Case Study Outsourcing: How to Collaborate Effectively to Tell Your Success Stories
Storytelling boosts product value by up to 2700%.
Whether you offer products, services, or a mixture of both, your story matters.
How you tell it can be the difference between a prospective customer forgetting about your offerings or becoming a fan.
These days, the sheer variety of story-driven tactics you can use to reach and engage prospects can be overwhelming, making it tricky to figure out what methods to prioritize. Think everything from blogs and newsletters to whitepapers.
However, in our experience working primarily with B2B businesses, case studies are extremely effective and often lead to conversions.
In fact, 54% of B2B buyers engage with case studies as part of their purchasing process.
Case studies raise your perceived value.
So, the question isn’t whether or not case studies are a worthwhile business activity.
The question is: How do you outsource case study creation to keep your core team focused on day-to-day operations and the business that’s currently in front of them?
At Publish Profitably, we’ve collaborated with and written dozens of case studies for industrial design firms, medical device manufacturers, SaaS providers, and a mixture of other high-complexity businesses.
We’ve managed to tell their stories in ways that resonate with their stakeholders and lead to sales.
Through these case study collaborations, we’ve refined our approach and have first-hand knowledge about what it takes to come together and tell success stories that inform and inspire.
Here’s what we’ve learned about case study outsourcing.
Case Study Outsourcing: How to Collaborate Effectively
1) Start with Clear Objectives
Define the purpose of your case study.
Are you looking to attract new clients?
Do you want to demonstrate your company’s bespoke solution?
Do you want to showcase how your product meets a previously unmet need?
Case studies and success stories fall into a gray area between sales and marketing. They can be used to serve both efforts, but their effectivness is not always as easy to measure through traditional marketing metrics.
Where case studies get particularly interesting is how many ways they can be repurposed. For example, we’ve seen clients turn the written case studies we’ve given them into trade show materials, sales collateral, and video stories for their websites and social media.
If you are working with a case study content partner like us, one of the keys to a rock solid partnership is to have a clear and reasonable expectation for the deliverables.
A great case study can — and often is — the difference between closing a valuable lead or watching them choose your competitor.
However, what percentage of that sales effort should be credited directly to your sales team?
What percentage of the credit should be attributed to the success story that gave the customer the confidence that led to the big sale?
The truth is, I don’t think it matters. If you win, we win. But as a responsible business owner, you’ll want to understand the ROI of a case study.
To do so, first you’ll need to make sure to show the case studies — online, in presentations and demos, at trade shows, and wherever your customers are at.
Our job is to give you the tools to convert. But it’s your team’s responsibility to leverage those deliverables.
Now, I will say this: It is possible to track case study conversions online…to an extent…similarly to how you would track a site visitor who takes a desired action on a landing page.
As you know, the conversion doesn’t always happen on that precise page or at the moment they first encounter your success story.
What we’re talking about here is crafting a narrative that continues to pay long-term dividends.
2) Tell the Right Stories
“And do you know what is the most-often missing ingredient in a sales message? It’s the sales message that doesn’t tell an interesting story. Storytelling…good storytelling…is a vital component of a marketing campaign.”
— Gary Halbert, Direct Marketing Guru
Tell the stories that demonstrate your ability to solve significant challenges and deliver measurable results.
Look for projects where your solutions have made a transformative impact on the client’s business, such as substantial cost savings, efficiency improvements, or revenue growth.
These stories should reflect your core competencies and the unique value propositions you bring to your clients.
Additionally, consider the diversity of your client base and the range of services you offer. A varied selection of case studies can illustrate your versatility and expertise across different industries and project types.
Highlighting work with well-known or highly respected clients can also enhance your reputation. Make sure to include compelling narratives that resonate emotionally with your target audience, showcasing the technical aspects of your solutions and the human stories of success and collaboration.
Consider these questions as well:
What parts of your business do you want to attract more customers or clients to? (this will also inform case study prioritization)
What parts of your business are you most prepared to handle more work in when the case studies help to successfully close clients?
What parts of your business do you have a great story to tell?
3) Involve Key Stakeholders
One of my favorite examples of an effective case study collaboration is our experience working with a design and innovation firm.
This particular consultancy is an end-to-end firm, offering design research and evidence-based design. Its team consists of industrial engineers, human factors engineers, design researchers, UX designers, and a variety of other seasoned professionals.
The firm’s range of projects is extensive and each one is highly complex, requiring a deep understanding of the subject matter and absolute precision required to write its case studies. If any information is inaccurate in the slightest, the trust of its potential clients could be broken before the engagement has even begun.
We conducted interviews with its team and the relevant stakeholders for each case study. We also sorted through the firm’s files to extract the most impactful information and to further understand the details of the projects.
As you outsource case study creation to a firm like us, go ahead and prepare your stakeholders to buy-in for their commitment to helping to tell your stories. Without their expertise, the case studies will lack the depth, context, richness, and impact it’s going to take to convert leads into clients.
Additionally, secure permission and feedback from any other stakeholders featured in the case study to ensure accuracy and foster stronger relationships.
4) Provide Quantitative and Qualitative Data
When outsourcing your case study creation, authenticity needs to be at the forefront of the narrative.
Drawing from our extensive experience, we emphasize using real data and quoting clients accurately to maintain credibility.
Exaggerated claims can quickly erode trust, so we meticulously verify every detail and support our narratives with relevant statistics and industry benchmarks.
This approach builds trust with your audience and aligns with search engine guidelines, enhancing the visibility and reliability of the case study.
Provide Publish Profitably or your chosen content creation firm with as much qualitative data and quantitative data as you can pull together.
For example, to paint a complete picture of your success story, these are some examples of the types of quantitative and qualitative data we could weave into your narratives:
Metrics and Statistics: Showing a 150% increase in productivity, 200% revenue growth, or a 50% reduction in operational costs.
Timeframes and Milestones: Achieving a specific milestone within six months or reducing the project completion time by 30%.
Usage Figures: Highlighting the number of users or clients impacted, such as a 40% increase in new customers or a 25% boost in repeat business.
Financial Data: Demonstrating ROI, cost savings, or profit margins, such as saving $100,000 annually in operating expenses or generating $500,000 in new sales.
Client Testimonials: Direct quotes from clients praising the service, such as, "Their solution revolutionized our workflow and exceeded our expectations."
Narrative Descriptions: Descriptions of challenges faced and how they were overcome, providing context and emotional engagement.
Use Cases: Detailed stories of how the solution was implemented and its impact on day-to-day operations or specific projects.
Industry Comparisons: Comparing the client's situation before and after the solution, showing qualitative improvements such as enhanced team collaboration or better customer satisfaction.
4) Measure and Refine Your Case Studies
Measure the impact of your case study.
Track metrics such as page views, downloads, and conversion rates to assess its effectiveness.
Key metrics also include:
The number of leads generated
Revenue attributed to the case study
Time spent on the page
Social shares
Client testimonials
Internal sales team insights
Coordinate your case study content provider’s efforts with those of your sales team by comparing to see if case study-augmented outreach is outperforming the typical numbers. Look at response rates, book meetings, and final sales.
Ideally, your case studies should also shorten your sales cycle.
Conclusion
Outsourcing your case study creation can be a strategic move to ensure your success stories are told compellingly and professionally.
By setting clear objectives, choosing impactful stories, involving key stakeholders, maintaining authenticity, incorporating qualitative and quantitative data, optimizing for SEO, promoting widely, and measuring impact, you can create case studies that resonate with your audience and drive business growth.
Let us help you showcase your successes with the power of storytelling.