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Content. You know you should produce it but you’re not exactly sure what to produce. Blog articles, social media posts and testimonial videos are all good, but perhaps the most compelling and powerful piece of content you should produce is a case study.
Why? Because case studies tell the story of how you helped a customer. But you’re not the hero; your customer is. It guides the reader through your customer’s journey, from their pain points to the solutions they sought and the results they are now enjoying.
Case studies are incredibly effective and if you’re not using them, you should. Here are 5 reasons why:
Who doesn’t love a good story? They hook the reader in and keep them engaged till the end, and that’s what a well-written, well thought-out case study does. Like a story, it has a beginning middle and end, and it introduces a cast of characters.
It also presents the reader with a challenge, the steps taken to overcome that challenge, and the benefits from that action.
And, as your audience reads the story, they will have a chemical reaction in their brains. It’s what happens when we read, watch or listen to a story. Chemicals are released at different times that help us feel connected to the story, almost as if we are experiencing the stress and other emotions with the story characters. This causes us to empathize.
You don’t tell the story in your case study; your customer does. So your audience isn’t listening to you, they are listening to a peer, a colleague, someone in business just like them. This helps them empathize and relate because they are experiencing some of the same challenges as your customer.
It also might conjure up a bit of #FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) which is an emotion that drives lots of buying behavior. That's not such a bad thing.
What is more powerful: you telling someone how great your product or service is, or a satisfied customer doing it for you?
People want to hear from happy, satisfied customers before moving forward with a purchase, and case studies do this beautifully. But, they don’t only tell why they customer is happy; they also set the background and set the scene, outlining the issues your customer was experiencing, what you did to address and remedy those issues and the results your customer is experiencing.
Case studies help influence a purchase. In fact, according to research, they are the third most influential content marketing type in the purchase process for both large and small businesses.
Wonder why? See reason #3.
From your case study, you can generate a lot of additional content including a blog post, testimonials, social media fodder and more.
Sure they may take some time to compile and put together, but you’ll get a lot of mileage out of it. Create it once and use it again and again.
Now that you understand why case studies are so powerful, it’s time to take action. Contact me to learn about my process and the only 3 questions you need to ask your customer when creating a case study.
