Advocacy marketing is the promotion of a business and its products or services through experiences and testimonials provided by its customers. It is also inEvidence’s primary area of expertise.
Across a variety of media and formats, inEvidence’s job is to reflect how products, people and services perform in the wild. It turns abstract marketing descriptions into relatable, accessible and comprehensible content that delivers a positive, meaningful and credible reflection of everyone and everything involved.
Why case studies?
A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but there are things a 1,000-word case study can do that a typical video can’t. Videos show workplaces, people, offices, towns and cities. They look amazing and deliver real impact; however, they often give only a broad overview of the story. Some may only include little more than 100 spoken words.
Case studies go deeper; they explore more of the detail and why a solution works. They tend not to go too far into the technical weeds, but they can point the reader in that direction if needed. A video won’t give an overview of a client’s server stack or data flow, but a case study can—if it serves the story.
The typical case study structure
Case studies tend to follow a similar structure.
- Set the scene
Introduce the people and organizations involved. Outline their motivations, what makes them tick and why the story matters. Draw the reader into the story.
- Outline the challenge
What issue did the customer need to fix? What was the problem and how was it affecting the business or its customers? What would have been the consequences of not dealing with it?
- Describe the solution
How did the client’s solution address the customer’s needs? Why did the customer choose it? How was it implemented?
- Highlight the positive outcomes
What can the customer do now that they couldn’t before? Why did the solution work? What are the benefits for the business and, in turn, its customers? What metrics best illustrate these?
5. Look to the future
What’s next? Why does the future look good? What are the customer’s next projects and why are the discussed solutions part of those plans?
Some clients will have their own variations of this structure, but significant deviations are rare. It’s a logical storytelling arc that focuses on delivering the primary messages rather than challenging the reader’s expectations.
Simplifying the complex
Technical case studies can often involve complex technologies and concepts. And while a case study is an opportunity to explore and describe these in some depth, it can sometimes be difficult to know how much detail to give to the more technically complex elements of a story.
Things to bear in mind are as follows:
- Complex usually means wordy. A thousand words may seem like a lot, but if you’re telling a full story, the space available to describe a technology in detail is limited.
- Not everyone is an expert. Too much complexity can be confusing or off-putting. You want the reader to come away from the story feeling enlightened and inspired.
- There are other ways. A case study isn’t necessarily all about words. An infographic can often give a more useable overview of a technology stack or data flow than even the most eloquent piece of writing.
The trick is to steer a path between excessive complexity and dumbing down. Stick to high-level concepts and overviews; use language that the averagely intelligent reader could get through without being overfaced; focus on business outcomes or how an average end user may benefit from a solution.
Ask yourself: would a friend understand this if they were reading it with no prior knowledge of the subject?
