While some B2B marketing tactics may come and go, one constant remains - the B2B case study. As effective as ever, the B2B case study is still one of the most powerful weapons in the modern marketer’s arsenal. The combination of social proof, proven results, storytelling, and, occasionally, a keeping up with the joneses mentality, makes the case study a key revenue-generating device.
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If you can put together a case study that effectively communicates the precise pain points afflicting your target market, then it is the case study that can open many previously unlocked doors. Remember, the modern buyer will complete as much as 70% of their journey before the sales rep is engaged.
It is this change in buyer behavior that makes the case study more important than ever. In this post, we delve into what it is that makes a case study great. There is plenty of generic advice out there about storytelling and other high level notions, but, in our opinion, there are a few key ingredients every case study needs to have and we will go through them here.
B2B Case Study - How to Prepare
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
- Roy Keane
In the words of one Roy Keane - “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. Keane’s sentiment is certainly true in the case of the B2B case study. While those of us working in marketing might have some very clear ideas about what we want to include in a case study, we need to remember that, in this situation, there are some other voices that need to be heard - and, in particular, it is the customer's voice that needs to be amplified. So, in terms of preparation, a three step approach that looks something like this would be recommended:
- Use Case Analysis: Before you go any further, make sure you are clear on the specific use case for your company’s product that will go into the case study. Many products will have multiple use cases. Lock down the exact use case you are going to write about and think in terms of repeatability. Is the particular use case you plan to write about going to be repeatable on a greater scale or was it a unique sale that might be difficult to recreate? If you believe that the use case for your company’s product can be repeated with potential for new business, then you can get to work!
- Internal Research: Take a deep dive into your company’s CRM and any other systems that store details on past sales opportunities. Learn who were the key stakeholders on the customer side and what their main priorities were. Also, learn who led that sale from your own company’s side. With this information gleaned, you should start to see a clearer picture.
- Speak with the Sales Rep: There is only so much you can learn from opportunity notes stored on your CRM. Ideally, you should look to speak with the sales rep who closed the deal. Remember, it is the sales team who are speaking with customers every day and can bring the most valuable and current insights to the table. If you are meeting virtually, set the call to record, or, if you are meeting in person, remember to take some notes. It can’t be stressed enough, feedback from sales reps is absolutely vital here.
- Speak with the Customer: In an ideal world, you would set up some time with the customer and let them talk you through the deal from their side focusing on areas like the challenge, the before and after, improvement metrics, and what caught their attention initially. The world however is less than ideal as we know, so grabbing some valuable time from a customer’s schedule might not always be realistic. If not, you will need to make the most of the CRM notes, sales feedback, and any sales meeting recordings that your company has on file.
B2B Case Study - How to Structure
Most case studies will follow the same tried and trusted format which will include most or all of the sections listed below. In general, there should not be any need to sway too far from this outline. If there are any particularly unique aspects or complexities to your case study, you can add a section as needed, but, in most situations, the sections below will do just fine.
- Business Context: This section is just to set up the background to the case study. You can keep this part relatively brief and here you can provide some background information on the customer such as company size, industry, etc.
- Challenge: In this section, you can outline the key challenge that your customer was facing. Again, the length will vary here depending on the level of complexity involved, but a good rule is to keep this section as brief as possible and look to set out the challenge in a concise manner that is easy to digest and speaks directly to your prospect’s challenges. Remember, the ultimate goal is to hook in some new customers - look to include those industry-wide pain points as early as possible and in a way that is both precise and clearly articulated.
- Solution: The solution is the key section. Here you include exactly how your product solved the customer’s pain point.
- Results: If there are some data points that are relevant to the case study, you can include them here. However, the key areas to cover in this section are the key benefits that the company derived from your product. Again, think in terms of the customer voice. Identify and articulate those key priorities and challenges that you helped the company to solve and will help more companies solve in future. Areas like time-savings, productivity, lower costs, security etc. are often included in this section.
- Quote: If you can get a quote from your customer, get it. Social proof will never not be powerful.
- Summary: Include a summary or at a glance section. This section can be included at the start or in a callout area on your website. Include a few bullet points for all the core sections that highlight the most important aspects of the case study.
How to Use Your Case Study to Win More Business
Once your case study has been written and approved, you need to think about the various ways you can use it to win new business. In general, there are a few important steps that you should take with every case study.
- Publish it on your website - Get your approved case study coded up and into the case studies section of your website. If you don’t have a case studies section, then it is time to set one up. You should also consider linking to your case study from your home page and including a customer quote there too if you do not already have one.
- Create a PDF version - PDFs still have a role. Some companies still choose to put their case studies behind forms, although this approach is declining in popularity. One way you could approach it might be to put the case study onto a web page, but remove some of the additional details. You could then offer a more in-depth version as a download via PDF.
- Create a video - If the situation allows for it, a video case study can be really valuable. If your customer is agreeable, then a video is definitely worth the investment and can be used on your website and social channels to demonstrate your company’s proven execution capabilities.
- Create some graphics for social media - Each social media site has different dimension requirements. Create graphics for each that show key visuals, quotes, or bullet points from your case study that can be added to your social sharing calendar.
- Add the case study to your company decks - Adding your case studies to company slide decks will give your company an extra element of credibility when you speak with potential customers in sales situations. For the slide version, you will want to focus on the most important key points using bullets and other visuals to get your point across.
- Include the case study in your email campaigns - A case study can be a powerful outreach tool. If your sales teams are running email campaigns, then the case study can help to generate leads or move sales prospects further along the pipeline. There are a few different ways you can use your case study in your email campaigns:
- Marketing emails: You can include a link to your case study in your company’s awareness-oriented marketing emails. The goal here would be just to let potential customers know about your capabilities.
- Prospecting emails: These emails would be much more targeted and are sent when your business development team is honed in on target personas and companies. The case study can be used as the key topic in these emails as business development teams look for a reason to reach out to and set up sales meetings with target customers.
- One-to-one emails: Newly published case studies can also be a great reason to reach out to those high value target accounts that require a more personal touch. A one-to-one email letting a key sales target know that you have recently published a highly relevant case study may be the nudge that opens a high value door!
How to Promote Your B2B Case Study
Promoting your B2B case study is vital and can also be a way to win your company some new business. If your budget allows, then it is worth considering some paid channels.
- LinkedIn Boost - Of all the social media options, LinkedIn has the best targeting. A small ad or post boost can get your case study in front of the right people in the right company.
- Other social sites - X, Facebook, Instagram etc. can all be valuable depending on where your audience lives. Instagram can have a lot of value if you are targeting a younger audience. If you were able to get a video version of your case study over the line, then different snippets can be used on social media both organically and for paid ads.
- Google Ads - If you can work out a viable cost per click to advertise on Google Ads, then that might be another option. There might be keywords worth bidding on or even competitor keywords here that you could bid for to get your case study to appear at the top of the paid search results.
- Podcast or webinar - Hosting someone from the company featured in your case study on a company webinar or podcast can also be very valuable long from content. While there might be considerable time investment involved, the potential for new business generation is huge here. Think about the modern buyer and all the research they undertake before even engaging companies. Giving this person the opportunity to hear a customer discuss in detail the key aspects of the case study could prove decisive. You might also be surprised how amenable the customer would be to appearing on your webinar or podcast as they try to build up good publicity for both themselves and their company.
All in all, it is fair to say that not only is the case study still going strong, it is, in fact, more important than ever. We hope you find value in our case study guide and, if you need help putting together a case study or are facing another marketing challenge, feel free to reach out to us today.