A B2B case study is the business version of a movie trailer. It showcases your success and capabilities, captures the opinions of real-life clients, and entices prospects to learn more about your business.
But while movie trailers present a quick two-minute rundown of a film, a business case study allows potential customers to peek deeper into your company. Case studies are an essential and reusable resource in any company’s content marketing strategy simply because they help close deals.
They achieve this by harnessing the age-old storytelling technique to narrate how your products or services helped your clients achieve their business goals.
By presenting a blend of both statistical data and real customer feedback, they exhibit your company’s ability to craft tailored solutions and build credibility and trust with potential buyers.
Now, not all movie trailers leave you wanting more. A poorly made trailer makes you want to see less or nothing at all. The same thing happens with business case studies.
So, how exactly do we start writing case studies that leave prospects wanting more of our company?
Well, heat up some popcorn and get comfortable because you’re about to find out.
Importance and Benefits of a B2B Case Study
Before we begin writing case studies, we need to understand what makes them powerful marketing and sales tools, and that is their ability to:
- Build trust and credibility. Case studies provide tangible proof that your products and services have resolved customer pain points in the past. They are quantifiable and persuasive, seducing prospects through insight, data, and evidence. And when prospects believe you’re providing them with helpful information, they’re more likely to close a deal.
- Support sales and marketing efforts. They’re a relatively cost-efficient resource with multiple applications that only need to be created once. After that, you can adapt them to any content you need, like e-books, webpages, videos, and more.
Through these capabilities, B2B case studies ultimately help prospects expand their insights into your business and gain more confidence in their purchase-related decisions.
Besides, they’re valuable allies in both content strategy and content marketing efforts, as they help move customers down the sales funnel, increasing your sales team’s opportunities to close a deal after the case study is read.
5 Steps to Writing an Effective B2B Case Study
Staring at a blank page is like gazing into the abyss, hoping to find some inspiration. If you stare for too long, the abyss might swallow you. There are some ways to prevent this.
Rather than waiting for inspiration, we’ll go find it ourselves. A successful business case study can be created through a series of deliberate actions and a bit of prep work.
Follow these 5 steps to help you write a converting B2B case study that keeps readers engaged, informed, and willing to reach out for a deal.
- Choose a relevant customer
- Conduct thorough research
- Structure your case study
1. Identify your goals and target audience
Start by establishing a purpose to your business case study. Ask yourself:
- What are the pain points potential customers might have?
- Is there any client that shares these pain points with my prospects?
Find a correlation between the struggles of your customers and those of your prospects. Once a connection is established, you’ll find it easier to determine the right audience for your case study.
2. Choose a relevant customer
Identify a potential customer who has seen remarkable results from your products or services and is willing to share this information publicly. Unfortunately, not all customers are open to quotes or publicization.
Once you obtain consent from a client, it’s time to start gathering data.
3. Conduct thorough research
B2B marketing is all about data. Information educates customers about the effectiveness of your business solutions. That is why, before writing a B2B case study, we’ll need to collect some insights.
Some actions that can assist you in collecting and processing all the data include:
- Determining and gathering all your stakeholders, internal and external
- Creating data collection materials like surveys or questionnaires
- Setting up tasks and timelines for interviews
- Setting some time apart to organize and analyze the data
Key metrics like reach, sales, and KPIs should be followed closely during data analysis, as well as any other relevant metric that measures your company’s success. This will help you build a strong case study and reach your prospects effectively.
4. Structure your case study
Typically, a B2B case study is composed of the following sections:
- Executive summary: a short and impactful introduction to your customer’s pain points and what your company did to help them.
- Challenge: a deeper analysis of your customer’s problems.
- Solution: an explanation of the product or service your customer acquired and how it helped them solve their problems.
- Results: a demonstration of your success through metrics and testimonials.
- Call to action: a compelling invitation to incite the reader to try out your solutions.
To ensure your case study is captivating and converting, try to emphasize your client’s problem and how your service or product successfully resolved it. Also, remember to place your customer as the case study’s protagonist rather than your business.
And finally, make sure to integrate your brand’s tone and materials to weave a compelling narrative.
5. Promote your case study
One of the key strengths of a B2B case study is its versatility. You can adapt this material to virtually any multimedia format.
Here are some methods for distributing your case study:
- Publish on your website as a webpage or a blog post
- Distribute through your social media channels (more on this below)
- Include in your email marketing efforts, as they make a great addition to your newsletter or an email marketing campaign
- Print materials like flyers or white papers
- Publish on streaming platforms like YouTube or Vimeo
- Adapt into a podcast
Social media is the most far-reaching and efficient distribution method of these options. According to an article in ScienceDirect, research shows that 83 percent of B2B executives use social media in their information searches and 92 percent report that it influences their decisions, which is why a business case study is a particularly powerful sales tool within B2B marketing circles. They’re an asset for social platforms and broader promotional efforts.
Real-Life B2B Case Study Examples
Evaluating how other companies have conducted and presented a B2B case study is a good way to gather ideas for your own. This practice can help you reveal how they approached a challenge or what customized techniques secured their success.
Let’s delve into a selection of three case study examples and examine the outcomes achieved by these companies, as they might push your own case study in the right direction.
1. Gibson Teldata case study example: Barren County School District
As Barren County School District’s old Nortel/Avaya communications system reached the end of its life, Gibson Teldata jumped in to provide them with a robust, cost-effective solution that would keep up with the company’s projected growth and help cut monthly costs.
Why it works:
- Expertly designed
- Establishes a clear challenge to overcome
- Includes detailed customer testimonials
Check out Gibson Teldata’s B2B case study: Old School No More – How Gibson Teldata Modernized a School’s Outdated Phone & Security System
2. Asana case study example: Zoom
With a direct, customer-centric approach to business case studies, Asana dives deep into their role in bringing together the workflows of Zoom’s technical and business teams under one single work management platform.
Why it works
- Direct and concise
- Lots of customer testimonials
- Evidence and client-focused approach
Check out Asana’s B2B case study: Zoom saves 133 work weeks per year with Asana
3. Workday case study example: NVIDIA
Recruiting for the gaming sector is rough. Candidates require niche skills and experience to qualify for these positions. Workday’s business case study focuses on overcoming these hurdles when recruiting for NVIDIA, a popular name in the technology and video game industry.
Why it works:
- In-depth overview of the solution
- Attention-grabbing testimonials
- Cleverly highlighted product features
Check out Workday’s B2B case study: NVIDIA hires game changers.
Get a Hand with Your Next B2B Case Study
Writing a successful B2B case study is no easy feat. Sometimes, a content marketing company can complement your sales and marketing operations by tackling time-consuming tasks such as this one. Luckily, GreenStar Marketing offers high-quality content creation services to help you craft an engaging and converting business case study in your stead.
Reach out now and propel your brand into the (green) stars with our tailored digital marketing strategies!
