Strong Case Studies Help B2B Clients With Decision Making 

Case studies are an engaging way to tell your potential customers how you can help them resolve their problems. It can be engaging end-of-funnel content if appropriately executed. They allow the readers to put themselves into the shoes of your successful customers and how they can achieve their goals.

It is a crucial element in the decision-making process for B2B companies. So, if your business caters to the needs of B2B companies, the case studies will allow them to learn how you can resolve the particular issues they are facing. Consequently, it will lead to a higher conversion rate as you can have more prospects for your business. 

The Importance of Case Studies in the Decision-Making Process

The primary objective of using case studies is to present social proof to prospects with the idea of whether they are taking the right decisions. It is an effective marketing tool that can persuade the B2B decision-maker that choosing your business can help resolve their issues.

As a result, it would give confidence to customers that you have delivered the same results in the past. You can add the quantitative and qualitative outcomes to depict your efforts.

Since B2B decision makers have shorter attention spans and little margin for mistakes, they want to ensure that the service they choose is right for them. Therefore, they want to look at the case studies to ensure that they are about to partner with the right vendor. 

What Makes a Good Case Study

You’ll only harness the potential of case studies and reap benefits through them if you write them correctly. Writing case studies requires you to follow a proper strategic plan. Here are the critical elements to keep in mind for writing a good case study.

Follow the SOAR Approach

The ideal way to write a good and practical case study is by following the SOAR approach. It stands for the following:

Situation – The issue or circumstance that your client was facing

Opportunity – What were the chances available that you could leverage for your client

Action Taken – The plan, strategies, and actions you took to help your client with their situation

Results – The outcome of your overall efforts

 This will help you present a clear idea to your prospects of how you helped a client facing a peculiar issue. It will help them gain confidence in your services and persuade their decision-making process in your favor.

The Length

As mentioned earlier, B2B decision-makers have shorter periods. So, they might want to avoid reading through an extended case study. It is best to cover your point concisely, but you can go for long case studies depending on the audience.

Visuals

You can choose a stock photo to make the case study more engaging and compelling. Ideally, you should try to add visuals that give weight to your case study. For instance, you can add graphs or tables to show the client’s growth.

Customer Testimonials

Although adding a customer’s quote or testimonial isn’t necessary, it can give an excellent touch to your case study. They are a powerful tool to show first-hand how your product helped the users. Nevertheless, you can add or remove it according to your target audience’s preference.

Writing Case Studies for Your Business

Most business owners and entrepreneurs believe that writing case studies by themselves will help add more depth to them. However, not everyone has a flair for writing to deliver the message in the right tone and professional manner.

So, although you might have a better idea about the case, you wouldn’t be able to piece it correctly, which could lead to practical results. That is why hiring a professional writer with experience crafting such documents is vital for your business.

A professional can help tell your story in the proper context to persuade B2B decision-makers to choose your services. You can partner with a reliable agency for your case study to tell about how the company has helped customers previously and can do the same for the reader.

Most importantly, experienced writers know how imperative case studies are for your marketing strategy. Therefore, they would carefully choose their words to persuade the B2B decision-makers with a compelling CTA (Call-to-action).

Your Next Steps

Writing case studies requires you to follow an extensive plan for your business. You must use the SOAR approach to tell B2B decision markets about your client’s success. Also, ensure you vary the length according to your target audience and use visuals effectively.

While it might sound like an easy task, you must pay special attention to all the aspects of the case study. So, it is best to choose a professional writer that can help you persuade your target audience.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

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What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

Don’t Let These Challenges Interfere with Growing Your Company

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function.

But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand. One of the keys to successfully marketing a company is consistency along with a clearly defined strategy.

Marketing is often bumped in priority when client or personnel issues arise. Over the years, we’ve witnessed a handful of challenges again and again. These challenges are common in organizations of all sizes and in different stages of the business lifecycle. By building and an awareness and understanding of these issues, you’ll be better equipped to solve these challenges when they arise.

