Creating good case studies featuring your products can be one of the most effective ways to engage engineers, architects and other prospects on your website, in social media and other marketing touch points. Heinzeroth Marketing Group.

1. Case Studies
in B2B Marketing
Programs
The Important Role Of

2. Today’s fast-paced, digital communications can create real challenges for B2B
marketing professionals. One of the biggest hurdles is developing a plan to
generate a continuous flow of fresh content to keep your customers and prospects
engaged through social media channels, targeted eMarketing campaigns as well
as regular updates of your website.
Developing and supporting a case study program is an extremely effective way
to help relieve your content creation burden while establishing your company’s
credibility and areas of expertise. The goal of the program is to build a library of
case studies that can be utilized as traditional sales tools as well as an ongoing
stream of content for digital distribution.
A recently completed survey of B2B buyers revealed that the primary purpose
of visiting a vendor website is to qualify the vendor before moving on in the
purchasing process. Busy buyers typically go directly to product and service pages
when visiting a vendor website. After pricing information, case studies tied with
technical data as the highest ranking vendor website “must have” by survey
respondents. Buyers also ranked case studies as No.1 for “content lacking on
vendor websites.”
Case Studies in
B2B marketing
programs
415 Y Blvd. Rockford, IL
815.967.0929

3. 415 Y Blvd. Rockford, IL
815.967.0929
Application Profiles: Economical “lite” case studies built for speed
A full-blown case study typically involves internal engineering and sales team
interviews as well as customer interviews and approvals. These in-depth success
stories allow companies to showcase, in detail, their ability to meet specific
customer needs. Due to their complexity and approval process, these types of case
studies should be reserved for only the most interesting and dramatic applications.
Once completed, they can also be submitted as articles to trade magazine editors
for publishing consideration.
An alternative to the
more expensive, time-
consuming case study
approach is the use
of leaner, more easily
digestible “Application
Profiles” (also known
as “Project Spotlights”).
Application profiles (APs) are mini case studies that provide just the basics about
how your products or services successfully meet a specific customer need.
Case Studies in
B2B marketing
programs

4. 415 Y Blvd. Rockford, IL
815.967.0929
The primary measure of a good AP is that it is relatively fast
and easy to produce. APs are typically one- or two-sided
sheets, featuring a product photo, one or more application/
installation photos, a few short paragraphs of text explaining
the application problem and solution, and finally a short list
of bulleted project highlights. Developing a simple, clean
formatted design helps to speed up the production process.
It is important to remember that APs should not be morphed into product data
sheets. APs are designed to supplement a company’s existing product data sheets
and catalogs…not replace them! Be sure to include only those product features
and benefits that relate to the specific customer application being profiled.
In most cases, it is recommended that the customer should not be identified
in an AP. Be sure that no information is included that might be considered
proprietary by the customer. This eliminates the often long, arduous process
of getting appropriate customer approvals, sometimes requiring corporate
management involvement.
If a high quality application/installation photo does not exist, use of a relatively
inexpensive, royalty-free stock photo also works very well. In some cases, new
location photography (preferably by a professional) might need to be arranged.
Case Studies in
B2B marketing
programs

5. 415 Y Blvd. Rockford, IL
815.967.0929
Making the Commitment
With in-house marketing staffs often stretched to the limits, the use of an
outside PR firm is worth considering to implement a robust AP program.
Budgeting can be fixed based on a target number of completed APs over a
set period of time. Funds should also be allocated for the outside firm’s initial
product and market education/training. It is important that you feel comfortable
with the partner firm’s technical capability as they will be in direct contact with
your engineering team, internal (and possibly) external sales teams as well as
your customers.
The real value of application profiles
When evaluating the costs associated with supporting an ongoing AP program
it is important to understand just how significant a role APs can play as part of
your overall marketing strategy. APs can be utilized way beyond simply posting
them on your website. Other uses include stand-alone sales sheets, conversion
to PowerPoint slides for market-focused sales presentations, direct mail to
specific target markets and posting to social media.
For more information about how an AP program can benefit your company,
contact Greg Surufka at 815-847-7532.
Case Studies in
B2B marketing
programs