Case Studies | 5 Ways They Work for You

Case studies are remarkably effective marketing and sales tools.

They provide a structured way to tell a compelling story, and from the dawn of time, stories have been a potent way to share information or make a point.

The best case studies include meaningful data, testimonials, examples and results. It takes time, resources and effort to accomplish this, but it’s worth it.

Why? Because case studies are the perfect example of quality content with multiple uses.

Goodbye Greenbacks, Hello Green Energy

Every business, large and small, knows the ability to assess risk is critical to survival.

As business owners, we use a range of risk analysis tools, up to and including the results displayed by a Magic 8 ball or the toss of a lucky coin.

Sometimes, we even use facts. Let’s take a quick look at one business case.

Case Studies | 5 Ways They Work for B2B

You may have noticed this site is slowly being reorganized to make it more useful and meaningful. The Case Study overview page has been replaced with other content as part of that process.

Nonetheless, case studies continue to be classic, useful marketing pieces. Here are five reasons why they work for B2B efforts:

1. Case studies are a great way to tell good stories, and good stories are as effective today as they've been since the dawn of time.
2. Well-crafted case studies are so versatile, they can be used to market, sell, train, develop, brand and more.
   

Sales | How Do You Jumpstart Sales? [3]

Let’s continue the discussion on what ABC Company needs to do to boost this quarter’s revenues.

Part of our plan involves pinpointing specific actions for advertising, marketing, selling and promotion.

Today, let’s focus on selling and promotion. Quick actions include:

Sales | How Do You Jumpstart Sales? [2]

As we’ve described in part 1 of How Do You Jumpstart Sales?, ABC Company needs to take quick action to boost this quarter’s revenues. The goal is to develop a 90-day action plan to help accomplish this objective.

The key is to focus on factors the company can control and leverage the elements, resources and people that already exist.

This means pinpointing specific actions related to advertising, marketing, selling and promotion. Today, let’s focus on the first two functions.

Sales | How Do You Jumpstart Sales? [1]

What would you do, if you needed to boost revenues right away? Read on if you're up for a real-world challenge.

Context

ABC Company provides specialty products and services. Like most small to mid-sized companies, it's fighting to stay afloat. In spite of the economy, it’s managed to generate sufficient revenue to break even or make a small profit eight of the past nine months. During one month, however, the losses were so huge they wiped out any gains. This quarter, two months will likely break even, but the third will show a loss.

It would be easy to assume the CEO has been asleep at the switch. Not so.

Case Study | The Negative Side of SEO

Success in today’s high-tech business arena requires technology and content integration. Neither alone is sufficient.

Challenge

Recently, for example, a client company was trying to boost its SERP (search engine results page) outcomes. The president wanted to surface on the first page. One specific search-term placed one company link on page 3 of the Google SERPs, but in every other instance, the company was buried deep in the results, after page 5.

The web experts wanted to charge megabucks (yes, there’s gold in them-there SEOs) to optimize the company websites. The company president asked for help in testing the recommended search terms before he took the plunge with the web folks.

Case Study | The Case for Cross-Selling [2]

Do your customers understand the full range of services and products you offer? Are you struggling to increase sales revenue? Do you need to reduce sales costs? Have you already tried yelling, cajoling and threats?

The solution may be to focus your attention on cross-selling. The Polar Companies generated $1.8 million in new revenue by doing just that.

Case Study | How B2B Content Helps Boost Online Findability

This compact case study highlights how online B2B content and select SEO (search-engine optimization) techniques helped boost the online visibility of one small business.

Context

The consulting firm, CHPuissegur & Associates (CHP), helps small business owners grow their business. CHP does this by providing a range of expert services related to sales, marketing, strategic planning and more. The ideal CHP client is a small business ranging from startup to 250 employees, or similarly sized independent business unit within a larger organization.

DIY Success Stories | Step 5. Hone the Content

We’re heading into the home stretch, but it’s important to stay focused and on track.

In Step 4 – Write It Now, you created a clear and accurate success story, with all the facts, figures and details in place. That’s significant.

However, while facts convey concrete accomplishment, in and of themselves, they’re not completely persuasive. To hone the content and develop a more effective success story, review your working draft with the following issues in mind.

SEO | How Online Content Helps Customers Find You

There are many differences between a customer and prospect. The most obvious distinction is one has purchased your services/products, the other has not.

Customers know you deliver quality goods and services.They have your business card, phone number, cell number, email and website addresses, and more. They can find you in person or online through multiple channels.

Referrals and prospects may have some contact information or none at all. That makes the F-factor – the findability factor – crucial. If prospects can't find you, let's face it, it's difficult to convert them into customers.

Marketing | Create Targeted Content to Build Your Brand

High quality information helps customers solve real problems, make tough decisions, and act quickly and decisively in a complex world. When that information is carefully targeted it becomes a powerful way to build your business and help it grow.

Why? Targeted content adds substance to marketing, sales and public relations efforts. It provides high-value information to prospects and customers, distinguishes your company from competitors and improves brand recognition.

Targeted content drives traffic to your website. Companies that provide quality information online achieve higher search engine rankings and are more likely to appear on the first page of search engine results.

Case Study | The Case for Cross-Selling [1]



Read
Making the Case for Cross-Selling

How Polar generated $1.8M in new revenue by rediscovering cross-selling

Context

The cost of acquiring a new customer is five to seven times greater than the cost of retaining or expanding an existing customer account. However, only one-third of top performing organizations report their customers understand the full scope of their services, products and capabilities. And, while 74% of companies claim they're trying to cross-sell, up to 90% of these efforts ultimately fail (Gartner Group research).

Challenge

When Charlie Puissegur was the vice president and general manager of The Polar Companies, he discovered a major problem. The sales team was not effectively selling the company’s full range of industrial fluid products and services, and the company was missing out on thousands of dollars in revenue each year.