Many of you probably know that we need to share stories of how our customers use our product or service to help others see how they too can utilize what we offer.
But how do we really get the story across without it seeming “salesy?”
That’s where case studies come in and how we utilize them can make a world of difference when we attempt to get our prospective clients to see the value and know how they too can benefit when working with us.
Enter Geoff Strauss from Just Case Studies who I have a conversation in this episode on how case studies can help and how to craft a piece that works for just about any audience.
Life & business intersect in many places. After all, we cannot have a business without looking at the human component of business.
This podcast with Jennifer R Glass, CEO of Business Growth Strategies International & BGSICoaching.com is all about the meaning of life and business & the interesting ways they intersect. The show is for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs on the search for what makes people successful and how to get there themselves.
Listen in as Jennifer & her guests dive deep into what makes people tick & how they make their businesses work for the betterment of others.
Many of you probably know that we need to share stories of how our customers use our product or service to help others see how they too can utilize what we offer.
But how do we really get the story across without it seeming “salesy?”
That’s where case studies come in and how we utilize them can make a world of difference when we attempt to get our prospective clients to see the value and know how they too can benefit when working with us.
Enter Geoff Strauss from Just Case Studies who I have a conversation in this episode on how case studies can help and how to craft a piece that works for just about any audience.
About Geoff and Just Case Studies: Just Case Studies helps businesses tell their customer success stories better and build the trust they need to make sales. Since starting the business in 2020, Just Case Studies has helped clients of all sizes in a wide variety of industries. You can find testimonials about the quality of their work on their website. Just Case Studies can help businesses of any size leverage the success they’ve helped their clients achieve into new business opportunities. Additionally, Geoff recently wrote a book titled “The Book on Case Studies: How to Build Trust & Profit Using Customer Success Stories” that will be available in December 2022. Look out for it wherever you get your online books shortly!
Connect with Geoff on Facebook, LinkedIn, and online at justcasestudies.com.
About Geoff and Just Case Studies: Just Case Studies helps businesses tell their customer success stories better and build the trust they need to make sales. Since starting the business in 2020, Just Case Studies has helped clients of all sizes in a wide variety of industries. You can find testimonials about the quality of their work on their website. Just Case Studies can help businesses of any size leverage the success they’ve helped their clients achieve into new business opportunities. Additionally, Geoff recently wrote a book titled “The Book on Case Studies: How to Build Trust & Profit Using Customer Success Stories” that will be available in December 2022. Look out for it wherever you get your online books shortly!
Connect with Geoff on Facebook, LinkedIn, and online at justcasestudies.com.
Transcript (auto-generated; may contain errors):
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Hello and welcome to another episode of MOJO: The Meaning of Life and Business. On today’s program,
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we’re going to be talking about case studies what are they and why do they even matter?
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All too often. We got bogged down in marketing and we’re trying to tell consumers prospects.
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We’re trying to tell them our product is the greatest thing since slice bread.
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One of the easiest and best ways that we can do that is with case studies, though, and we’re gonna have a really interesting conversation on case studies with our guest today.
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Geoff Strauss from Just Case Studies. But before I bring Geoff in, let me tell you a little bit about Just Case Studies.
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Those case studies helps businesses, tell their customer success stories better, and build the trust.
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They need to make sales since starting the business in 2020 just case studies to help clients of all sizes in a wide variety of industries.
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They can help businesses of any size leverage the success They’ve helped their clients achieve, and to new business opportunities.
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Geoff from Just Case Studies. Welcome to the show. Thanks, Jennifer.
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Glad to be here. absolutely. Thank you, Geoff. Let me ask you, when we look at case studies kind of dispel the confusion around it.
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First, what exactly do you consider to be a case study, and what would not be case?
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Study that people sometimes call a case study. sure. you know
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I think there is this idea around case studies that they have to be highly technical.
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You might think of like in the pharmaceutical industry or ass scientific field.
