Good day ladies and gentlemen. We have invited you here today to discuss the importance of case studies and how your business can get the most out of them. As a business that provides creative services from brand design, graphic design, through to product packaging design in Brisbane, we know this importance well.

Let’s jump right in.

 

What a case study is

Case studies provide an opportunity for you to explain real-life business scenarios, and present proof of how great your business is at what you do. They reach further than your standard client testimonial or review, by showcasing the nitty gritty — the need, or problem, that you were able to solve and how you have helped others accomplish their goals. In essence, your case studies form a part of your brand story, providing social proof. They show people that you know what you’re doing. In fact another name for case studies is success stories. And who doesn’t want to share their success with the world?

What a case study is NOT

A case study is NOT an advertisement. Although it can be used to advertise your product or service, it is not all about you. It should be informative, honest and most importantly talk about how you helped bring success to others.Think of it as a humble brag.

A case study is NOT boring. You want to take your reader on a journey — you want them to be excited about what your business can do. Make it engaging, with a dash of persuasion.

Don’t forget, your case studies play a role in your branding — how your business is perceived — (not quite your brand design or logo design, but just as important!).

Why use case studies?

Case studies grant you the opportunity to demonstrate to your customers how your business has achieved impressive results in the past by providing practical examples of the results you know you can achieve.

You can’t just tell someone you saw a ninja riding a bicycle in a tutu through the dead centre of town. You need proof — photo evidence or even someone else to back up your claim, or a case study. See, case studies are your proof, they’re the picture of the (dishonoured) ninja that shows you undoubtedly know what you’re talking about (and aren’t just delusional).

As a branding agency in Brisbane, our case studies focus on our design work — how we’ve creatively solved problems for clients.

We could sit here and tell you that we are fantastic at professional logo design, exceptional at brand design and the absolute bomb diggity at origami. Do you believe us, just on our word? Of course you don’t (even though we are very trustworthy). You want proof.

What if we now direct you to our proof filled pudding — our very own homemade case studies. After having a squizz do you trust our capabilities now? Of course you do. You got to see the results and read how we achieved them, first hand.

It’s easier to show your worth than to tell it. Nobody is interested in someone talking the talk, they want to see them walk the walk (ask Christopher Walken). They want to see real, tangible examples of your work. For us, it might be an example of a product packaging design we created for a Brisbane start-up.

How to write a case study

It’s simple enough to know that proof of your great work is valuable, but how do you successfully communicate it?

• Be concise. The name case STUDY and success STORY can be misleading. Your case study should not waffle on (although we do enjoy a good waffle), you want it to be straight to the point and an easy read. Your success story, although epic, should not be long enough to compete with J.R.R Tolkien’s works.
• Show evidence. This is your opportunity to showcase examples, and demonstrate your capabilities directly to your reader. Front-flip at that chance, and make sure you are showing evidence of your best work. And then share it with the world, through marketing (an extension of your brand design).
• Explain. Case studies should be used to explain exactly what you did and how you did it. You should give enough detail to demonstrate your brilliant knowledge, but not enough that you share all your trade secrets — you need to keep some of the magic tucked away behind the shoji.
• Think about your reader. What does your customer want to gain from reading your case study? They want to be informed, and relate. Include the problem you were presented with and how you solved it. And, we cannot stress this enough, never forget to include the results. We get it, sometimes quantifying what you do can be tough. In our case, for example, it’s hard to specifically quantify the ROI of a new professional logo design. So instead, we look at the bigger picture — we compare the traction of the brand and justify our approach, by showcasing our work and the rationale. You can check out a few examples here.
• Provide useful metrics. While we cannot stress the importance of results enough (they are very important), make sure they are relevant. Use metrics that showcase your success, make sense to your reader, and are relevant to the work you did.
  
  

Case studies help you show others what you do, how you do it, and why they should choose you to do it, all in one tidy package. Now, we believe that’s a pretty valuable piece of content and we hope, after reading this, you think so too. While you're here (on our website), why not check out some of our case studies, and see for yourself what our creative agency can do!

We rest our case (study).