6 Ways to Make a Case Study “Click” with a Hot Prospect

“It’s your responsibility to tell a story that people can locate themselves into”

…my fellow storytelling friend Michael Margolis once said.

That’s any marketer’s dream, for the audience to think, “That sounds like me!”

It’s exactly what needs to happen in a case study or success story. The person experiencing the story – usually a strong prospect for the product or service – needs to see him or herself reflected in that story.

Otherwise, it’s just not relevant to the reader or viewer.

Whether you’re a writer or marketer, it’s your job to create stories that match up with target audiences, preferably in more ways than one.

Here are six different ways to mirror the featured case study customer to the prospective customer.

Consider this a checklist. The more you can check off, the greater your story will resonate with the audience.

• Same industry – Many prospects take comfort knowing that a potential vendor is familiar with their type of business. If your prospect is a healthcare company, feature a case study about your solution’s success in a healthcare setting. Same goes for any other industry.
• Same size – Don’t assume a small business prospect wants to see a case study on one of your Fortune 100 customers. The prospect may be impressed you work with big names, but a small business usually has very different challenges than a big business, and vice versa. Try to match company size to company size.
• Same title – What if you quote a database administrator when a CIO is reading your case study? Sad but true, a quotee with a lesser title carries less credibility for your audience. Quote someone with a title similar to the person who might consume your customer story, or the highest title you can quote.
• Same “pain” – We all feel a natural connection with those going through something we’re going through, especially when it’s a real challenge. Prospects want to hear about the problems that your current customers have, and how they solved them. Ideally, you deliver a case study featuring the same “pains” as the prospect.
• Same goal – We can also understand and rally around others that have the same goals as we do. Because one product or service can produce many different results, match your prospect’s goal with the goal set out (and achieved) by a current customer. For example, one customer might use a piece of software to achieve regulatory compliance while another might want it mainly for productivity gains.
• Same geographical area – Often, local matters. Many audiences respond better to a customer in the same city, region or country.

These certainly aren’t the only ways to match featured customer to prospect, but they are the most common ones. For the most powerful impression, roll all these factors into one case study perfectly tailored for a prospect.