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Or you might think of something you had to do for a college course, or you could think about kind of the basic version or the traditional case Study where it’s just here in the situation here’s the solution and here’s the
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result. And, while those all might be technically case studies, they’re not necessarily the product that we produce for our customers, we feel that effective case studies are good for building trust and providing social proof.
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And so the way that we approach them is actually interacting with your customers to get the story of their experience in working with you in their journey and working with you, and what you were able to do with them.
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So it actually gives the real story of what being your customer looks like and feels like when people are playing out white papers and case studies.
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I mean there’s a lot of similar information there won’t you agree on that.
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I think so. I think so, and I think the big difference is the presentation.
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I think you hear the term White Paper, and you think very kind of dry and technical, and everything kind of goes with that mindset.
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And I think even when you say case, study people may get that same vibe.
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That’s why, as soon as I start talking about case studies, I try to as soon as possible.
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Shift the mindset from case study to customer success, story, because truly what it is is a story, and it’s your customer story about working with you, as they say story sell fax tell.
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And so it really becomes important to think about it in that regard.
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As we are looking at. Well, what do we do? How do we do it?
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And showing our clients how we can really make them deliver on what it is that we say we’re going to deliver for them.
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Let me ask you a different question. Then we’ve seen many of the printed case studies.
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But I understand you guys are also doing video case studies as well.
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Right? Yes, we are. So tell me more about the video case studies.
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How that would allow people to really get more of an idea how that can make a difference in their business, too.
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Sure. The video product is very similar to the traditional written or text version of the case.
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Study. We kind of follow the same process as the traditional product where we interact with your client and get their story and turn it into a case study for you.
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But then we go one step further and we schedule a virtual meeting with them where we interview them and we tape that interview, and then we bring it into our video production, area, and then we pull ourselves out and we put in
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graphics. And so then you get a nice video product where your client is actually on camera.
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Talking about all these things that you’ve done with them and what kind of results they got from working with you.
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So then you have this thing that you can use on your website on a Youtube channel anywhere where you might put a video where it’s a real nice piece where your client is talking about everything that happened good by working with you So is
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that the same like a customer testimonial? or is it something different?
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You know. I get that question a lot it’s something different because the testimonial is a short piece where they’re just talking about, hey?
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I worked with Company Xyz, and I got great results.
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You need to work with Company Xyz a case study in no matter what form it’s in, tells more of a complete story, and makes it more relatable in a few different ways.
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You know it talks all about here is this business Here’s what they do here’s who they serve here.
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How long they’ve been in business here is the situation they had Here are the solutions they considered here’s.
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Why they chose our business versus all the other options of the marketplace.
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Here’s What the solution looked like here’s what it was like going through using our product or service.
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And here are the results we got, and then, of course, call to action.
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If you are a business like this, if you are looking for solution like this feeling for results like this, here’s how you get in touch with us.
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So it tells a much more complete story than a testimonial does It’s not just a raw sherlier kind of thing.
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It’s kind of a beginning to end story and has the story arc like A.
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You know, a good movie, a good novel, and thank you awesome for helping us know the components of what actually makes a good case study as opposed to being some sort of loose writing piece.
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Or video. Let me look at it, though, in a different light.
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If I record a video for particular products or company, and I say my name is Jennifer Glass.
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My company is business pro strategies international, and I am doing X Y and Z.
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And this is where I started This is what’s going on and Here’s where it goes, and trust me you’re going to want to use them, too.
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Is that the same kind of idea that would be going into that case study?
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Or is it really digging deeper into like you said some of those more fine points of what’s involved?
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You know if you were to do something like that it it’s really nothing wrong with it.
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But by taking the case, study approach by taking the journalistic approach.
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We can kind of fine tune and drive the story in the direction we want it to go, because in the process we kind of start off with the client interview process, where we decide.
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Is there a certain target market that you want to speak to?
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Is a certain product or service that you want to highlight, and then we find a client that best represents that thing, and then we create a unique set of questions that will get that subject of the case study to tell the story that you want
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to tell So I think that there is a differentiation there, because we are in a little bit more control of the way the story goes, and what will be detailed within the story I like to think about that quote in the legal field
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that lawyers never ask a question that they don’t already know the answer to.
