Category Archives: Case Study

Crank It Up With Case Studies – The Best Content Marketing Strategy

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Case studies are one of the excellent methods, especially in business and marketing, where a scenario can be best explained with a similar situation in the past. The business environment is dynamic and there is a lot of inflow and outflow of information from different sources. Proper information is required to deal with different business problems and resolving them in the least possible timeframe.

The Case Study method in business helps to understand, interpret, analyze and resolve a present business situation more effectively with past experience to come up with a strategy for the future.

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The statistics are staggering, in the year 2014 – 15, Harvard Business School sold about 12 million case studies to around 4000 business schools worldwide. The report also stated that 19 of the top 25 business schools worldwide considers the case study method as one of their major teaching tools.

Case Studies bring out either a simple or complex situation for analysis and study. Case studies form the basic foundation for learning different business concepts and paradigms. Case study method is a way of active learning and it gradually helps the participants to build and channelize their thought process. Like educational institutions, business houses also use the case study method for training employees, gaining insight and incorporating the learnings into their business processes. Case studies can have a definite solution(s) or it leaves a point of discussion with varying views on it.

5 Unbeatable Benefits Of Case Studies In Content Marketing

1. Powerful Social Proof

Case studies give consumers the confidence to trust a product or service by providing relatable human evidence of its value.  Unlike a testimonial, a case study puts the value in action, taking users on a specific journey through the usage of a specific product or service. It’s word-of-mouth validation that marketers covet, and consumers rely on to make decisions.  A rich customer narrative, loaded with direct quotes and characterizing details, helps prospects relate to your product or service, and impresses them to imagine it benefiting their lives.

2. Reusable information

A case study provides prime material for multimedia, which expands its reach to a wider audience of visual and auditory learners, and boosts SEO across platforms. You can film a case study, add pictures or infographics to the written version, and publish a podcast of the script. Customer stories are invaluable pieces of marketing collateral; case studies let you maximize their potential.

3. Keywords for SEO

Case studies often necessitate keywords that help websites rank higher on Google, because at the core of any case study is a specific product or service a customer used to solve a problem.  Fresh content with keywords pertaining to your products or services often improves the website’s visibility on searches where those words are used.  The narrative structure of a case study makes it easy to incorporate keywords that boost Google rankings for specific searches.

4. Totally original content

You can only conjure up so many “How-To” blog posts before your imagination goes sour. Case studies cure content marketing creativity blues by spotlighting unique customer experiences.  With your customers in control of the narrative, no two case studies will ever be the same.  Your products or services are promoted in compelling, original stories unlike any piece of content created by your competitors.

5. Opportunities for customer advocacy

Destroy any apprehension you might have about approaching customers to share their experiences; case studies can be used as part of a mutually beneficial customer appreciation program that builds stronger business relationships (and potential brand advocates!) With this approach, you don’t ask for a favor from your customer- you offer a benefit.

Case Studies are like stories, but real ones with real problems and parameters. Sometimes, the solutions can be applied to new problems, but in most cases, case studies just provide an insight to the problem and urge the reader(s) for critical and analytical thinking and problem solving.

Case study is a rich repository of information, so it you have a business case of your own, share it, promote it, use it to train employees and leverage it as a business asset!

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The Case Study Mantra for Marketing

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We all know that ‘everybody loves a story’ and this has become an underlying guideline for marketers and brand managers. Brands today, not sell a product or a service, rather they share experiences and emotions, which makes you buy their product or service.

Marketing is no longer about selling your proposition and getting new customers. It has overlapped with Branding, which believes in creating a niche, a connect and retaining valuable customers. So, in order to do so, they need to move afar from traditional marketing and do more of experiential marketing and emotional branding. These tools are meant to involve a customer and rather than to pursue them.

One tool for achieving this can be using case studies and making them more customer-centric. Case Studies are nothing but a way to share past experiences or to explain with an example. They are also used to exemplify a case, an issue or a lesson from the past to be used in the future.

Case studies are like an asset, which helps you to justify your brand – why is your product/service better, how it has added value for others and how it can benefit you.

Today, customers are smart. They know where to look for online reviews, personal recommendations, user ratings and others before they make any purchase. They can compare and contrast between different options. They are conscious enough to do their own research online before investing on any option. It is believed that 9 out of 10 customers are looking for online reviews and feedback before buying a product and 88% of consumers rely on online reviews as they do on personal recommendations.

Let’s take a look at a few of the interesting ways to use case studies for your marketing.

Feature them on your Home Page

People would like to know how others felt before they buy the product. So, let them read testimonials or reviews immediately, when they land on your home page. You can either feature as scrolling text or call to action for reading in details.

Keep a separate tab for them

It is important to highlight case studies along with other information in the website. So, you can keep a separate section for them like ‘Case Studies’, ‘Stories for Success’ or ‘Lead by Examples’. Urge visitors to browse through case studies with attractive taglines, or other ways to draw them to that section.

Make interactive tools

Earlier, case studies used to be simple text, which gets boring to read and might not work now-a-days. So, make case studies interesting and interactive by converting them into videos, slideshows, or using catchy images, graphs, etc., which makes it easy to interpret yet informational.

Publicize them on social media

In today’s age of social media, it is not enough to just keep the case studies in your website. You need to publicize and make them visible as well. So, write about it in blogs, share in social media like Facebook, Twitter and others. Make them popular through different groups like LinkedIn groups and others.

Combine them with other tools

Case studies, if combined with other marketing tools can do wonders. Make them a part of email marketing, use them in your signature as links, feature them in brochures and incorporate them in newsletters.

Train sales team with them

The sales team is responsible for lead generation. So, train them with case studies, which they can use in sales and promotions. They can use these examples more than describing the features and utilities, which the customer might already be aware of. The more they are able to gain the trust of the customer by providing them evidence, the better chances are there to turn them into prospects. Case studies never grow old, just that they need to be presented in the right way at the right point of time.

There can be many other ways to use case studies effectively like Using relevant case studies on landing pages, Creating effective Slide-Shares, Using them for Training and Sales presentations, and others.

According to another study by Content Marketing Institute, where they listed 12 effective marketing tactics, case studies fared at fifth position. It shows that around 63% of UK marketers believe that case studies can be effective in marketing.

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might be a traditional tool, but with modern ways to revamp and re-design the message can definitely help you in sales and promotion, marketing, branding and customer engagement.

Make a case of your offering and use it effectively to showcase your product or service!

Do you need help? We are here for you

Just write to us at info@medialabs.in. To know more about us, visit our website www.medialabs.in.

Hey, thanks for the info. Now what?

If you need any help with content creation, we have tons of free resources to get you over the hump. Please subscribe to this blog to ensure that you never miss an article.

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