What are the advantages and disadvantages of Case Studies?
Like most things in life the advantages and disadvantages of Case Studies need to be carefully weighed.
And like most things in life there are advantages and disadvantages to Case Studies too!
But we believe passionately and whole-heartedly that the advantages vastly eclipse the disadvantages when Case Studies are done well.
Doing Case Studies well
This means having a clear strategy for your Case Studies. You need to know exactly how they fit into and inform your sales and marketing efforts. You can find more information on this in our Knowledge Centre.
Doing Case Studies well means having the intention to use them to enhance your existing customer relationships AND make your message relevant and relatable to your prospects.
It also means knowing where and how to deploy your Case Studies in order to make them work best for your business: so they drive leads and accelerate sales.
And of course doing Case Studies well means producing them professionally. As well as the skill involved in the writing you also need to ensure the interview is conducted efficiently, effectively and enjoyably for your customers. This takes skill and experience.
Advantages of Case Studies
Here are 10 advantages to be enjoyed by producing Case Studies:
- Greater clarity in your Value Proposition
- Greater confidence in your delivery capability
- Customer-endorsed services
- Strong partnerships
- Enhanced, relevant and relatable marketing collateral
- Customer-focused content
- Easier, quicker sales
- Improved staff morale
- Sales and marketing alignment around your customers’ stories
- More self-qualified prospects
Disadvantages of Case Studies
There are a couple of things that put people off the notion of producing Case Studies:
“Won’t Case Studies expose my methods and best customers to my competitors?”
I want to answer this by acknowledging that of course, greater transparency in your marketing content will potentially mean that your competitors can steal a march on you.
However, if you have built a strong degree of trust and goodwill with your customer in the first place then this ought to become less of an issue. People buy people. What you invest in your customer relationships stand you in good stead against the threat of competition.
Case Studies are written for the benefit of your prospects and future customers. When you hold this focus and intention you are effectively building a shield against poachers!
“Case Studies cost a lot to produce.”
It’s true, professionally produced Case Studies are a marketing investment. It is a mistake to try and do them on the cheap. You don’t want to end up with narratives that do not fully reflect the quality of your delivery for your customers.
However Case Studies do deliver evergreen content that you can re-use repeatedly in many different guises, campaigns and markets. And when you get the customer voice right they will become like the gift that keeps on giving.