The company’s experience in solving practical problems is the best advertisement. Add the power of stories to this experience, and you have a fiery business tool that convinces you to buy. It’s about cases or case studies. Students who study marketing and business subjects usually write case study essays. We are going to tell you how to write a working case study for an international audience.
What is a case study?
It is a deep and detailed study of a specific case in a real setting. It presents a certain problem that should be solved. On the way to solving it, readers get acquainted with an assistant – a company or a product.
Most times, case study essay writing causes problems because students do not know what to write in it. If you are one of them, you can ask a writer to write an essay online. You can do that by placing an order on a writing service. A writer will take into account all of your requirements and write a quality case study essay for you.
Tips for writing case study essays
Define goals
Like any other marketing activity, preparing a case study essay should begin with the formulation of goals. When choosing a KPI, focus on the sales growth rather than reach and traffic. The indicator will depend on the chosen promotion method. Indicate how much time, resources will be required to prepare the material. Coordinate the plan with a teacher.
Choose a topic and format
You can proceed to the choice of topic and format. You should not choose a topic with a rare problem that will not meet with a response. Select a topic in relation to customer tasks.
Good examples of customer tasks:
- cost reduction;
- profit output;
- profit growth;
- increase in the percentage of closed transactions;
- improving efficiency and environmental friendliness;
- optimization for legal requirements.
In the beginning, it is desirable to decide on the format of the case. What are the options:
- text;
- PDF file;
- page on the site;
- video;
- infographics;
- podcast.
Since we need to write an essay, in our case, only the first type of format is suitable for us – a text.
Choose a client
You decided on the topic; now you need to choose the right client for it. You can focus on these categories:
- Product knowledge. It is good if the client knows your product, then they use it effectively and realize its full potential.
- Noticeable increase in performance. Clients with good results are more likely to agree to cooperate, and their stories will make the case more attractive to the target audience.
- Famous brands. If many people know about the client, you will earn trust and status.
- Dissatisfied customers of competitors. Experience with such requests will help highlight your benefits.
- Industry. Choose interesting projects from areas that a company often works with. This way, you increase its expertise.
Cooperate with the client
Ensure the selected client is ready to cooperate. When discussing cooperation, mention the benefits that the customer will receive. For example:
- Enhancing brand reach. You will mention the name of the company in the case, briefly talk about the project. This will attract the attention of potential clients.
- Creating a personal brand for employees. Use quotes from members of a team in the case, which will strengthen their status as experts and increase recognition.
- Discount. Motivate the customer to spend their time by offering special conditions.
- External links. Add an active link to the customer’s site in the case study. Since you have an authoritative resource, it will improve rankings.
Conduct an interview with a client and collect data
Consent is received. After that, you should conduct an interview with a client. It is important to get answers to these questions:
- What problems did you encounter before using a service?
- Have you looked at competitor offers?
- What are your business goals?
- Are you ready to share data that confirms your success?
Build a story
The collected data is the basis of a future story. Now it needs to be built in the best traditions of storytelling. For a case, the plot “Monomyth” is most often chosen. What does it look like? The story consists of three parts:
- problem;
- solution;
- result.
Remember that the protagonist of the story is your customer, not the product or service. You are just an escort on the path to success. Make a case plan, distribute the collected, and proceed to the next step.
Stick to the structure
- Write a case study essay. Tell the story gradually:
- Title and subtitle. Try to fit in this block a description of the customer, problems, and solutions.
- Summary. Here you need to describe the case.
- Customer. Who is this case study essay about?
- Problem or challenge. Write about a problem your customer is facing.
- Solution. How did a service help to solve the problem?
- Results. Present them in numbers or percentages.
- Plans. If the project is not yet completed, tell what else is planned to do to achieve better results.
- Call to action. Invite potential customers to contact a company or read similar cases.
A short plan for creating a compelling case study essay
- Select a project with a problem, a conflict, and a measurable outcome.
- Develop a structure according to the principle “was-done-became.”
- Write a case, delegating the task to the right specialists.
- Check the case for the absence of popular errors.
- Coordinate the result with the client, if necessary, hiding some of the numbers.
- Publish a case on a website or an external site.
Three mistakes when writing a case study essay
- Mistake #1. There are no storytelling elements in the case.
Initially, a case is a story. In order not to be boring, introduce a character into the narrative, add near-business colors and emotions. Talk about the client, their feelings, experiences when they tried to correct the situation. Describe a vividly passed path of trial and error.
- Mistake #2. The case resembles a term paper.
When writing a case, it is important not to turn into a student who writes a term paper and wants to write 100 pages of text with a minimum of knowledge. Avoid clichés. Write vividly, easily: so that you yourself want to place the case on your page.
- Mistake #3. The case does not provide practical knowledge.
It is important to understand that readers do not care at all how your company works. They spend time reading because they want to learn something and use other people’s experiences in their work. There is an opinion that it is impossible to learn from the experience of others. But readers will always have such expectations.
Use these simple tips to write a quality case study essay.