Biggest Marketing Challenges

The challenges listed below are the most frequently encountered by small businesses, no matter the industry or offering.

Budget

Many small businesses feel the size of their budgets will restrict their marketing efforts. So why try? Big brands usually have larger budgets with more online marketing resources, making smaller companies feel like their efforts will get lost in the shuffle. Despite being a common misconception, budget size doesn’t equate to the outcome of marketing efforts. Larger budgets bring more marketing opportunities to explore, however, the execution is far more important than the budget.

Small businesses may lack the budget, but a solid marketing strategy and execution will still yield excellent results. There is plenty of room on the internet for small businesses and large corporations to co-exist and succeed no matter their budgets.   

Lack of Systems and Processes

No matter the size of the business, finding new ways to organize and streamline operations is key to successful marketing. Marketing in the digital world requires managing multiple channels where you can interact with audiences. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Developing specific systems and processes will save precious time and ensure brand continuity along the way.

Do you have an onboarding process for new clients or new employees? Utilizing a similar approach to your marketing will ensure you have clear documentation and the foundation for scaling your marketing over time.

Content for Sales Teams

Is your sales team fully leveraging the content you produce? Many organizations create valuable content for their audiences but fail to use it in the best manner possible. Sales teams can use content as part of the lead nurturing process to help inform prospects about the business. Not many small businesses think about repurposing their content for this purpose, but it is a great way to boost ROI on content creation.

Every great organization requires effective communication to be successful. For sales reps to start utilizing the appropriate content during their pitches, the marketing department should educate them to ensure they are aware of what’s available. Organizing content according to type, audience, and objectives will help sales teams find what they need to bolster their sales

Technology

We are surrounded by endless options for software and hardware to support our companies. There is quite literally an application or technological solution for every aspect of digital marketing. The sheer number of options can lead to paralysis by analysis. And after choosing a specific solution, integrating the technology takes time and expertise to ensure it is implemented properly.

This challenge (and the next three) requires you to either commit to building in-house expertise, or to finding a trustworthy partner who can supplement your team. If these tasks aren’t in your wheelhouse, you should strongly consider partnering with an agency who can build and execute a successful strategy. Having experts in your corner will support online visibility and will naturally assist with lead acquisition.

Ongoing Education

Trying to keep up with the latest trends in marketing is a full-time job. The internet moves quickly, and marketing is constantly evolving. Just as small businesses catch up, the industry evolves again. Remaining on top of the best marketing techniques requires ongoing education that many small businesses simply can’t handle.

Lack of Time

Is there ever enough time in the day? Most organizations are stretched thin on time and resources, which leaves little time to invest in marketing and to further grow the business. If you consistently push-off your marketing, then you should consider an agency partner that can do the time-intensive work on your behalf.  

Lack of Consistency

Every marketer will tell you consistency is the key to success. Unfortunately, consistency is also one of the problematic elements of marketing for small businesses. Small businesses often are forced to sideline marketing for other priorities.

Your Next Steps

Small businesses are constantly facing new challenges when trying to market their products and services. The lack of expertise can result in many missed opportunities for growth. To keep up with the ongoing marketing trends, small businesses can significantly benefit by partnering with an agency with the right resources and expertise. 

For additional insight, check out our articles about what to look for in an outsourced marketing team and what to look for in an SEO agency.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

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What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

An Outsourced Marketing Team can be a Smart Investment

Outsourcing your marketing is one of the best decisions you can make for your small business. Traditional in-house marketing teams are a great solution for larger organizations that have the resources available to employ experts in the 10+ roles that it takes to run an effective department. Unfortunately, small businesses face a shortage of time and staffing that often places marketing on the back burner.

An outsourced marketing team delivers many benefits.

Save Time: The most restrictive resource every business has is time. There’s never enough time in a day to handle all your business’s needs and still effectively market your services. With an outsourced team, you can focus on the best and highest use of your time as the business owner.

