A company’s experience in solving specific practical problems is the best advertisement. Add the power of stories to this, and you will get a fiery business tool that convinces people to buy. We are talking about case studies. How should you write a working case study for an international audience? We are going to show you.
What is a case study?
A case study is a deep and detailed study of a specific case in a real-life setting. In a business context, it is a paper that tells about the experience of solving a client’s problems. Build a narrative on the principles of storytelling: a main character encounters an enemy – a problem. On the way to solving it, they meet an assistant – a company or a product. Together, they defeat the enemy and become better.
If you need to write a case study but don’t know how to do it right, get help from a custom essay writing service. Writers who work there will deal with writing quickly and efficiently. You will end up with a trust-building case study.
Who needs to write case studies?
If your business solves specific consumer problems and the results of the work can be objectively assessed, it is worth writing case studies.
For whom are case studies a waste of time? They will not bring results for companies that provide standard services or sell a simple product.
The hero must overcome difficulties to achieve their goal; otherwise, no one will want to read the story.
For example, the implementation of an IT solution in a client’s company is worthy of a case, but a standard website audit is not.
Important: press releases, promotional materials, and advertising are not case studies. The task of the latter is not to sell but to demonstrate your capabilities using real projects as an example. All information in the material must be objective and supported by data.
How to write a case study
Goals
Like any other marketing activity, case study preparation should begin with formulating goals for your business. Indicate how much time, resources, and employees will be needed to prepare the material and how you plan to promote the finished case. Agree on the plan with the management.
Topic and format
Having set the goals, you can move on to choosing the topic and the client. It is important to maintain a balance here: the story should be interesting and, at the same time, relevant to potential clients. You should not choose projects with a rare problem that will not find a response. The specifics of the customer’s business, circumstances, and methods of solution may change, but the conflict should be familiar to most.
Good examples of client goals are the following:
- Cost reduction
- Profitability
- Increase in the number of leads
- Profit growth
- Increase in the percentage of closed deals
- Entering a new market
- Increasing efficiency and environmental friendliness
- Optimization for legal requirements.
At the beginning of the journey, it is advisable to decide on the case study format. The options are the following:
- Text
- Presentation
- PDF file
- Website page
- Video
- Infographics
- Podcast.
Client selection
You have decided on the topic; now you need to select the right client for it. You can focus on the following categories:
- Product knowledge. It is good if the client is on first-name terms with your product; then, they will use it effectively and realize its full potential.
- Notable growth in indicators. Clients with good results are likely to agree to cooperate.
- Well-known brands. If your client is well known in the industry, as a bonus to leads attraction, you will earn trust and status.
- Dissatisfied clients of competitors. Experience in working with such requests will help emphasize your advantages.
- Industry. Try to choose interesting projects from areas that you often work with. This will strengthen your expertise.
After this, you need to get the client’s contact information and move on to the next step.
Coordination with the client
Make sure that the selected client is ready to cooperate. To do this, describe what will be required of them and what benefits they will receive.
Interview with the client and data collection
The interview can be conducted in a convenient format: by phone, video call, or correspondence. It is important to get answers to the following questions:
- What problems did you encounter before using our product/service?
- Why did you choose our product/service? Did you consider competitors’ offers?
- How did our product/service solve your problem?
- What business goals do you set for yourself?
- Are you ready to share data confirming your success?
Building a story
The collected data is the basis of the future story. Now, it needs to be built on the best traditions of storytelling. The “Monomyth” plot is most often chosen for the case. What does it look like?
The narrative consists of three acts:
- Problem
- Solution
- Result.
Structure
Start telling the story step by step:
- Heading and subheading. Try to fit a description of the client, the problem, and the solution in this block.
- Summary or brief content. In a few paragraphs, describe the case and list the main figures and conclusions.
- Client. What is this case about (industry, size, company features)?
- Problem or challenge. Describe the problem your client faced.
- Solution. How did your product help solve the problem/achieve the result?
- Results. Present them in numbers, percentages, or “before/after” visuals.
- Plans. Tell readers what else you plan to do to achieve better results if the project still needs to be completed.
- Call to action. Invite clients to contact you, subscribe to your newsletter, or read similar case studies.
By following all these steps, you will end up with a trust-building case study.
