One of the essential tools in the marketing funnel of B2B businesses and the sales funnel is case studies. This post will discuss case studies as part of a B2B digital marketing process and the type of content included in a case study.
Here’s what we will discuss:
- Why Are Case Studies So Important?
- When Should You Write Case Studies?
- When And How To Ask Your Customers For Case Studies
- How Many Case Studies Should You Have?
- Who Should Be Involved in Case Studies?
- How To Write a B2B Case Study
- Should Case Studies Be Gated?
Why Are Case Studies So Important?
Case studies hit a flock of birds in one throw. As a customer going through a buying journey, they give you confidence that others not only paid good money for the solution but are also content to say what problems they solved.
In addition, as a customer, it answers the question, “what does this product or service solve”? Now, obviously, you should answer this question in other places as well (such as solution pages, business value pages, and others). However, when presented as a case study, the visitor can understand how similar problems were solved in other places.
If the case study is from a company that is either well-known or in the target market of potential B2B buyers, that amplifies the effect of case studies.
When Should You Create Case Studies?
Some companies reach an advanced stage before having case studies posted publicly. In some cases, the company lacks the marketing capacity to create case studies. In other cases, there is no process in place to deliver quality case studies. Sometimes, case studies exist but are only used as sales collateral. Finally, case studies are not prioritized.
The bottom line is that there are tons of great excuses, but a B2B company (perhaps we’ll touch B2C case studies in another post) should start working on case studies as soon as it has its first PoC. Yes, even before you sign your first customer, you should begin the process of creating a case study.
You might start with anonymized case studies until you gather authentic logos that agree to participate in a case study program. Still, even an “ACME Corp” case study is better than no case study.
I hit the nail on its head to make sure: if you’re selling B2B products, you needed a case study yesterday. And having tons of other vital projects is not a good excuse.
When And How To Ask Your Customers For Case Studies
Sometimes you may feel awkward reaching out to customers for participation in a case study program. Don’t.
Sometimes, especially in a startup, when things are still in progress, and the customer is tasting the dish while it’s still being cooked, it feels like it wouldn’t be an excellent point to get the customer to participate in a case study.
There is no point in creating a case study when there is zero value in what the customer is getting. Hopefully, this is not the case for you, but you should not wait until the customer is finished with their journey to 100% value. A case study can be incremental, and you can add content to it as time goes on.
How to ask the customers for a case study depends on whether they’re already a signed contract or not. The best place to do that is as part of the pricing, and offer that as part of a discount. However, the second option is to simply ask for participation. Depending on the relationship and the value you’re providing, you might get a green light for a fully-fledged case study, or at least an anonymized one.
How Many Case Studies Should You Have?
One case study is better than one, and there are never too many. However, you do have a gazillion other projects waiting to be executed. The number of case studies depends on many factors, but the magic number for startups or SMBs is 3. Three case studies, spread out to different industry segments (unless you’re a single-industry-focused company) and different use-cases (unless you’re solving a single use-case or doubling down on it), can take you long.
How long? You will probably get a feeling when three is not enough for your company. It is when you want to highlight new strategic capabilities, high-profile customers or when you feel you mature to have enough.
Who Should Be Involved in Case Studies?
A case studies project should involve more than just your marketing team. This should be planned in collaboration with your Sales team, Product, and Customer Success. A case study project should involve CS and Sales because they own the relationship with the customer from a sales perspective and will be the ones giving a discount and negotiating a case study. Product should validate that the case studies target the value propositions you’d like to highlight.
Finally, make sure the case studies are not a silo and are also used as part of your content marketing plan (converted to a blog post) and promoted using social media.
How To Write a B2B Case Study
I will dedicate one of my future blog posts to writing the B2B case study itself, as I don’t want this to become a long blog post, and it deserves a separate post. So in the meantime, there are external marketing solutions vendors can do the complete case study, but I will assume you’re writing a case study in-house. So here are a few pointers –
- The title should highlight the business value or success the customer is getting. It definitely should not be “ACME Case study,” “How we helped secure ACME,” or “How ACME is using our product to increase sales efficiency”. It should be something like “ACME lowers operational costs by 60% by ______” or “ACME was able to offshore their SDR, increasing leads by x3”.
- Include a strong visual, which can be your relevant product screenshot, infographic, or high-level marketecture.
- Break down the crucial parts outside of the bulk of the text (such as the number of employees, project scope, and more).
- Break down the key value points from the bulk of the text in bullet points.
- Include a relevant quote.
- Include a breakdown of the implementation in a way that would be relatable for other customers.
- Hint: If this weren’t clear, most prospects would not read the bulk of the text.
- Finally, as with all things marketing, don’t forget a good call to action.
Should Case Studies Be Gated?
Finally, there is the emotional question of whether case studies should be gated or not. In my opinion, the answer is no. In my opinion, you should draw the line where gated resources are those that give value to your website visitors. But then again, there are several approaches to this, and I will probably discuss gating in a future post.
The Bottom Line
B2B marketing case studies are among the most critical tools in your arsenal. Case studies are a highly effective way to push your target audience of prospects down the funnel. Companies should not delay publishing case studies, especially since it takes time to execute. You should start early and work hard until you have at least three cases.