Reduce Costs: To make money, you have to spend, but how much you should spend is the real question. Marketing can become a costly endeavor depending on your industry and strategy, and the cost of hiring employees only adds to the monthly and annual expenditures. Outsourced teams typically cost half the amount of an in-house marketing team and can often produce better results.

Growth Management: Your marketing team needs to be able to drive and manage sustainable growth for your business. Outsourced marketing teams have more resources to dedicate to your marketing growth since in-house teams are limited to the resources provided.

Outside Perspective: It’s easy for business owners and in-house marketing teams to get stuck in a certain way of thinking and doing things. Working with an external team gives you a fresh perspective on your company, product offerings and branding. This will help create more robust marketing initiatives along with an ability to see aspects of your marketing that can be improved.

What to Look for When Hiring a Marketing Agency

Anyone who begins looking for an outsourced marketing team will quickly become overwhelmed with the thousands of agencies available. Finding the right team for your business is challenging, but knowing what to look for will help you quickly narrow down the top choices. Here are some helpful indicators to look for when you’re ready to find the right outsourced marketing agency.

No. 1 – Reviews, Testimonials, and Case Studies

One of the quickest ways to determine how well an agency will fulfill expectations is through reviews, testimonials, and case studies. These types of feedback and proof will give you a good idea of what a prospective agency can do for your business.

There’s no better way to know if an agency will follow through on its word than by reading and hearing about the experiences of current and former clients. Understanding what an agency has done for businesses similar to yours will help narrow your search. 

No. 2 – Staff Expertise

When looking for the right agency for your business, it’s important to understand who will be directly involved with working on your account. You want to know that the staff members who will be in charge of your company’s marketing campaigns have the experience, professionalism and skills to ensure that your business is taken care of effectively.

Many agencies make big promises but don’t actually have staff with the right expertise to follow through on those promises. Vetting an agency’s team will give you additional insight to determine if they are going to be the right fit for your business or not.

No. 3 – Specialties and Focus

Just as there are different types of marketing campaigns, there are also different types of marketing agencies that specialize in working with certain types of businesses or marketing campaigns. Do you need a pay-per-click campaign or a perhaps a content-heavy thought leadership campaign? An honest agency will be upfront about what’s in their wheelhouse and when they’ll make an introduction or bring in a strategic partner to ensure that the right minds are at the table.

No. 4 – Systems and Processes

There will always be more than one way to approach marketing for any business. Your prospective agency needs to have clearly defined systems and processes to execute a strategy that will get results. A scattershot approach is never effective. Agencies are responsible for attracting and helping retain customers through streamlined processes that allow the customer to move seamlessly through the buyer’s journey.

Thousands of different marketing-related cloud software solutions are currently available to help businesses streamline their processes. Researching the technologies an agency uses for managing their projects will help you better determine whether an agency’s processes will blend well with your own.

No. 5 – Communication and Availability

Marketing and business are non-stop, around-the-clock operations that can drastically shift directions at any given moment. How available will a prospective agency be for you when you need them most? Will they require you to schedule a meeting or will they provide a direct line of communication for you? Understanding the agency’s communication protocols and the accessibility of your marketing team is key to ensuring that you won’t be caught surprised in a critical moment.

No. 6 – Reports and Analyses

With the oversaturation of the marketplace with content and advertising of all kinds, basic or routine participation is not enough anymore. To see the fruits of your marketing labor pay off, you must consistently analyze your campaign performance to see what’s working, what’s not and make continuous improvements. Will your prospective agency show you monthly reports and analysis on their progress, or will you remain in the dark?

It’s imperative to know how well your marketing team’s efforts are performing, so you can see the direct return on your investment. A good agency is transparent about results and will show you that they’re serious about holding themselves accountable.

No. 7 – Access to Assets

When you start working with a digital marketing agency, it’s important to clarify which assets are already in place and which ones need to be built. Every activity generates data, graphics, content and more, and it’s important for you to maintain access to all your assets and channels. Access to historical data and insights can also help improve your business over time, no matter who you choose to work with. Be sure that provisions are made to give you access to all your social channels, website, graphics, content, data, analytics and so on.

