You know that case studies are a great lead generation tool and an essential component of any B2B sales campaign, but they're too often left to gather dust and not given the attention they deserve.
Instead of hiding them away, never to see the light of day again, it's time to brush off those cobwebs and put them to work.
One of the best ways to use case studies is to convert them into other formats for even better results. This way, you can use one case study in many different ways. Here are 16 ways you can do just that.
Captain Obvious, right? You'd be surprised how many people don't have ANY case studies on their website, let alone a dedicated page.
Which is crazy given that 93% of people won't buy a thing without checking online reviews. And case studies are reviews on steroids.
So make your case study page easy to find, put it in the menu bar, and structure it so people can quickly and easily see what's relevant to them.
And by the way, it's okay if you only have a few case studies at first! Once you start seeing results, you'll be driven to fill it up. You'll see.
Since your home page is the most visited page on your website and often the first thing many prospects will see, it makes sense to feature snapshots from your case studies here.
Joanna Wiebe from CopyHackers, believes people have a series of logical questions in their minds as they scroll down your website homepage.
The top three are:
Case studies, or at least excerpts of your case studies, ensure you tick off number 3 with panache.
MHelpDesk follows this exact hierarchy. Check out the video testimonials up top.
Promote your case study on social media by posting links to all your case study related content. Tag your customer - they might share it.
Make sure your content is optimized for "shareability" too. Especially your headlines and titles. For example:
BAD: "Check out our new case study about MadeUp Company."
GOOD: "MadeUp Company saw a 47% spike in sales by increasing marketing spend over Easter. See how we helped them achieve that."
Share them on your accounts twice a month for at least three to six months. (Schedule them if you need to.)
Do this across all your channels but go big on LinkedIn. Add your case study to your list of publications, and share them with relevant groups to encourage discussion and grow your authority naturally and organically.
Because case studies show the exact tactics your happy customers used to get results, they make great lead magnets. And people will share their email addresses to access them.
Sure, your case study needs to be excellent. But if it's something actionable that will help your prospective customers achieve their goals - they'll happily fill out your opt-in form to download it.
Did you know that 86% of professionals prefer to use email for business communications? And that the average number of emails we send or receive per day is around 122?
This means your email signature is a prime piece of marketing real estate - a chance to get in front of hundreds of potential customers, vendors and partners every week.
So make every outbound email an opportunity to shorten the sales cycle by adding a compelling CTA underneath your contact details. Something like: "Check out how we increased sales by 67% for company X in less than two months."
Blog posts, ebooks and printed articles are a great way to build your brand awareness among your customers. They're also an opportunity to provide value to potential customers. Creating posts and articles from your case studies is a great way to do both.
You can easily adapt case studies into blog posts, ebooks
and printed articles. Think about it: every time your company solves a problem for someone, you have an instant before and after story.
And stories are engaging as heck. They help your future customers picture themselves as the protagonist of those success stories. And that evaporates confusion and gets them raring to buy now.
When you create a case study, you're telling the story of how one of your customers used your product or service to solve a problem they were facing. Just as you did with the case study, retell the success story in an engaging, compelling way.
However, case studies should be about more than just what someone did - they should be about why it was worthwhile. In other words, their actions led to some benefit, whether it was higher sales or happier employees or whatever else. Make sure you focus on those benefits when writing the blog post or article version of the case study.
It's easy to tweak and repackage your case studies into helpful, topical blog posts and articles to fill your content pipeline and feed your social media channels for months.
Case studies are a fantastic source of content for your email marketing and a great way to showcase customer success stories quickly. They can be short and sweet but still hold the reader's interest, making them ideal for email marketing and newsletters.
A common way to incorporate them is to use short snippets from each study, giving a brief description of the problem you solved, how you solved it and what benefits the customer gained.
Another option is to create a series of case studies in one go, which you can then send out at regular intervals over several weeks or months. Keeping it fresh gives readers a to look forward to in each newsletter and provides more depth than just one single case study might provide.
You can even use your case studies to get people to sign up for your mailing list: "Opt-in to find out how we solved x problem for x."
Make it a point to feature at least one (ideally more) case study in your newsletters and emails. Sharing them throughout your email marketing can help you nurture your audience and give your business more exposure.
