A marketing case study is one of the best ways to show off your results and persuade potential customers to work with you. It highlights your successes and walks prospects through a story of how you helped a similar customer solve problems and generate tangible results.
A marketing case study helps prospects see how they can benefit by choosing you as their marketing partner.
The rest of this post explains how to write a marketing case study that supports your sales funnel, attracts leads, and helps turn prospects into customers. This post also includes examples of powerful case studies and a downloadable marketing case study PDF to give you inspiration for creating your own.
Download the marketing case study template now, and use the rest of the post to start building powerful case studies today.
Tips for Creating a Powerful Marketing Case Study
As you build your marketing case study library, keep a few important best practices in mind.
- Use your case study to tell a story. Case studies are powerful because they illustrate your marketing effectiveness to clients and show the results of your work. To make this vision easy for clients to see, tell a story they can imagine and understand. Walk readers through a beginning, middle, and end to make your case study interesting and compelling.
- Create a case study for a specific solution. Consider the top solutions you want to market to your customers and then create specific case studies that highlight those solutions and how they can be achieved with your services. Write about past clients that your target market segment can relate to. Being specific can help you create case studies that resonate with potential clients who are in similar situations as your past clients.
- Plan and get client permission. Being proactive and having a plan will make it much easier to develop a system for creating marketing case studies. As you begin a client engagement, consider what type of case study you can develop based on the project. Also, follow up quickly with clients to get their permission to use their story in a case study while the relationship is still fresh.
What to Include in a Marketing Case Study Template
There are many ways to develop a marketing case study, but they should always include the following components.
1. Title
The title should clearly show what results were accomplished through the campaign. Add the results to the title to immediately catch the attention of audiences who would like to achieve the same results. Consider including your brand name to show that you were responsible for driving the success.
For example: How Linux Academy Increased Organic Traffic 84% with Incremental SEO Improvements
2. The Client
A great marketing case study starts by setting the scene. It introduces the brand that is the subject of the study and explains who they are and what they do. Use this part of the case study to help prospects identify with the subject by drawing parallels between each party.
3. The Problems
Move the story forward by introducing the problem or problems the subject is trying to solve or the challenges they face. Include a few sentences about each of the main problems that the marketing campaign or engagement ought to solve or improve.
4. The Solutions
After introducing the problems, explain what you did to help overcome the challenges. List each marketing objective and solution that you implemented. Depending on the type of marketing case study you want to create, you can get very specific and include step-by-step details of the solutions, or you can briefly describe the overall structure of your campaign.
5. The Results
Show how your solutions led to tangible results for the subject. Include key performance indicators, data, and statistics that show the improvements that were a result of your work. Examples of digital marketing metrics may include:
- Web analytics
- Traffic statistics
- Number of backlinks
- Keyword share of voice
- Number of social shares
- Number of comments
- Site authority (Alexa Rank)
- Keyword ranking
6. Visuals
Don’t just add numbers and stats to paragraphs in your marketing case study. Include visuals that bring the results to life and make them easier for readers to notice. Use graphics and copy callouts to highlight the top results and positive statements from the client. Consider including:
- Pull quotes
- Charts
- Before-and-after graphics
7. Call to Action
The purpose of a marketing case study is to draw in potential clients and get them to work with you. So don’t end your marketing case study once you reveal the results. Continue to engage prospective clients by ending with a call to action that encourages the reader to contact you to achieve the same results. Be sure to include contact information and clear next steps the audience should take to move forward and do business with you.
How to Conduct a Marketing Case Study Interview
The best marketing case studies use quotes and stories from the involved client. To help you get through this part of the process and collect useful information from clients, follow these best practices for conducting a marketing case study interview.
- Let the client know they are in control. Clients are usually doing you a favor by allowing you to create a case study about their project or giving you time for an interview. Show them that you appreciate this. Let them be in control. Allow them to choose interview times, send them questions before the interview, and be sure they approve their quotes before publishing.
- Research before you interview. If you are tasked with interviewing a client you haven’t previously worked with, don’t go into an interview without any prior knowledge about the project. Talk to the project manager to get a good overview of the project and results so that the client doesn’t have to explain everything from start to finish.
- Ask opened-ended questions. The goal of your interview is to walk away with quotes that you can use in your marketing case study. Avoid asking yes or no questions that will result in one-word answers. Instead, ask open-ended questions that will facilitate detailed explanations and provide good quotes.
- Ask questions that will help you tell a story. You already know that the best case studies share a problem, solution, and results. So tailor your questions to encourage answers for those sections by asking variations of the following questions.
◊ What problems were you facing when you approached our organization?
◊ How did you go about finding a solution to that problem? What led you to our organization to help you solve the problem?
◊ Why did you choose our organization over others?
◊ What results have you seen since implementing our solutions?
◊ How have the results impacted your business?
◊ What would you tell other people about what it was like to work with us?
- Ask for a follow-up. Even if you ask all of the right questions, you may end up needing additional information to complete your marketing case study. Ask the client if it’s OK to follow up with any additional questions after the initial interview.
Example Images to Include in a Marketing Case Study
In addition to quotes from happy customers, images and charts are powerful ways to illustrate the results you helped generate.
Marketing Case Study Examples
A case study can be short and concise or long and detailed, depending on how you plan to use the case study and the resources you have available to you.
Here are a few marketing case study examples with solutions that show the many ways you can create this influential resource.
One-Page Case Study From gShift
This case study by gShift is an example of how you can keep it short and sweet while still telling a complete story. The case study introduces the brand, problem, solution, and the results of the campaign all within a one-page PDF document.
Landing Page Case Study by OH Partners
Using more design and less copy than the case study by gShift is an OH Partners landing page case study. It’s another example of how you can tell a detailed story through only a few words. The landing page includes a brief explanation of the marketing case study along with a supporting video and links to other relevant case studies.
Blog Post Case Study by ViperChill
An example of using more text to tell a case study story is this blog post by ViperChill. The case study doesn’t just introduce the problem, solution, and the results. Instead, it dives deeper into the details and gives more complex insight into the steps involved in the process.
Slideshow Case Study From Bitly
This Bitly case study shows how you can use design to make the story easy to consume and understand. In just a few words and five slides, Bitly walks viewers through their entire case study story.
Video Case Study by Sennep
This case study by Sennep is a great example of how you can turn a case study into a compelling video that walks audiences through the problem, solutions, and the results.
How to Use Marketing Case Studies Throughout the Sales Funnel
The primary goal of a marketing case study is to move an interested client into becoming a paying customer. A case study helps seal the deal and gets the prospect to move toward working with you.
But that doesn’t mean case studies should only be used near the end of the sales funnel. Once you create a case study, use it in multiple ways throughout the purchase funnel.
Use a marketing case study to build brand awareness. Publish a case study on your blog, then spread awareness by promoting it on social media. Create social media graphics that include quotes or stats from your case study to make it more eye-catching and shareable.
Use a marketing case study for lead generation. Add a library of gated case studies on your website. Require users to enter their email address to access your more detailed case studies. This process allows you to generate leads and nurture qualified prospects.
Use a marketing case study to support your sales team. Arm your sales team with case studies that show tangible results. Encourage them to share case studies with prospects to show them how your services have helped others and can bring the same desirable results to them.
Once you create a case study, use it in multiple ways throughout the purchase funnel.
Download Your Free Marketing Case Study Template
A well-written marketing case study can lead audiences to your brand, drive them into your sales funnel, and help convert interested prospects into customers. Don’t overlook this powerful piece of your marketing strategy.
Download our free marketing case study template and use the tips and examples in this post to start telling stories that show clients how you can help them achieve their marketing goals.
