Three Steps to Writing a Case Study

Gretchen Dukowitz reports:

"Case studies – love ’em or hate ’em – remain a critical part of the content marketing mix for almost every B2B organization. To some, they may seem stodgy (or dare I say boring?), but CMI research shows more companies are using them...But, let’s be honest. Case-study creators’ opinions probably fall more on the hate-’em end of the spectrum. The tried-and-true formula – challenge, solution, benefit – doesn’t exactly inspire creativity or good storytelling, and the fallback – to pack them full of bad business jargon – can make writing a case study a huge chore...Fortunately, a few simple steps will allow you to not only create your case studies faster, [more easily], and less painfully, but can help make them sound better, too...A good customer interview is the lifeblood of a good case study. Before you write a case study, do yourself a huge favor and actually talk to a real, live customer...Case studies are stories. They have narratives and need to be rooted firmly in the experience of the customer. You can get all of these things by talking to one. The end result is a strong case study with a clear beginning, middle, and end, as opposed to a Frankenstein-assembled story that you put together from random parts...You are not being held to some journalistic standard that says you must reproduce all customer utterances word for word...You can – make that should – edit and embellish quotes to make their point more effectively...You have to retain the spirit of what a customer says and make it sound plausible...A few small, completely OK tweaks make a big difference, and with customer approval, you are secure in knowing your updated quote works for everyone...[M]ost businesses aren’t too terribly concerned about the challenges other businesses face. This may be [shortsighted], but more often than not, businesses are too knee-deep in their own issues to worry about the other guy (aside from giving lip service to outpacing the competition, of course). This thinking is a big problem for case-study writers because exploring the case study’s problems – the challenge section – usually makes up at least a third of the story. To effectively hook readers, take a step back and think about why a broader audience might be interested in the one business’ challenge...The first sentence of your case study should always speak to a broad business issue and provide context for the reader. This provides a better chance that readers will identify with the broader challenge even if they are not in the study’s specific vertical or business...When you implement these three tips into your case-study process, you will be able to create an authentic, easy-to-understand voice that sets the stage for a meatier and more effective case study that is appealing to a wider audience."