Now that you've cultivated a loving relationship with your reporter, gotten published, and generated awareness, how do you convert all those extra website hits and phone calls into sales?

There are right ways and wrong ways.

The wrong way is relying on your product's features to convert leads. It's tempting, we know. You've labored mightily to create a work of Staggering Technical Genius. One glance at your bullet-pointed feature list makes prospects swoon. Do you really need to translate all those impressive features into benefits?

If your product is truly revolutionary and unique, then the answer is no. Take the world's first proven time machine. The benefits of a time machine are self-evident. And the competition? Nonexistent. Time-machine inventors can stop reading here.

For the rest of us, there's the case study.

What's a Case Study?


A case study is, quite simply, a success story. Everyone relates to and remembers a good story. Case studies are a hybrid of the magazine feature and the good-old-fashioned customer testimonial. Few marketing communications are as powerful and compelling.

How Do You Write a Case Study?


Case studies follow a simple format:

1. Marty McFly has a problem. He's looking for a solution.

2. McFly is introduced to a new type of transporter by TimeTraveler Systems, Inc. Hopeful but gun-shy, McFly decides to give the transporter a whirl.

3. The transporter from TimeTraveler Systems works like a dream. McFly is delighted. It solves all his problems. He raves about it--preferably in direct quotes.

How Case Studies Deliver a Big Bang for Little Bucks


At some point, most of us have invested in a service that sounded great on paper but failed to deliver on its promise to solve our problems. A case study proves to your prospects that your product delivers in the topsy-turvy real world. It really works!

But don't take it from me. Case studies give you third-party credibility. You don't need to rely on TimeTraveler Systems' word for it. You can get it straight from their happy customers.

Case studies--unlike many brochures--actually get read. Your prospects are more likely to retain a case study because it's essentially about them. Everyone has problems. And everyone wants to know what others are doing to solve similar problems. A case study allows your prospects to be a fly on the wall.

So You've Got a Case Study...Now What?


Case studies are remarkably adaptable. Like a two-ton water buffalo, one case study can be modified and reused in a number of ways. Tight budget? Case studies maximize impact. Here are a few of their most popular uses:

1. Websites. If your website is a no-fly zone, the quickest remedy is to add new, compelling content. A case study certainly qualifies. They make the case for your product or service better than any product spec sheet could.

2. Newsletters. Newsletters are a terrific way to keep in touch, spread the word, and convert prospects into customers. Success stories based on real-world applications are proven to get the highest response rates.

3. Handouts. Case studies make salespeople drool. Why? Because they work. Case studies are used in presentations, as handouts, in illustrations of key points, and as testimonials. Listen to the salesperson who prefers a case study to a brochure. The people on the front lines know what your prospects find compelling.

4. Press releases. You can convert a case study into a press release and note that a more detailed, expanded case study version is available. Editors run it--no long walks on the beach or handholding required!

5. Trade journal articles. Look through your favorite trade publication and note the number and frequency of articles based on case studies. Editors--like the rest of us--find real-world stories irresistible. Take advantage.