dependent on the one before and after it.
Include a specific case study call-to-action (CTA).
A recommended case study length is 2-4 pages.
Commit to building a library of case studies.

Get Client Approval

I hereby confirm that I have reviewed the case study listed above and on behalf of the [Company Name], I provide full permission for the work to be published, in whole or in part, for the life of the work, in all languages and all formats by [Company publishing the case study].

Resource:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-write-a-case-study
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/04/03/how-to-write-a-case-study
https://smartblogger.com/how-to-write-a-case-study/

How to Write a Case Study ( 10 Examples & Free Template! )