winning more sales

How do you make your readers sit up and take notice? A case study explaining how you did X for company Y is a great way to do this. A good case study allows the reader to identify with the case study and allays their fears.

tricks of the trade

One of the most important things to consider is that you are not writing an essay, you are writing NEWS!. Your case study must not only be interesting, it must be positively exciting. So here are a few tricks of the trade to ensure your next case study gets read by your target market and not only that, but that it motivates someone to take action and call you. After all that is why you wrote it in the first place!

set down the bare bones

Write down the key areas you want the case study to cover. Try using mind mapping techniques as a tool for doing this.

find a good headline

This is without doubt the number 1 key to your success, or your failure. You headline is the advert for your case study and without an outstanding one very few people will ever get to read your wonderful news.

Produce three different headlines and test these headlines by asking people which one they prefer and would they read an article with headline A, B, or C?

the difference between:

"ABC Company Limited praise MAX Marketing for their great marketing support" and
"ABC Company Limited makes £250,000 in additional profit in the first 6 months thanks to MAX Marketing" is, I am sure you agree, massive. Write a headline and then ask yourself "so what?"

keep them guessing

The third trick is to keep them guessing. You have got to get them past the first paragraph.

give them the buzz

After the headlines the single most important ingredient is enthusiasm. You must write enthusiastically, with desire and passion.

structure your case study

Use the pyramid structure for your case study. Keep it short and to the point, don't waffle and make it easy to read. I like to write my case study and then set myself a target of reducing the number of words I use by 10%.

the structure i recommend is

• The headline
• Summary of the story
• Explanation of the client's issues and problems
• Outline of the solution you agreed with your client
• Explanation of the result, including concrete results and figures, numbers, or percentages

for help and support in writing cutting edge case studies contact max marketing on 0118 930 5700

steve mills

Managing Director