Case Study Writing – 5 Top Tips

There’s no doubt that Case Studies are effective. They can’t just be dashed off though, requiring some prior thought, hence the reason why so many businesses neglect them.

I’ve highlighted 5 useful, non-standard tips to help people get started:

1. Plan what ‘good’ looks like

Yes, I know this sounds boring at best, or a ‘fudged’ top tip at worst, but let me illustrate with a few pointers:

• Where – think ‘Bite, Snack, Meal’

e.g. Will the Case Study sit on the website (bite-sized), be present in a brochure (snack-sized), or be reproduced in a standalone pdf (main meal)?

• Who – match the Case Study style to the audience type

e.g. An office block redevelopment – the engineering Case Study would probably be text-led and need a specifications section, whereas the interior design Case Study would no doubt be visually-led.

• What – determine the USP / marketing message

e.g. Is it technical expertise and the process by which problems were solved (the engineering firm above), or visual flair and a unique look (interior design), or something entirely different?

So, before you do anything, think about who you’re writing for first – the message, the syntax, and tone, ultimately need both this and the personality of your firm.

2. Tell a story

Even if your subject matter is bland, you still have to engage the reader with a story

I like the analogy I read from a marketeer, which is that Case Studies are ‘the marketing version of Aesop’s fables’:

• A villain (The Problem)
• A hero (Your Company/Product)
• A battle (How Your Company overcame The Problem)
• A moral (The Happy Ending)

3. Source 3 headline quotes

It’s easy to get lost and go ‘quote stuffing’ – it could be that your prescribed format demands it (e.g. some franchisees have minimal discretion), but the adage ‘Less is More’ generally applies.

There are 3 main quotes required (continuing the Aesop analogy):

• Challenge – what was ‘The Problem’ the company was experiencing
• Decision – why was ‘Your Company/Product’ engaged to fight this ‘Problem’
• Benefit – what was the ‘Happy Ending’

4. ‘Pull’ quotes not ‘Block’ quotes

Continuing on the ‘story’ theme, this is a technique used by newspapers and magazines to draw the reader’s eye to key points of interest, either for dramatic emphasis or to highlight a point.

Pull quotes should be:

• Interesting – they can be a quote, part of a quote, part of some text
• In the middle – to break up blocks of text, not at the top where they could be mistaken for headlines
• Larger than the surrounding text – leave them room to ‘breathe’

5. Sub-headings for navigation

The primary aim is to break up long blocks of text, but you can also make sub-headings tell their own story.

The traditional method is to have stock headings, which makes it easy to write to a plan.

• Background
• Challenge
• Results

However, you can become slightly more creative, and the sub-headings can become mini ‘pull quotes’; e.g.

• Benefit #1: rather than this sub-heading, we could instead write, ‘Instigating 1-1 meetings with staff was a huge step forwards’

I’ve only scratched the surface here on Case Study writing, but hopefully that has at least given pause for thought.

If you’d like more examples, or dare I say it, a quote (?!), please either send me an email have a browse through the Nobleword Portfolio.