How to Make Your Consulting Case Study Stand Out

Skip the Case Study, and instead tell a Case Story. Most startups - seed to scale - rush to publish a polished, data-packed Case Study. The problem? Numbers convince, but stories move. When you’re earning the right to ask for trust, a Case Story does heavy lifting that a Case Study never will. Stories win in the early days because: - You don’t have buckets of data - yet. Whether you're going to market or entering a new market, One meaningful before-and-after narrative beats a spreadsheet of “n = 3” every time. Prospects remember the hero’s journey, not the sample size. - Human detail builds emotional velocity. Describe the moment a customer exhaled in relief, and you plant a feeling that stats can’t replicate. - Stories scale your voice. Deals close because the buyer believes you - not your technology - will fight for their success. A case story bottles that conviction and shares it at scale. - They invite conversation, not comparison. A classic study screams “judge these metrics.” A story whispers “imagine if this were you,” pulling prospects into dialogue instead of a bake-off. Your wins deserve more than bullet points - they deserve a narrative that lets future customers see themselves as the hero. Facts inform but feelings ignite. Craft your first Case Story by: 1) Picking one transformation. Focus on a single customer and the moment everything clicked. (Breadth is for later; depth wins now.) 2) Starting with the mess. Describe the frustrations and the high stakes - show readers what hurt before you showed up. 3) Zooming in on decisions. Highlight the small but pivotal choices the customer made with your help. That’s where prospects see themselves. 4) Ending with a ripple, not a ribbon. Close on what’s possible next, so future customers feel like chapter two is theirs to write. Any time you’re proving something new - new product, new segment, new geography - a well-told Case Story bridges the trust gap faster than any bar chart. Ready to craft your first one? Start by asking your happiest customer or design partner: “Can you walk me through the moment you knew this was working for you?” Hit record. There’s your outline. People invest in possibility first. Give them a Case Story that lets them feel the future you’re building together.

Far too many B2B case studies suck. This is what I see: 🔹 they read like a statement of work (we did this, then this...) 🔹 they lack any detail about results or outcomes (‘improved processes’ is not good enough) 🔹 they are super boring - nothing unique happened - it’s a story of a standard operating procedure, a garden variety job I’m not going to say writing them is easy. The opposite. And also I can’t say how many times I’ve started to write a case study before realizing there just wasn’t enough meat on those bones. It takes some guts, but it’s ok to not finish what would be a bad case study. But better to have 6 great ones than 20 crap ones. So do this: 🔹Find customers with real results, beyond just getting the work done acceptably. This is your BEST work, not your every day work. 🔹 Interview the customer. There are lots of checklists and questions lists out there to guide this. Give them something in exchange - publicity, exposure, swag! 🔹 Record it, and hand it off to a talented writer who can write it up like a narrative (not a scope step by step) If you really can't interview a customer, then an account manager or project manager on your team who was close to the work. And for the love of cookies don’t gate them. Always give your proof of success freely, with no friction. Where do you see case studies going wrong?

Make your case studies organically searchable. By this I mean, putting them on your blog. Listen, you can have your case studies on that special section on your site and still have them optimized. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about turning those case studies with the same ole structure of: Challenge Solutions Results Into very actionable content for your blog. How do you do that? You focus on the HOW they achieved the results. You focus on the unique actions they took. The unique ways that they used your product. Most case studies focus on the results bc they think that’s what compels customers to convert. That’s not necessarily true. You see, most customers think they can figure out how to do the thing on their own. Or they have a hard time seeing what sets you apart from other brands in your space. Case studies turned into helpful, actionable articles help them to clearly see your differentiators. It also gives them a chance to see just how involved certain actions are. They’ll also see you as an expert at what you do, because you’re clearly explaining each step in a way they probably haven’t seen before. They learn to trust you. So how do you execute this? 1. Have a writer that knows how to position content at the bottom of the funnel. This is a skill. Not an automatic that comes with any writer. 2. Let that writer be part of the interview process. 3. Don’t focus too much on trying to get a certain outcome with the interview. A lot of interviews boil down to the same few questions when really, you should let the interview lead itself. If you’re talking with them and hear a nugget that sparks further conversation, or that you think audiences would want to hear more about… go with it. Too many times I’m going over transcripts and really wish they’d gone deeper on something. 4. Lead with HOW, instead of results. 5. Find all the ways they uniquely used your product. Did they customize anything? Did they use one of your features more successfully than other brands? Dig deep. 6. In writing the article, focus on explaining the how. Start with the results. Then go into how to achieve them. It’s a real game changer when you can nail it.