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And so it’s kind of the same thing with case studies you don’t do a case.
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Study using a subject that you don’t know is going to tell a great story.
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And in order to get them to tell that great story, you kind of lead the process with the questions you need questions, you create, Pull those answers out.
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They’re gonna really tell a great great story, it’s gonna make more clients want to work with you because of all the great things that you earlier clients are saying about you absolutely And that’s really cute when you think about
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where you’re going in that regard like You said an attorney is not going to ask that question.
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They don’t want to know the answer to and it really becomes important.
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Then in the marketing side to make sure that the clients that you’re asking for.
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Get those case studies that they’re obviously going to be making sense to further prospects, to help the customer journey from understanding the problem to researching the problem to talking to providers that can address that problem So ultimately
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choosing a provider for having a demo, and choosing a provider, and
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And late, though when customers are giving us these case studies, how often, if ever, might, we need to update that information.
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And I know you’re not an Attorney you don’t play one on Tv. Geoff.
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But if we were looking at having
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He started. In other words, one of the things that a lot of people say is your testimonials.
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You need to be making sure your testimonials are staying updated to be in compliance with Ftc.
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Regulation. A lot of people don’t even know that because you can end up in trouble if somebody is not your client.
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If it’s a testimonial that was gotten in a different way.
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Things along those lines. there’s a lot of things and We know that there was a major influencer recently that got into a lot of trouble with the Ftc. over their crypto.
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Encouragement. They did a hashtag add in their post, but it really wasn’t clear how much they were paid, or anything else along those lines.
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And so a lot happened. But when it comes to those case studies, you know, if we have to be paying attention to the same concern, or is that a question you really want to check with your legal counsel on again, not a lawyer?
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Not speaking with any legal authority on this, but one thing that we do, and is a good general practice.
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Because of the way that we do it. we’re not helping the business owner to tell these case study stories without the customer involvement.
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So the customer has to consent to be a part of the process.
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The customer is involved in the process they’re answering the questions. The customer will see the final version before it goes out into the world.
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At no point Is there any confusion from anyone involved in the case, Debbie, what this thing is? what will it be used for anything like that?
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So I think, our clients, because of the way we have our process set up.
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There is really no potential for their debating question as to whether or not the client knows exactly what this thing is, and what’s going to be used for, because they’re fully involved in the process?
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Does that answer? What kind of gets? what you were asking I believe it does. And I think it’s key that people still understand that just in case somebody is no longer a customer of a business that may need to be a question that your legal
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counsel just gives you advice on in terms of being in a position to be better aware of.
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Potential concerns always better to be safe rather than sorry.
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And so if there’s one takeaway that’s definitely an important takeaway here.
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Death turning see conversation slightly. You are going to be a published author pretty soon on case studies with your book the book on Case studies how to Build trust and profit using customer success. stories.
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Can you tell us a little bit more about that book and the idea behind it?
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And what you’re hoping for people to really be getting after reading it.
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Sure be happy to as I was doing my research and as I continued to my research in the field that i’m in, I found that the book that I wanted to read about using case studies for marketing business, wasn’t really out there
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I found books about case studies, but not one that particularly addressed.
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But I was going to be doing so I got into back my head that at some point I’m gonna have to write that book, so now that I’ve been doing this for a little while.
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I felt there was a time to do it, and so I am writing this book, which will, as you said, be available in a really soon.
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And the whole point of the book is as soon as you’re done reading it. you can be able to create your own case, studies.
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It covers everything. From what our case studies. Why are they important?
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How do you create them? How do you use them all the way up to?
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How do you track how this thing is performing for you?
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And so by the time you’re done reading the book you’ll be able to do the same thing that we do without us.
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But of course, as always if you don’t have the timer energy.
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We’d always be happy to help you out
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Thank you. and again you’re gonna wanna look for that book wherever you get your books, so certainly keep an eye out for that.
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I’m assuming it’s going to be on Amazon and other online retailers as well, people to be getting.
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And so you can certainly check that out. And what for?
