Marketing With Case Studies

Recently I completed a writing assignment for a provider of analytical tools and related services to major international banks and others in the financial and investment industries – and I thought it would be good to share the exercise with readers of Business Writing Today.

My client wanted to showcase one of its key services in a way that would be subtler and more versatile than a traditional advertisement.  They had decided to create a case study – often called an “advertorial” – for this purpose.  The idea was to highlight the main features and benefits of the service and show how it solved a specific problem for its customer, an international bank.

Advertorials differ from traditional advertisements in that they are designed to look like articles in the newspapers or magazines they appear in.  In such cases, disclaimers such as “special advertising section” are used.  In the case of this assignment, my client is adding the case study to its website, featuring it in its marketing material, and placing it in business periodicals.  In addition, its customer is free to use the case study as it wishes, in its own marketing program.

After studying the information provided by my client and becoming familiar with the service, I interviewed the appropriate official at the bank to learn about his experience with my client’s service.  Specifically, I found out about the problem at the bank that needed to be solved, how they used the service, and the happy result.

After I completed my final draft, my client and the bank put the draft through several rounds of revision and fine-tuning.

The case study begins with a general description of the bank and its business.  Next, there is a commentary about the bank’s need to correct a particular problem.  Following that came a brief description of my client’s service.  Then quotations from the bank official spoke directly to the specific problem and how well it was solved by my client’s service.  The final element is a product / service description and a general description of my client’s overall business.

Advertorials have been used as a marketing method since the 1960s, mainly in niche marketing and trade publications.  Lately they have become more popular in mainstream publications.  Many companies have begun to experiment with employing them to promote products and services without incurring advertising agency expense.