A case study guide for consultants & freelancers
I bloody love writing case studies.
They combine three of my favourite things:
Conversations with excellent humans.
Writing stories.
Showing people how fantastic they are.
And seeing as I write a lot of case studies for consultants and freelancers, I thought I’d share my process so that you can DIY your own case studies if you fancy.
What’s a case study and why are they so fine?
A case study is the story of a project.
It doesn’t even have to be a successful project.
Case studies documenting failures are epic attention grabbers jam packed with learnings. But almost no one has the guts to do them.
Case studies are the Swiss Army Knife in your marketing toolkit because they’re good for everything. They help you win new clients, improve your business, keep your best clients loyal and create entertaining marketing content.
great for business development
Case studies kick arse for business development because they’re a triple banger.
They educate. One thing business owners want to know more than almost anything else, is how other business owners like them solve problems.
They prove you deliver the goods. Not only do they show you’ve got a track record of success. They also show how you deliver results.
They share your process. And once your potential client is imagining themselves using your process, they’re practically picking up the phone and yelling ‘take my money already’.
Need more convincing? The 2018 Content Preferences Survey by those saucy Demand Gen minxes said 79% of B2B buyers read case studies before a purchase.
great for strategic insights
But case studies aren’t just about business development.
They’re also about gathering insights that help you improve your business.
When you interview your clients about projects you’ve done together you learn:
Why they decided to work with you.
What nearly put them off working with you.
The most valuable things you brought to the table.
How you can up your game and improve your process.
What outcomes your clients value most.
GREAT FOR CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Great businesses obsess about their clients’ success.
They make their clients heros. They tell their stories. They celebrate their wins.
Case studies do all these things.
Nothing says, “I value you and your business,” more than taking the time to craft a great case study about an adventure you went on with your favourite clients.
GUARANTEED not TO bore the tits off your clients
Good case studies are entertaining stories.
And I don’t need to tell you we’re hardwired to suck up stories like crack.
Sure, you could present your project as a dry problem, solution, results case study, with a few success stats. But why would you do that to your poor potential clients, when you could serve up a juicy story they actually want to read instead?
So how are your case studies?
Hey … it’s ok. Mine are non-existent too because I’m too damn busy writing them for everyone else. But every day’s a brand new chance to nail a new skill and today’s the day you can start winning at case studies.
The two principles of effective case studies
Before we get stuck into the nitty gritty of how to craft a case study, let’s touch on the two principles of a great case study.
1. Tell the story with your client.
2. Use the story to teach.
1. Tell the story with your client
Many businesses think case studies are a monologue, when, in fact, they’re a duet.
If you want your case studies to be compelling, create them collaboratively with your client.
Consider how you made a project work and what it taught you.
Interview your client and ask them why the project was a success and what they learned.
Then weave both points of view together to tell a story.
Doing this, you tell a story that’s rich, detailed (detail adds interest and credibility), educational, and uses your client’s own words.
2. Use your case study to teach
Businesses often misunderstand the purpose of case studies.
Case studies are not about saying how awesome you are.
Sure, that’s implicit, because you’re demonstrating your expertise.
But your job is really to use your case study to educate, empower, and entertain your clients and potential clients.
A good way to approach a project case study is to ask yourself:
1. What problem did we solve?
2. What were the most valuable learnings my client and I got out of this project?
Then use those learnings to teach other clients how to solve the same problem.
Be clear on your case study strategy
Before you invest time and effort into creating a case study, know your purpose.
Ask yourself four questions.
1. What am I trying to achieve?
Do you want to promote a specific service, launch a new product, or talk to a particular group of people? Make sure your case study supports your goals.
2. Who is this case study for?
Profile clients who are like the people you want to attract.
We love stories about people like us.
Also ask yourself, what content format do these people like? Is a long form article the best format, or should we be making a series of videos for LinkedIn? Where are these people hanging out online, and what sort of content are they already consuming?
3. How will I use this case study?
Where does your case study fit in your marketing mix?
Are you using it on your website? For RFPs? On social? In your e-news?
The correct ROI lovin’ answer is, of course, everywhere.
I recommend people create four versions of each case study:
A long-form version that sits on your website. You can also publish this as a white paper and post or email it directly to potential clients. Just don’t be gating that case study with data capture barriers. Lead magnets are old news, and you want as many people to appreciate your brilliant case studies as possible.
A shorter version to use in e-newsletters, proposals, and RFPs. You can link to the full noise version for people who want the detail.
A chunked up version that you can share on LinkedIn over a week. Make your case study into a little business soap opera and on the final day link to the full version.
Pull out key testimonials to use throughout your website, in proposals and RFPs.
Slicing and dicing a case study like this means you get maximum ROI from your case study investment. Because they are an investment. But boy do they work.
4. Who will I interview?
Choose clients who are articulate, interesting, and will say nice things about you.
Ask their permission to do a case study on their project.
Explain why you’re doing the case study (to share learnings from your favourite projects) and where the case study will be published and promoted.
Assure them it will only take half an hour of their time and nothing will be published without their approval. And show ‘em case study examples.
And don’t forget to tell them what’s in it for them (promotion, undying gratitude, cake).
Most clients are delighted to be featured in case studies. It makes them feel appreciated, and gives them content they can share too.
The only time my clients have failed to get permission to write case studies is for projects with publically funded bodies like local government, who can be risk averse when it comes to endorsing suppliers.
If you encounter this push back, remember there’s nothing stopping you sharing your own learnings from the project as a case study (unless you’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement) but it does mean that you may not be able to quote your client directly.
The case study production process
Collaborative case study projects move through nine steps.
