“We don’t have any case studies…”
When I work with many Expert brands, I find that more often than not, they have only turned about 10% of their client work into case studies, if at all. And even if they do have case studies, they’re very, very useless. (More on that in a moment.)
And so despite the fact that most professionals know they need them, when it comes time to making time for case studies, they’ll say things like:
- “We’re too busy…”
- “None of the work we’ve done is worthy of a case study.”
- “I find them to be boring.”
- “They don’t help with sales — no one reads them.”
*And let’s face it: if you’ve seen the way most big brands write them, then chances are, you’ve said one of the above, because most big brand case studies are, objectively, useless for one of four reasons:
Reason #1: No Curiosity
Most case studies are statements of fact, with headlines like “Retail Case Study” and “How We Helped Client.”
Snooooooooooooze.
How about headlines like:
“How this Cash-Strapped Winery Owner went from Almost Throwing in the Towel to Enjoying His First $5M Year”
“Why This 8-Figure Industry Leader says, ‘You MUST Hire Lynn… I did!’”
“How We Got One Mom of Four All the Leads She Needs (in a Recession!) Without Her Working More than 5 hours/Week”
Et cetera. I totally made these up on the fly, but you can hopefully sense how these might be more interesting than “Real Estate Case Study”.
Reason #2: No Story
This second reason for case study failure is, frankly, that there’s no story. A story has beats:
- First, they were stuck and tried lots of things to fix it before reaching out to you
- Then! They hire you because of a valuable difference only you display
- Your work together causes them to overcome some misconceptions and obstacles (which, coincidentally, many of your ideal prospects also face)
- After that, things get better and they see results as you implement your unique process
- Finally, they get what they want, even if it’s not what they came to you for
- And now, they say…
- And here’s why it’s important to your ideal client…
- When you’re ready, claim this first step offer
I didn’t even include any details in the above, and yet you should still see the bones of a story forming. First… then… until… but when… and then… finally…
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Reason #3: No Believability
The third reason that most case studies suck is that they really aren’t believable. There are claims made, yet no specifics or proof to back them up.
Or worse, the copy is so vague that a prospect could feasibly think, “This looks made up.”
Don’t do that, y’all. Include specifics, numbers, proof, screenshots, audio/video testimony, and quotes.
Reason #4: No Sales Purpose
Finally, most case studies have no real sales purpose. Sure, you could send them in an Info Kit like I had my $30M/year client do to get a $1M project from our account-based marketing outreach…
Or you could curate them on your website and turn them into offer posts for social media…
But without a clear CTA which connects the content of the case study contents to a relevant compelling offer, the case study is kind of useless. You’ve wasted anywhere from 500-1500 words to do absolutely nothing.
And no, “call us” isn’t an offer. (But if you can name that call and make it valuable, now THAT’S the start of an offer.)
It should be clear by now what the solution is: to write a case study that leads with curiosity, is long enough to tell a compelling story, contains elements of believability (quotes, photos, audio/video, proof), and contains a relevant CTA that isn’t “contact us.”
When you’re ready for help with this, contact me and we’ll schedule a “Hidden Marketing Opportunities” call where we’ll explore up to 9 areas of your business for growth opportunities you can leverage right away in your business. Learn more here.