Guest post by Eleanor Hecks.
Marketing business to business (B2B) products and services differs from business to consumer (B2C) practices in at least a half-dozen ways. Business purchasing decision makers are primarily concerned about what you can do to help their company operate more efficiently or grow faster. One obvious way to showcase that is through case studies of your clients and their successes.
Image credit: Lukas on Pexels
Case studies can be anything from a before and after study to detailed statistics on how you helped another brand with a major problem. Look for common pain points many of your clients share.
Demonstrating your understanding of your prospects’ business challenges will get their attention. Proving you know how to deliver by showing how you did so for other brands can persuade them to take action.
What Makes a Great B2B Case Study?
Approximately 33% of B2B brands allocate 5% of their budget to marketing. If you’re tight on funds, one of the most cost-efficient ways to spend your limited marketing dollars is to utilize information you already have to bring more traffic to your site. Case studies can be placed on your website as valuable mid-funnel or bottom-of-the-funnel content for potential clients.
To write better B2B case studies, focus on letter your clients’ words and stories showcase your value rather than just repeating your brand messaging. Here are six key points to increase the impact of your case studies, along with a look at several brands utilizing case studies in their own work to show how effective the approach can be.
1. Highlight Your Specialty
Every successful B2B company starts by focusing on solving a specific problem for a specific type of customer. What is your unique value proposition (UVP)? What makes you stand out from competitors? The key to developing your UVP is understanding your audience and what they care most about.

Image credit: Ghost
Ghost has a showcase page where they highlight selected clients and show what their software accomplished for these brands by helping them create amazing websites. Note how they highlight different types of businesses to show they have multiple solutions no matter what industry you might be in.
2. Optimize Your Layout
Your page layout can be almost as important as what you put on your case studies page. Researchers found about 80% of people who aren’t happy with the look or experience on a site will head to a competitor’s page.
Make sure the case studies on your site have their own tab. Lay them out so that different sections are easy to find. Use images to highlight each story and edit headlines until they state exactly what problem you solved for the client.
3. Enhance Credibility
Case studies are an excellent way to expand your credibility. Point to specific benefits achieved by your customers, and back them up with specific dollar and percentage figures whenever possible.
Many of your prospective new customers may have never heard of you before. They may be justifiably skeptical of your ability to deliver. However, they’re much more likely to believe in your capability if they hear it from their peers, which makes case studies a key social proof best practice.

Image credit: Driveline
Driveline Retail Merchandising showcases the solutions they’ve provided for numerous retail chains. For example, they show how they assembled and placed displays of 300 elements for a grocery chain.
Providing examples lends credibility to the ways they can help retailers. By looking at specific solutions for stores, they also highlight what they’re capable of and how they can design customized solutions for clients.
4. Name Drop
Have you worked with local or national celebrities? Did you help a “name brand” enterprise? Don’t be afraid to drop names to show you’re well respected in the industry and call out the famous people or businesses that have utilized your services.
If you can obtain a testimonial from the person or business, you’ll make an even bigger impact. Putting their name and reputation behind your brand lends substantial credibility.

Image credit: CoSchedule
CoSchedule has an entire page devoted to their customer stories. They highlight brands that have used their services and the benefits they realized. For example, when the five-person marketing team for UofSC Alumni Association wanted to work remotely, they turned to CoSchedule for a solution. The case study highlights how they achieved 12 times more work from home than in the office.
5. Use Hard Facts
Want to convince people you can produce results? Lay out the facts and numbers that highlight the benefits of using your product or service. Consider adding charts and graphics to show the results your clients have achieved working with you.

Image credit: Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE provides tax preparation software for companies. One case study looks at how they helped Cheesecake Factory overcome their tax compliance process. Although the case study doesn’t point to numbers, they add a section called “Results” where they clearly outline what OneSource accomplished for the brand.
6. Tell a Story
Give your busy prospects a reason to read your case studies. Start with an attention-grabbing opening, then incorporate the seven elements of compelling storytelling to keep them reading through to the end.

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Make sure your customer success stories are worth the time by creating strong storylines people care about. Tap into to your prospects’ emotions to show why they should care about these particular examples over others by your competitors.
Start With Your Biggest Success
Which case study you should create first? Start with the biggest hurdle you ever helped anyone overcome, the most challenging company you’ve worked with. Their outcome may just be the key to pulling in more business. Start with the big problems you’ve solved and then add client success stories as you go.
Structure each case study with what the problem was, what your brand did, and what the outcome was. Add images and quotes from your client. Once you have a basic format in place, subsequent case studies should be easier to create.
Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the creative director at a prominent digital marketing agency prior to becoming a full-time freelance designer. Eleanor lives in Philadelphia with her husband and pup, Bear.
The post Why Your B2B Marketing Should Feature Case Studies appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog | Webbiquity.