Buyer case research have been a core a part of the B2B content material advertising combine for years. Within the newest content material advertising survey by the Content material Advertising and marketing Institute and Advertising and marketing Profs, 61% of the B2B respondents mentioned they’re utilizing case research of their content material advertising program.
However current analysis additionally signifies that the worth enterprise patrons ascribe to case research has declined. For instance, within the 2022 Content material Preferences Survey by Demand Gen Report, 40% of the surveyed enterprise patrons recognized case research as some of the beneficial kinds of content material they use when researching potential purchases. That was down from 72% of the respondents within the 2016 version of the survey.
There are, I’d argue, two primary causes for this decline. First, purchaser expectations for every type of content material have risen sharply in recent times, and case research have not saved tempo with these rising expectations. I am incessantly requested by purchasers to judge their buyer case research, and lots of of these I’ve not too long ago reviewed look very similar to the case research I used to be reviewing ten or fifteen years in the past.
The perceived worth of case research has additionally declined as a result of enterprise patrons have turn into extra skeptical of all types of vendor-produced content material, and in lots of enterprise sectors, they now have easy accessibility to data they understand to be extra goal.
Constructing Higher Case Research
It is clear, due to this fact, that many B2B firms want to enhance the standard of the shopper case research they create. A current episode of Advertising and marketing Prof’s Advertising and marketing Smarts podcast incorporates a number of beneficial options for making case research extra compelling and efficient.
This episode options Bob Wiesner, a accomplice on the Artemis Partnership and the writer of Profitable Is Higher: The Journey to New Enterprise Success. Artemis Partnership is a enterprise improvement consulting agency, and Bob Wiesner has consulted on a number of billion {dollars} value of enterprise improvement initiatives within the promoting, audit, administration consulting, regulation, prescription drugs, excessive tech and funding banking areas.
Within the podcast, Wiesner emphasised {that a} good case research is a narrative. He mentioned, “Like several good story, they need to have a plot, they need to have an issue, a problem, they need to have a technique for resolving it, they need to have an end result, they need to have heroes and even villains.”
Wiesner then mentioned a four-step course of for constructing stronger B2B case research.
Step 1 – The place to begin of a great case research is a transparent articulation of the issue the shopper was dealing with or the chance the shopper needed or wanted to take advantage of. It is vital to explain the issue or alternative in some element. How tough or complicated was it? What was the context it was occurring in? The target is to explain the issue or alternative in a means {that a} reader in an identical kind of firm can relate to it.
Step 2 – Describe the insights that your group possesses that enabled you to know the shopper’s drawback or alternative and design the suitable resolution.
Step 3 – Describe the answer you supplied to the shopper. What did you do this solved the issue or took benefit of the chance?
Step 4 – Describe the precise enterprise outcomes or outcomes your resolution produced for the shopper in quantitative phrases. In different phrases, use precise buyer knowledge to explain the outcomes. Buying the sort of knowledge can be a lot simpler in the event you and the shopper agree on how the success of your resolution can be measured at first of the mission.
My Take
The Advertising and marketing Profs podcast incorporates beneficial data, and I encourage you to hearken to the podcast and/or learn the accompanying transcript. Nevertheless, I disagree considerably with one in all Wiesner’s factors.
Within the second step of Wiesner’s case research improvement course of, he argues that firms ought to describe their experience. He mentioned, “What you need to do as a substitute is write a case research that claims we understood the character of this villain, of this drawback on this means, we had this knowledge, this perception, this expertise. We have been in a position to apply that perception to the issue in order that we (and solely we) may truly discover the suitable resolution to it.”
In my opinion, this is not the suitable method in most circumstances. The error many firms make when creating case research is to solid themselves, reasonably than their buyer, because the “hero” of their case research.
The story line of many case research resembles the plot of an previous silent film the place the villain ties a helpless damsel (the shopper) to railroad tracks, and the hero (the promoting firm) rides in on the final minute to rescue the damsel in misery from an oncoming prepare.
An efficient case research will lead readers to establish with the shopper. You need readers to vicariously expertise the ache the shopper was feeling – which Wiesner additionally advocates – and with the success the shopper achieved. In essence, you need readers to complete the case research believing they will obtain related success. Whenever you make your organization the hero of your case research, you are asking readers to establish along with your firm, not with the shopper.
An impressive case research will converse from the shopper’s perspective. It would inform the shopper’s story and describe what the shopper was in a position to accomplish with, after all, assist out of your resolution. So, while you’re making ready a case research, you may give your organization a robust supporting position, however at all times let your buyer be the star.
One last phrase about case research. Once I started making ready case research for purchasers 20 years in the past, the standard knowledge was that case research ought to be brief, normally not more than 1-2 pages. However most patrons need to use case research to validate their buy choice. And which means that a case research wants to incorporate sufficient element to explain the shopper’s enterprise state of affairs and expertise along with your services or products in a significant means.
So, B2B entrepreneurs ought to ignore the previous guidelines about case research size. A case research ought to be so long as it must be to inform the shopper’s story in a compelling means.
Picture courtesy of Jernej Furman through Flickr (CC).