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Geoff Strauss, g e o f s t r a U. S.
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S when you are looking for that book. Yes, let me ask you though, and this is a question that I like to ask a lot of my guests.
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You’ve been doing this for a while now what makes you text. What makes you really love getting setting up in the morning and writing these case studies for businesses as you are going out on a regular basis?
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To do them. Great question. I really think that case studies are one of the most effective marketing pieces the businesses can be using, and I also think that one of the most underused pieces of marketing the businesses can be using so
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I think kind of my vision and my mission for what i’m doing right now is to make case studies cool because I think that you know, having that piece in your marketing arsenal.
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Where you can tell people you don’t Have to believe me what I’m telling you about my business here is this case.
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Study. Here is the proof here’s an actual business. here’s an actual customer telling their story that’s a great piece that you need to be having in your marketing.
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So just kinda becoming. The Johnny Apple seed of case studies is kind of what drives me at this point.
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Going out there, planning the seas all over the place, and getting the fruits of your labor.
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When you see all those stories that are being used by your clients and that’s great.
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Let me ask you if you are looking forward, say 12 to 24 months down the road once 2 years.
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You think more businesses are going to be using case studies, especially as of the time of this recording, and a hyper inflationary market where people are really going to think more carefully about some of those non discret or the more
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discretionary spending items, especially do you think that’s going to help more of the businesses as we go through this economic Michael?
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Or do you think That’s going to be just about the same regardless I’m curious to get your take on that.
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Oh, great question, Jennifer. I think if I do my job right? I think more businesses will be using them because one of the great benefits of case studies when they’re written properly and used properly is they can shorten
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the time from the first interaction with the customer to the time when they actually buy, and that can be a big savings for a business.
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So the small investment in producing a case study can actually be a big saver in terms of time, effort, money in taking a customer from not buying to buying.
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And so I want to check one thing a little bit deeper. there.
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I want to probe a little bit here when you’re talking about it.
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Can time. It can save resources. it can save money. Are we creating different case studies based on different avatars based on the different personas of our customers?
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Are we doing case studies based on particular products, regardless of that avatar trying to?
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I hope our listeners get a clear idea of that yeah and that’s completely up to the business owner.
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I’ve spoken to clients at one end of the spectrum where they have multiple online training courses, and they were interested in creating case study for each one of those separate online training courses.
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And i’ve talked to other people who have 7 different target markets. So they wanted one for each different target market, so they could put out and say, here’s a business just like you and how we help them So it all depends on
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the goals of the of the person who is doing the case today.
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What they want from it, you know. Maybe they just want one case study to talk about their business in general, so they’ll pick out their one best client.
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Got the best results, and just want to tell that person’s story in just kind of a general way, and say look at we help this person and get these awesome results, and it doesn’t necessarily get down to that nitty gritty of hatching to
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one target market or one specific product. But the results were so good that they just really really want to tell that story.
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So it just depends on what the goal of the case study is, and what the the person the business wants from it
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Geoff, let me ask you, how can people find out more about you?
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Sure. you can go to the website, justcasestudies.com or find me on LinkedIn – Geoff Strauss.
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And that’s probably the best 2 places right now thank you And so, when you’re thinking about getting your marketing done right when you’re thinking about making sure that your prospects are really seeing the advantage of what it is
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that people are doing It’s important to remember how case studies so people can see.
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Oh, this sounds just like my situation, which is going to ultimately help me figure out how to move forward and know whether or not this is the right solution.
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Ben, as Geoff mentioned with this hyperinflationary market.
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It may be a great time for you to get involved and start getting some more case.
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Studies to help people understand the value, understand the positioning of where you fit into their problem, and how you can solve that problem in order to get that sales cycle shortened even just a little bit in terms of where you are I want to thank you
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again for being our guest today you’re welcome and make sure you check out justcasestudies.com
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for more information, and we’ll have that information in the notes, or look Geoff up on Linkedin. On that note, this has been another episode of MOJO: The Meaning of Life and Business and until next time, here’s to your success.
