Case studies are among the most popular marketing tools. They’re able to communicate the value of a business’ products or offerings through hard data, direct quotes and compelling customer experiences. Best of all, they’re useful, evergreen pieces of content.
Unfortunately, case studies are often promoted on a website once, handed to the sales team as collateral and forgotten only weeks (or worse, days) after their initial release. Here are a few key ways to extend the life of your case study and ensure this invaluable content reaches a wider audience.
Distill the Key Points in a Blog
Not everyone is going to read your case study from beginning to end (even if it’s short). A brief blog quickly explains the key points, engaging with potential customers who are in a rush or prefer to skim. At the end, you may link to the full case study for more in-depth reading.
Extract Quotes for Testimonials
In your case study, you probably have comments raving about your product or service. You can use these client testimonials on your website to display others’ positive experiences with your company.
Create Short Videos
If you have the time and resources, a video is a highly effective way to share highlights from your case study online. Your video may include a filmed interview with the customer or project leader. Another option is creating a slideshow of before-and-after photos, interspersed with data points and set to music.
Display the Data as an Infographic
When it comes to getting your message across swiftly, infographics reign supreme. Use compelling data or insights from your case study to craft infographics – they’re more interesting than a bulleted list. Plus, they play well on social media.
Use as Material for Speaking Opportunities
A case study can serve as supporting material for a presentation and frame you as an industry expert for speaking opportunities – in fact, many industry events require customer participation. You may use visual aspects (graphs, pictures, infographics or video) developed for the case study or expand on various aspects to enrich the content.
Pitch to Industry Publications
Achieve even greater reach beyond your network by submitting your case study to relevant industry publications. You will likely need to edit to meet editorial guidelines; anything blatantly self-promotional will be rejected, so be sure to avoid that while including tips their readers can implement to solve similar challenges. Publications will generally insist on including your customer’s name and may even want to speak with them.
A case study alone is valuable. But it gets even better when repurposed and used in a multitude of ways to further highlight business value and speak to prospective customers or clients who didn’t see it on your website or sales collateral.
At Aker Ink, we can help you craft targeted, high-quality case studies, but we can also help you promote it in effective ways that align with your business goals. Contact us to learn more.
