Of all of the different types of PR materials we get to develop for our clients – ranging from press releases, media pitches, FAQs, byline articles and more – my all-time favorite is customer case studies. There’s excitement and enthusiasm behind case studies that are all-too often lacking in other types of PR content. For one, case studies typically involve a success story of some sort – a crisis that was mitigated smoothly, for example, or a customer who saw results that far exceeded his/her expectations. The fact is, people tend to be happy about case studies and that makes them downright fun to write.
Not only do you get to hear from your clients about a “win” they had with a customer, you often get to interview their customer or end-user to get their perspective. For those of us with journalism backgrounds – and that’s a good portion of PR professionals – this gives us an opportunity to put together some probing questions and “think like a reporter” in order to write a compelling and interesting story about your client and their work.
But here’s the thing to remember.
It’s easy to get excited about a case study and the enthusiasm that your clients and their customer are feeling in the moment. But as a strategic advisor, it’s also key to think critically about the case study and the entire process that goes along with its creation. It’s your job as a PR professional to make sure that your clients (and their customer) are telling a story that will resonate with their target audiences, including the media. For example:
Ask your client the tough questions. The first step when developing a case study is typically to speak with your clients and gather information about their customer and the story you’ll be developing. It’s important to come up with a list of questions in advance so that there are shared expectations about what you’ll be asking, and what level of detail you’ll need from the conversation. It’s important that the questions cover the basics – what was the problem or situation your client needed to address? How did they do that? What were the results that were generated?
It’s also important to ask the questions that go a step further, in order to gain broader perspective and context. These are more investigative in nature, pushing your clients to provide more details and specifics about the work, and results, they secured with their customer:
- What was your top challenge with this deployment?
- What surprised you most about this customer (or their results)?
- What’s one thing you would do differently if given the opportunity?
- What kind of metrics/results did you expect your client would see, and how did the actual results vary?
Be able to confidently answer “why is this case study newsworthy?” This seems like an easy question to answer on the surface – it matters because your clients got fantastic results and their customers are happy, right? That’s true, but when thinking like a reporter, you can’t lose sight of the bigger perspective and the impact to the larger audience. Just as reporters need to examine the common elements that make a story newsworthy, PR professionals should do the same when it comes to a case study:
- What’s the impact? Does this deployment affect a small audience of beta testers, for example, or an audience of millions worldwide?
- Is there a conflict to share? Was this a fiercely competitive battle to win the customer’s business? What set your client apart from the pack?
- Is there a surprise element readers might not be expecting? Not all case studies have an unexpected twist to them, but if there’s anything quirky, unusual or downright bizarre that’s worth sharing, you can bet people will want to read it.
- How can I create a human interest angle? In journalism, human interest stories help to make news and feature stories relatable – they talk about the human condition and make readers connect with the topic (i.e., your client and their customer). Is there a broader story beyond the “nuts and bolts” of the deployment where you can talk about an advocate for your client that helped secure the deal and bring it to life?
I hope this offers some practical guidelines for how to approach case studies and get the most out of your conversations with your clients and their customers. Critical thinking is the foundation for providing good client counsel and producing solid, credible written materials for them. What other questions have you asked your clients when developing a success story or case study for them? Tell us here!