Case studies: trust, relevance and what's in it for me?

In the past week, the topic of writing case studies has come up in conversations with three different businesses. Must be something in the air.

As often happens, my own case study focus was reinforced almost immediately. What you focus on really does expand, no? I wasn't actually looking for this info, but I noticed that Casey Hibbard has written a great little piece on using case studies on the Marketing Profs web site. (Read it!) She begins:

A major survey on corporate trust just came out, and the news isn't good.

Of people surveyed in 20 countries, 62% say they trust corporations less now than they did a year ago (2009 Edelman Trust Barometer).

People do business with people they like and trust, so how can you inspire trust during the current crisis of credibility?

Yes, writing case studies, or customer/client success stories, are one excellent way to do that. They don't have to be in the traditional several page case study format. Short, well-told stories can be just as effective. Getting creative about sharing your customer's successes through long testimonials and short case studies can be a simple way to build credibility, trust and relevance in your marketplace.

Need ideas? Casey lists 25 easy ways you can share these positive case studies for your marketing advantage. (I'm going to throw in #26 and #27: Include them in your press materials by finding ways to publicize your customer's successes and add them to your company Intranet to share across your internal operations-- employees can be strong marketers.)

Just don't make the mistake of writing these as direct sales pieces. This is not the place for "We're great because we did this cool project." (Actually, I'm still trying to find the proper place for that approach.) I'm talking about customer-focused case studies, stories that put on your prospect's hat and answer the questions that they might be asking about your products and services. Questions like:

  • How does it work?
  • Is it really relevant to my business?
  • Do you understand the issues I'm facing?
  • How can you solve my problems?
  • Can you show me the results?

It's the business application of the old writing advice: Show, don't tell.

So go to it. I'm sure we can all manage to find at least a couple of places where a good example goes a long way. And if you need help making it happen, give me a shout.
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Comments

Hi,

April 10, 2010 - 5:14am — Andrew2

Research has shown that members of the United States Congress, especially in the House, exploit the abundance of electorally productive perquisites of office available to them. Online Degree Information | Free online degree Yet research has not made clear the actual impact of this exploitation on constituents. In this study, I use actual member-constituent contacts in a congressional district to determine the effect of casework on incumbent evaluation.

A recent survey undertaken by

February 18, 2010 - 2:58am — jacksee

A recent survey undertaken by Management Today and the Institute of Leadership and Management shows the average British worker as a rather suspicious person when it comes to putting trust in The Boss! The survey reveals that about a third of British workers don't trust their managers and leaders to do the right thing. According to the survey of 5700 workers, 31% of non-managers and 28% of managers say that they have ‘no’ or ‘low’ trust in their management team. Worrying statistics! The factors assessed in the survey were ability, understanding, fairness, openness, integrity and consistency. The report highlights some interesting variations: The larger the organisation, the less trust employees are likely to show in its leadership; the longer an employee 640-721 has been with the organisation the less they trust their management team; women are generally more trusted and trusting than men; the highest levels of trust in management is to be found in private sector organisations.