So you’ve decided to make the big leap and try online marketing for your business.
Congratulations! You’ve made a smart decision. There’s a lot of information online about the various strategies and tactics for making this work for your business.
You’ve probably already started creating content to try and drive traffic to your site. Maybe you’ve even tried paid advertising or joined a social media network to gain exposure.
But have you ever considered making a case study out of your efforts?

A case study is a type of marketing research where you track a group of customers over time to see how they interacted with your product or service, and possibly gain some insight into how to market it better in the future.

Many marketers claim that case studies help prove the value of their product and the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.
While this is true for some industries, there are others where it would be best to keep your mouth closed and your eyes open.

The most important thing to consider before you jump into creating your case studies, is that you must be confident that you can keep a consistent story through the duration of the study.

Choosing The Right Study Group

You don’t want to waste your time and effort creating a case study about a group of people that changed their mind about your product or service after just using it once or twice.
To ensure you get the most out of your case study and provide the best user experience possible, you need to choose your study group carefully.

Ideally, you want to choose a group that is representative of the type of customer you typically have as a result of your marketing efforts.
For example, if you’re trying to promote a gym membership site, you might want to look into joining a health club yourself so you can get a sense of what type of people go there, and how to market the offer to them.

Create A Brief History Of Your Customer

As the name suggests, a case study usually covers the history of your customer.
It would be best to start by creating a brief history of how the company came into existence and what led them to purchasing your product or service in the first place.
This can be done with a bit of detective work on your part, or by taking advantage of the information publicly available on the internet.

You should also include any previous attempts that the customer may have made at solving the same problem, whether they were successful or not.

Monitoring User Behavior

Once you’ve chosen your customers, the next step is to start watching what they do on your site.
This is where you’ll want to start by gathering as much information as possible about their behavior and activities while on your site.
There are a number of tools online that can help with this task.
You can use Google Analytics to track visitor behavior on your site.
You can also use a tool like Hotjar to get insight into how users interact with your site, whether it’s via a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Create User Personas

If you’re just starting out, it can be difficult to determine what your customer base is.
You can use user personas to help guide your decisions about what type of content to produce and which marketing tactics to use.
A user persona is simply an archetype of a user, constructed based on their behavior in real life.
They are not meant to be realistic, but rather to help you develop content that will speak to your audience.

A user persona might look like this:

• Joe Smith
• 45 years old
• Married
• Three children – all girls
• Lives in New York City
• Loves to travel and hates long flights
• Uses Uber more often than he takes the subway

As you might imagine, creating user personas can be a lengthy process where you have to test various hypotheses to see what works and what doesn’t.

Determining The Product’s Target Audience

Once you’ve got a decent amount of data about your user base, it’s time to determine which group of people you’ll be targeting with your product or service.
This is the audience that you’ll be inviting to join your case study, and it’s an important decision that you’ll want to make based on the findings from your research.

For example, if you’re marketing a gym membership site, you might want to target people who want to lose weight or people who are already exercising regularly.

Choosing the right target audience can be difficult. For some companies, it’s enough to choose the majority of your audience and run with it.
For others, it requires a lot of testing to find the right match.

Decide On The Sales Pitch

At this point, you’ll want to decide on the sales pitch for your case study.
This is the information that will entice your audience to join your case study and purchase your product or service.
It might be the various bonuses that you’re offering, or the affordability of the product itself for the target audience.

For example, if you’re selling gym memberships, you might want to highlight the various health benefits that come with getting fit, the money you’ll be saving by not having to visit the doctor frequently, or the group fitness classes that you and your friends will be able to take part in if you join the gym.

Determining The Product’s Value

Once you’ve got a good idea of who your target audience is, it’s time to determine the value of what you’re offering.

You’ll want to look into the pricing of the product or service itself, as well as any special offers that you might have for creating or joining a case study.
Another important factor to consider is whether the product or service is needed or desired by your target audience.
If you can prove that your customer has a need for your product or service, and you can also show that it fills a gap in the marketplace, you can rest assured that you’re on the right track.

The Risks And Benefits Of A Case Study

Before you start putting together your case study, you need to ask yourself if creating a study of this kind is worth it.
There are a number of risks and benefits to consider before you make your decision.

The most obvious risk is that you could end up spending a lot of time developing a case study that doesn’t end up being representative of your typical customer.
If this happens, you’ll likely have wasted a lot of time and effort.
On the other hand, if you decide to go ahead with the case study, you could end up gaining valuable marketing information that will help you improve your product or service, and give you a leg up on the competition.

When it comes to case studies, there are so many variables that can affect the outcome.
To ensure you create a study that is both relevant and beneficial, you’ll want to follow the above guidelines to create the best possible case study that can help your business in the right way.