Case Studies - making them work for you

I wrote the below piece as a mail for my office folks when sharing an "Ideal Case Study" example... It seems relevant for people..especially marketing professionals in general and hence sharing the same...do post in your comments!

A case study is a window into our world, the way we function, our strengths and capabilities. By virtue, a case study indicates an accomplishment; a project that has worked so well that it has set a standard for others to learn.

However, when we share such an accomplishment with the world - be it our clients, prospects or peers, we need to be careful of certain things that define the thin line between a project that fires imaginations vis-a-vis a "not-so-relevant" info collation exercise. Most of the times, they are not as well-versed as you in your project and hence may not immediately understand either the in-depth analysis or just a brief snapshot that is the result of your long & deailed association with a project.

Ask these questions before sharing an example:

1. What is the person's background/ area of interest or influence?
Most of the times, we end up sharing number-heavy data with MarCom managers who could be idea-oriented and creative ideas with sales managers who may just want to know numbers.

2. How easy is the data understood by a layperson?
While making it simple enough for a layperson is literally creating a textbook entry, we should be careful to gauge the level of understanding & sphere of knowledge of the person/client concerned. A lot many times presentations fall flat because the person on the other side is not as enthusiastic as us about the intricacies of a loyalty program or event setup details. We should ideally be sending across a simple message - we have done it & can do it again, and we have cases to support our claim. This brings us to the next question.

3. What is your objective?
Most probably its to interest the client enough in our work and build trust & a level of comfort with our capabilities. In business development, its to get that all-important serious appointment. At this stage, its important that what we present fulfills the following criterion:
> Captures the person's imagination : Ensures that s/he goes through the entire presentation/case study
> Showcase our capability with valid data and testimonials
> Be brief : There should be enough interest built in the process to allow that person to call back for more. If they get the entire data, mechanics and the rest in one go, they may just
- not have the time to see it all
- ignore it or ask the same thing to be presented again in-person
- lose interest if not understood (all of us agree that cases, especially data, is best explained in-person)

Therefore, our endeavor should be to deliver the basics in the first interaction and deliver it right.
Give the client an opportunity to call back!

How should we go about it then?
Tell the client a story with a happy ending. Be brief, interesting and showcase summarized achievements.
> Begin with the marketing challenge and market reality / status that needed to be tackled.
> Explain briefly the creative breakthrough and its relevance to the product/service/market
> Snapshot results and their impact - program extension? increase in market share? further activity off-shoots? Replication in other markets/for other SKU's?
> If possible, add a slide on how this can be translated for a particular client. Give the client an opportunity to call back!

Get these in place and you wil have a winner in your hand!