No. 8 – Compatibility (Bonus!)

Do you enjoy conversations with a prospective agency team? Do you feel confident they’ll produce the results your business needs to grow? An important factor in choosing an agency is having a good rapport and to feel like you can effectively communicate with your marketing team. Outsourcing marketing will undoubtedly take an enormous responsibility off your shoulders, but it still requires collaboration and commitment from both parties to work.

Your Next Steps

Delegating your business’s marketing to an outsourced team will take a significant burden off your shoulders. You’ll enjoy the benefits of being able to save time and energy while experiencing growth from the results your marketing team will produce. Starting the search for an outsourced marketing team can be intimidating, but empowering yourself with relevant background information will make your choice easier.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

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What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

Gain A Better Understanding of Your Customers 

Reaching customers without intruding on their privacy continues to be a priority for marketers in 2022. Google, Apple and Facebook have taken steps to reduce the amount of third-party tracking on their platforms, which translates into less data for marketers to leverage. This information historically has been the cornerstone of effective marketing, helping to shape marketing content, advertising strategies, and more.

A Shifting Reliance on First-Party Data

First-party data is information a company collects directly from its customers. This data is collected firsthand without an intermediary between you and the information.  First-party data can only be accessed via platforms that you own and control. As a company, you can gather information about digital interactions, purchase history, social behavior or profile preferences to create content, ads and digital experiences that cater to an individual’s interests.

Third-party data sources can be incredibly helpful, but as we’ve seen, these sources are becoming less reliable and more expensive. Which is why it’s more important than ever to focus on collecting and using data that you own.

Benefits of First-Party Data

By relying on actual interactions with your brand, you’re building a strong foundation to understand your customers. The results can translate into a superior product or service without the “creep factor” that is associated with third-party tracking. First-party data is readily available and much easier to collect than you might think.  It’s about knowing what’s available and using it to shape your business strategy.

So, how can you effectively get the most out of your data without the help of third-party tracking?

Sources of First-Party Data

Website

Digital interactions via your website are a primary way to collect data. Traffic sources, visitor behavior and even names and email addresses collected through website forms are valuable data points. Consider how users respond to your website and the pages they visit the most. 

Email and SMS

Your subscriber list is another valuable data source. Open rates, click rates and bounce rates all shed light on how these individuals interact with your brand and your content. Both email and text messaging are considered intimate forms of communication and can shed light on how customers view your company.

Call Centers

If your company runs a call center, you likely have access to call records and transcripts. This information can be used to understand patterns, keywords or other quantitative data that can help shape your strategy.

 Survey Data and Customer Feedback

Simple online surveys can yield plenty of information about your customers and what they want from you. More formal surveys conducted by a third party are still considered essential if you want unbiased feedback from customers.

Common Challenges with First-Party Data

Despite access to a wealth of information, there are challenges to collecting and leveraging this data. 

Poor Strategy  

Do you know what sources you have? And are they properly configured to collect data? It might take several weeks or months to understand what information is relevant to your brand and how to go about collecting it. And don’t forget to consider how you plan to map the data to your customer journey.

Integrating Data from Multiple Platforms

It’s challenging to pull data from different sources into one cohesive system or report that will give you a true sense of the big picture. Even though you own these data sources, the technology across platforms may or may not integrate easily. Consider partnering with an agency with the technical experience to guide the strategy and implementation of this piece. 

Taking Meaningful Action in Real Time

Your data is only valuable if you use it in a timely matter. Customer behaviors are ever evolving which means companies need to move efficiently when they recognize valuable trends. And always be ready to shift your strategy as the landscape evolves.

Your Next Steps

Using first-person data to guide your marketing campaigns is no longer optional – it’s a must do for every brand. Invest the time in understanding what data sources will be valuable to you and build the necessary system to collect and distill the information in a way that’s actionable. Over time, you’ll be able understand what data points are key success metrics for your brand.

Hopefully the tips above will help improve your campaigns. Have more questions about data driven marketing? Reach out to us directly.

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What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.