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Business case studies have become a totally ineffective tool. And marketers are to blame for that.
Most case studies have become like super hero stories, the client has a problem, and the services firm writing the case study steps in and saves the client.
It totally falls flat and most prospects don't believe these stories. So should we do away with case studies? Well int he current format yes.
We have to change our approach to case studies, and these are some steps that I can recommend that will increase the effectiveness and the credibility of the case studies.
1) Tell a story- Each case study should tell a story, taking into the account what was the situation, What was the business environment at that stage, What all was tried by the customer, what were the business imperatives and finally the actions that helped the customer get back on track. I am sure that most people reading the story would know that the services consulting firm would have helped the customer.
2) Focus on business impact- Most case studies talk about the process and the technology but never focus on the business impact. It is the business impact which makes a case study attractive, not the technology or the process.
3) Keeping it short- Most firms developing case studies are so much in love with their achievement that they go on for pages on the case study. Keeping it brief and to the point would help ensure that they have attention of the prospects.
4) Innovative delivery- And finally it is the delivery that falls off totally as no one has allocated time or resources to think about that. So think through innovative formats, like Apps to deliver the story, how about Tweets or Video case studies. Audio- visual format is much more acceptable than paper or eformat and all marketers have to think through this as well.
In conclusion I believe that case studies are going the way of power points, they were once innovative tools but now have lost their value due to over use and abuse. It is up to the marketer to keep things interesting.
The most importanr aspect of a case sudy is the customer. The ideal situation would be for the customer to talk of the experience, rather than let the service provider or probem solver explain the case study. This can be done in the folloiwng ways:
ReplyDelete1. Inviting the customer to blog about solution that worked for them.
2. Asking the customer for a quote that signifies what value your organisation brought for them
3. Referring journalists to the client so that they can share their side of their story for any news reports.
I have once studied the case of " Sam Walton "it is for my seminar at college, without analysis and a case study no product will taste success right ? i don't have much experience in management, i feel by doing power point slides will not ruin case studies, will they ?
ReplyDeletei enjoyed your post sir as i enjoyed my study on sam walton...
@Arch Thank you for pointing out this important point. The customer is the hero of the case study with the the services firm as the side kick. The other idea of including them to be a guest blogger and introducing the case study to journalists and other stakeholders is also a good one.
ReplyDelete@ Deepak I think Power point has been over abused as a marketing tool. The best approach to power point was given by Guy Kawasaki. It is called the 10-20-30 rule. Please check out this link for the same. http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html
ReplyDeleteagree with the 3rd point: lengthy ramblings are always depressing. it makes us feel the guy has lost the plot.
ReplyDeletei enjoy reading business stories & the discussions that is sparked off by them
this was a nice post. some pointers there
@Sujatha totally agree, the important aspect is to remember the objective of the case study is to tell a story from the customer and Industry perspective and not from the service provider's perspective. Glad you found the post informative.
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