1. Decide the purpose of your case study.
2. Do a full project download yourself. More tips below.
3. Schedule a half hour interview with your client. Thought starter questions below.
4. Transcribe interview. I use rev.com.
5. Write up case study. Tips for this below.
6. Pop your case study away for a few days, then edit it with fresh eyes.
7. Send the case study to your client for their review and approval.
8. Source images for your case study and publish the sucker.
9. Promote the bejeepers out of it and repurpose it across all your marketing collateral.
Time to give yourself a good grilling
So, you’re all juiced about your case studies, and you’ve got your strategy and process sorted.
Give yourself a fist bump for being so excellent. I’ll wait.
Nice.
Next you’re going to sit yourself down, put your investigative journalist hat on, and give yourself a good grilling about your project.
And these are the questions you’re going to ask yourself.
1. Why did your client approach you?
What problem did they ask you to solve?
How did they feel when they got in touch with you?
Why do you think they chose you to help?
2. How did the project go?
What was your plan of attack / process?
What were the key milestones?
What were the challenges?
What did you learn?
If you were to work with another client with the same problems, what would this project teach them?
3. What results did you deliver?
Are there any measurable results you can point to?
How did your client feel about the end results?
What positive / constructive feedback did you get?
If the project that you’re writing about was a team effort, gather your whole project team and ask everyone these questions.
And pull out your project WIP reports, your wrap-up notes, and anything else that will help you analyse your project and extract those nuggets of learning.
Time to interview your client
Next up, it’s time to schedule a meeting or a video call with your client and ask them a few questions. Ask their permission to record the interview and get it transcribed.
You can do this interview yourself.
However, it can be helpful to ask someone in your team who hasn’t been involved in the project, or contract a neutral third party to do this interview. This is because you may get a franker take on things from your client when they’re talking to someone who isn’t emotionally invested in the project or its outcomes.
And a note of caution. If you get constructive feedback from your client about things you could have done better, be sure to do something to make things right.
1. Questions to ask your client about before the project
What challenge led you to look for a consultant? What did you want to achieve? What did success look like for you?
Why did you approach us?
Did you consider other consultants? Why did you choose us over them?
Was there anything that made you think twice about working with us?
How were you feeling before the project started?
2. Questions to ask your client about the project process
How did the project go?
What were the key milestones for you?
What did you enjoy about it?
Were there any difficult bits?
What did you learn?
How did you feel about working with us throughout the project?
What are we best at?
What could we do better?
3. Questions to ask your client about outcomes
How do you feel about the end result of your project?
Was the project a success for you?
What do you like most about the outcome?
If someone were on the fence about working with us, what would you say to them?
I know this seems like a lot of questions, but you don’t have to ask every single one.
You’ll see that you’re mirroring the questions you’ve already asked yourself about the project, and digging deeper to unearth interesting insights and learnings.
This interview usually takes no more than half an hour.
Sometimes clients really enjoy revisting projects. If they’re waxing lyrical, don’t cut them off mid flow. However, if you said the interview would only take 30-minutes, check in after half an hour to make sure your client doesn’t have another commitment.
Consider emailing questions to your client ahead of your meeting, so they can consider their answers. Some people like to prepare for interviews. Others prefer to wing it. Make it clear that it’s cool either way. All these questions can be answered off the cuff.
Find your case study angle
Every case study needs an angle.
To identify your angle, read through your notes and the transcript of your client interview.
Put yourself in your potential clients’ shoes and ask yourself:
How did we achieve the big win?
What did we learn along the way?
Imagine you’re using the story of this project to write a how-to-guide.
What will the guide teach people?
Write yourself a title for your how-to guide.
This doesn’t have to be the title you end up using. But it gives you your angle and keeps you on course as you write your case study.
Time to write your case study
A good case study tells a story about a project, where your client is the hero of the story and you’re the trusted guide.
Hero. Introduce your client and their dream. What did they hope to achieve with you?
Pain.
What problem caused your client to reach out to you?
What would have happened if they failed to solve their problem?
Guide. Explain why your client chose you out of all the consultants?
Journey.
How did you help your client overcome their pain and attain their dream?
Share the process so others can learn from their experience.
Share any stumbling blocks, successes, and key learnings along the way.
Success.
What does your client consider the most valuable outcomes of this project.
How do they feel about those outcomes?
Proof.
Your clients’ own testimonial about the project.
Metrics that prove success.
Your goal is to write this story as much as possible using your client’s own words. This adds authenticity and credibility.
And of course, you also need a sticky hook to grab peoples’ attention in the form of a powerful headline that makes people curious enough to read on.
You’re telling a story
The most important thing to note here is that a good case study is a story.
It should be easy and entertaining to read, as well as educational.
It has human interest, real characters who speak in their own words, struggle, bold ambitions, successes, failures. All the good stuff.
Please resist the temptation to squash the life out of your project stories by shoehorning them into three generic paragraphs entitled problem, solution, and results.
Please.
You’re worth so much more than that, and your clients won’t thank you for it either because it’s really, really boring.
Doing it this way isn’t quick or easy. But it’s a fun process, and your end results will be rich, and human and compelling. Plus, you’ll strengthen your relationship with your clients by going through this process, as you show that you value their story and their perspective.
Want some smokin’ hot case studies, but haven’t time to write them?
If you haven’t got time to write your own case studies, and you just need a case study whisperer to come make your case studies sing, I can help.
I crunched my numbers the other day because I’m a huge nerd. And it turns out 20% of my revenue YTD is from case studies. This year I’ve written more than 35 case studies for consultants. And they’re very much one of my favourite projects to do. So, if you’d like help showcasing your most interesting projects, I’m here for you. FIND OUT MORE >