Case studies are an excellent way to promote your business, product and service. Why? Because they tell the story of you – without focusing on you. Case studies tell the story of successes your clients or customers have experienced because of you – but it is their story.

There are many positives to writing case studies, here are my top 5:

1. People like to read stories. To tell someone a story is much more compelling than just rattling off a list of features or babbling on about your services. As in, “Let me tell you about a company with this great big problem…and that’s how we were able to help them out.”

2. Case studies are great avenues for showcasing your UVP (unique value proposition). Your UVP is designed to be demonstrated, not just vocalized. Anyone can say, “We help companies do A, B and C better than anyone because we have X, Y and Z.” But to tell a story of HOW your UVP actually helped a business, in real life terms, is motivating.

3. People relate to stories. Often a client or prospect will see themselves in the story of success you are sharing with them. The idea is to get your prospect to think, “Wow, that is a similar problem to ours and if this company helped them, they may be able to help us.”

4. Since case studies are non-fiction, they offer specifics and quantifiable results. Pitches can be a bit “pie in the sky”, spouting very lofty ideas. Case studes are concrete – this company had this issue to solve, we helped solved it and they saved $X or they increased sales by X%. Real results land real business.

5. Collections of case studies create a measurable track record. Because case studies are stores of  “real” success, having a bunch of them tells your prospect that you too are for real. You didn’t just have a stroke of luck with one or two projects, you’ve got a record of verifiable successes under your belt.

Writing compelling case studies is an art, because like everything that is written – you want someone to read it from start to finish. But once you have a few well-written, interesting and useful case studies not only will your prospects know you’re for real, your colleagues and peers will know it, and you’ll know it too.

With a great collection of case studies, you could become know as an expert in your field, and then prospects will come looking for you – instead of the other way around!