Understanding the Role of Case Studies in Online Marketing

If you’re looking for ways to enhance your online marketing efforts and improve conversion rates, you may consider adding case studies to your content marketing efforts. While they may seem clinical and dated, they actually speak to prospective clients and yield a number of tangible benefits.

Why Case Studies?

Today’s customers are connected. The growth of the internet and the explosion of mobile devices means they have access that wasn’t possible in previous decades. If they want to find information on a particular topic, it’s just a Google search away.

Within the context of business, you have to recognize that your audience is craving information. They want to be pushed in a particular direction or reassured they’re making the right decision. In many instances, a case study can accomplish this for you.

A case study is merely a written form of content that highlights a real-world scenario and uses specific data and concrete examples to demonstrate why your product/service is worth purchasing. Some of the benefits include:

Niche-specific:

With a case study, it’s pretty hard to develop a piece of content that’s irrelevant or off target. Since it’s based on a personal experience, it’s going to be specific to your niche.

Audience-focused:

Not only are case studies specific to your niche, but they’re also centered on your audience. A case study generally looks at things from the perspective of the customer, which gives prospective clients a unique look.

Supported by data:

In a world where misinformation can spread like wildfire, case studies are unique because they’re supported by data. While data can technically be manipulated, people are much more trusting of it and generally view case studies as objective sources of information.

Generates leads:

Because case studies are viewed in such a positive light, customers are often willing to give something in order to gain access. Recognizing this, many brands use case studies as lead generation magnets.

As Arbour Group explains, “We actually use our case studies as a sort of trade-off. We let customers download the studies and, in return, they provide us with their contact information. Considering that they’re in the middle of the research stage of the consumer lifecycle, this is really valuable.”

Establishes authority:

When it’s all said and done, case studies elevate your brand as authoritative in your niche – something that pays dividends for your brand in many different areas.

There’s clearly the value of case studies as digital marketing tools. They hit your audience where it counts and moves them to action.

Recommended for you: How to Make an Outstanding Marketing Strategy to Grow Your Business.

Developing Effective Case Studies

“As powerful as the case study format is, you might think that it’s intimidating. You might think that it takes a lot of work to create. You might even think that it costs a lot of money to put together,” digital marketing expert Lewis Crutch writes. “The good news is that with proper tools and proper data gathering strategies, case studies can be put together quite easily.” 

No experience developing case studies? Don’t be discouraged. Like any content marketing specialty, it just takes a little time and experience to get the hang of things.

When developing case studies, it’s imperative that you focus on the story. Effective case studies almost always have clear, relatable, and relevant stories that convey value to the target customer. They’re also easy to read, which is why formatting is such a big deal.

As marketer Kristi Hines explains, “No one really likes to read one huge chunk of text, no matter how interesting and informative it might be. Be sure to use good content formatting elements like you would with articles, blog posts, and copywriting on your website including headers, images, bulleted lists, and bolded and italicized text.” 

Good storytelling and strategic formatting are great, but they must be paired with relevant and specific data in order to make a case study effective. Nix the generalizations and use concrete numbers your audience can view in context.

You may also like: 5 Article Types That Could Attract More Readers to Your Website.

Make an Investment in Case Studies

Case studies may be foreign to you, but they can be used to take your digital marketing strategy to the next level. Now is the perfect time to roll up your sleeves and make an investment that counts.