In the B2B world, sales presentations are your reality. Case studies slice through traditional features and benefits sales pitches with real-world examples of how your happy customers enjoyed success thanks to your business.
Case studies are one of the most powerful tools at your sales team's disposal by:
If your sales teams are mobile, arming them with printed case studies helps ease doubts and calm objections. Plus, leaving them floating around your prospect's desk for a few days after the meeting could mean the difference between landing their business or losing them to a competitor.
Simply put, they help you sell more effectively and close deals faster.
When people scan your website, they're wondering WIIFM (What's In It For Me) and DAEC? (Does Anyone Else Care?). Whether we realize it or not, we're all massively influenced by what other people think and do - AKA social proof.
A whopping 93% of us will hesitate over the buy button if there are no product reviews nearby. So drop those case studies in and around your product and services pages.
Pull out tasty quotes and phrases, ideally with photos of your happy customers. Sprinkle their words beneath product descriptions - or use them as subheadings with quotation marks. Just don't miss the opportunity to tip the balance in your favour.
Sometimes case studies can make for great PR stories, especially if you've solved a big problem or saved someone a surprising amount of time or money.
If that's the case, all you need to do is repurpose your case study into a press release and pitch it to your target media, relevant trade press, and industry websites. Make sure you include a cracking photo to up your chances of getting coverage.
Depending on the client and topic, it could score you valuable publicity and maybe even links back to your website - for very little extra work.
Does your case study solve a big problem? Or a minor problem that a lot of people have? If it covers a gnarly industry-wide challenge for your customers, it could work as a more robust, in-depth whitepaper.
If not, you can still extract quotes and sections from your case studies and use them to illustrate points in your existing white papers.
Using case studies in white papers adds credibility and, significantly, relevance. And by referencing and linking to your most recent case studies, your digital white papers will never go out of date.
Webinars are a fantastic marketing tool for demonstrating your products or services or showcasing your expertise.
And case studies are the perfect foundation. Focus the entire webinar around your customer story and show how you deftly helped them solve the problem.
This promotes your business in a non-salesy way and positions you as a helpful authority on your topic while cleverly exposing your product or service.
Video case studies add an extra dose of authenticity to your communications. They're fun and entertaining, and you can't beat a real customer talking up your product or service on camera.
Sure, video can be expensive. But with your written case study in hand, it's much easier to create because you've already scripted your story. And these days, you can capture a credible and effective 'point and shoot' video testimonial with an iPhone.
Events are fantastic opportunities to distribute your case studies.
Whether a conference, networking or speaking event, an exhibition, or a trade show, your customer success stories are like business cards on steroids.
And when you mix real face-to-face time with valuable, engaging content, you leave a lasting impression.
Infographics are a great way to present case studies. They combine data visualization with design and storytelling, making information easy to understand, digest and more memorable to consumers.
They are also engaging, making them more likely to be shared on social media, which may attract more traffic back to your website.
Use your infographic in blog posts, white papers, sales presentations and social media platforms to get more eyeballs on your work.
Converting your case study into a public slide deck on Slideshare expands your content to a potential audience of over 70 million users.
It's SEO-friendly, and you can embed lead capture forms inside the slides. The best and most viewed Slideshare presentations combine great story and copy, which you already have nailed down, thanks to your case study.
Slideshare has up to 5 times more traffic from businesses than all the other social channels, and since it's free to use, it's a great way to get extra mileage out of your customers' success stories.
Repurposing content is always a wise move, especially when it's timeless, high-quality, evergreen content like case studies.
You might think that people will see it as recycling, but the truth is, the chances of them seeing it more than a few times is minimal. And if they do? That's a GOOD thing.
The truth is, repetition is an essential element of marketing. You want to get your case studies in front of your customers at every possible opportunity.
Not only does this create consistency across your marketing - it allows for the message to really sink in.
Buyers need to hear your message seven times before they'll hit the 'buy now' button. Repurposing your customer success stories goes a loooong way to meeting that target.
And it does that in the most economical, efficient and labour-saving way possible.
Case studies are extremely valuable and they don’t have to be used just once - you can repurpose them into many other forms of content to help you generate more leads, traffic, and sales.
They're invaluable for any business, large or small - so why not leverage case studies and invigorate your marketing tactics today?