Producing a B2B Case Study from Start to Finish 

What is a B2B case study? 

Think of a B2B case study like a grade school science fair project. Back then, you provided a question and a hypothesis, then how the experiment worked and its results. In a case study, you present a customer’s challenge, a detailed solution your business provided, and the tangible results. By sharing data and customer testimonials, you give a straightforward story highlighting what your company can do.  

In this blog, we look at the importance of case study content and how to craft effective stories that can elevate your sales and marketing toolkit. We look at writing and visual considerations as well as distribution to get the most out of your success stories. 

How can case studies be useful marketing and sales initiatives? 

B2B case studies display your business’ credibility, capabilities, breadth of work, and the industries you serve. They can also help sway a buyer on the fence with a similar challenge by allowing them to visualize how your products and services can help them. Case studies are impactful collateral for Sales Teams growing relationships—using them to explain how products and services match the prospects’ needs.  

While not a leading driver of SEO, it is an opportunity to add E-E-A-T content to your website by providing evidence of experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. SEO and PPC can bring customers to your site for information, leading them to support pieces like case studies that further illustrate how your solutions can apply to their pain points. 

How to identify a good case study opportunity? 

Starting is always the hardest part, but looking at your business objectives and the information you receive from your existing leads can help your business find great candidates to be featured.  

1. Start by looking at your business goals and priorities.  
   • Where have you been successful in terms of products or services offered? 
   • What industries or applications do you want to highlight to expand your reach? 
2. Review your long-standing customer list to find candidates and decide what appeals to a broader group of customers.  
3. Talk to your Sales, Engineering, and PM Teams to verify good standing and to find recent success stories.  

A note on Step 3, find a story applicable to more customers than a specific use case to garner interest from as many potential buyers as possible in the industries you serve. After you highlight a solution that will help attract customers, you can note the tailored solutions available. 

Once you have narrowed down potential candidates, this information can help you identify the story:  

• Find the clear challenge addressed by one of your solutions  
• Find enough background information to frame the story—why there was a problem and how the solution helped 
• Find comprehensive results with data to back it up  

After a client is selected, request approval from the customer before proceeding. If they agree and both sides align on the project’s goals, you are ready to craft a case study.  

During your communication with the customer, consider interviewing them to get more details from their point of view as well as get a testimonial. Where case studies feature data-driven results from real scenarios, a client testimonial can help an unsure buyer with the emotional element with verification of the partnership’s success. 

How do I write a case study? 

Case studies are short and results-oriented, with visualizations like images, charts, and graphs. Consider a one-sheet PDF version for your Sales Team to use or that users can download from the webpage version. Now that it’s time to write, we recommend formatting your content in three sections: 

1. Problem or Challenge 
2. Solution 
3. Results 

The important takeaway will be in the results as it answers the prospect’s question, “What’s in it for me?”. To ensure the problem and solution presented ladder up to those results, we recommend starting there (working backward). Find the data that best displays what your company offers such as an increase in efficiency and revenue or before and after comparisons.  

We recommend information that isn’t dated to keep your case studies evergreen, especially for Teams who cannot create these regularly. However, things like project timelines should be shared in days, weeks, or months. 

Once you have data points, format your story beginning, middle, and end:    

• Beginning (Problem/Challenge): Introduce the client and what they do, then describe the problem they approached you with. Provide definitions as needed for important industry terms to support expertise and for all decision-makers in the buyers’ journey.  

• Middle (Solution): This will detail how your solution was implemented and how it addressed each pain point. Note any customizations provided and consider a client testimonial, process videos, or equipment imagery.

• End (Results): Layout tangible results via available data like effects on efficiency or revenue. Consider using data visualizations like charts and graphs or before and after imagery.  

• CTA (Call to Action): Contact information and next steps.  

Be sure to apply how this could benefit any reader throughout so they understand what potential benefits they could receive. Finally, B-SMART by using terms prospective customers search for aligning to their needs. 

How to distribute a case study? 

Case studies make great additions to resource pages, or if a regular cadence can be achieved, create a section for them in your navigation. Once written, designed, and launched, you don’t want SEO alone to bring in viewers.  

Again, print for Sales Teams to have on hand for in-person meetings and consider sending via email campaigns to potential customers. You can also share on social media platforms like LinkedIn, finding appropriate hashtags that align with keywords. Finally, this should be a mutually beneficial endeavor between you and the client featured, so encourage partner companies to share their marketing channels. 

What’s your takeaway? 

Case studies can impact B2B purchasing decisions, providing supporting evidence during the long buyers’ journey that could include multiple decision-makers. With that in mind, make sure your stories apply to larger audiences and are results-oriented, plus utilize graphs and other visuals to aid your story. Finally, have a distribution plan to get your success out to those potential buyers. 

If you’re a TopSpot Client, contact the Marketing Team for more information on creating case studies. Not with TopSpot? Contact us to learn more about case studies and our integrated approach to digital marketing.