c3PR - Mar Junge

It’s often a tug of war trying to get clients to participate in case studies. As your PR agency, we’ve got the experience to be a neutral third party capable of uncovering the info you need.

A case study clearly explains the challenge (the problem and what’s at stake), the solution (how your products or services specifically solve the problem) and the end result (the beneficial consequences of the solution). To be believable, a case study must include quantifiable data and quotes from your client. For example, while any company can say “We help our clients increase sales,” it’s much stronger when your client says “Our vendor’s superb customer response program helped us increase sales by 40 percent in the first three months!” A success story is a shorter, less formal version of a case study.

2. Why are these documents valuable marketing tools?
Case studies are the written equivalent of an in-person demonstration. They help prospective clients imagine what it would be like to do business with your company. Success stories and testimonials enhance your credibility, as they come from satisfied clients who had a great experience with your company and want others to know about it. All of these projects provide a good return on investment, as they can be posted to your website, used in sales presentations and email newsletters, repurposed as white papers, rewritten as feature articles for industry publications, and used to promote speaking opportunities.

3. What if our clients don’t want to be interviewed?
We are usually successful at getting your clients to talk to us because we show them the advantages of doing so. For instance, we explain how a success story could be used to help them with their own marketing efforts. If your client is still reluctant to be interviewed, we will attempt to find out if there’s a problem with your product or service, and what, in their opinion, you could do to provide them with better service. That information alone is worth the investment in these projects. As we are objective and experienced interviewers, your clients often tell us what they may be uncomfortable telling you.

4. How do you produce these projects?
First, we gather background information by interviewing your staff members who work with your client. Then we contact your client to set up a phone interview. From this interview, we write the first draft and ask you to verify the accuracy of the data. We incorporate your edits and send the revised draft to your client for their comments and obtain their written permission to publish the material.

5. How long will it take?
Production time is determined by the complexity of the story, the number of people interviewed (both at your company and at your client’s company), the number of revisions and the availability of photos. Some case studies can be completed in two weeks. Others can take a month or more. Success stories can usually be turned in 10 working days, while testimonials can often be completed in five working days.

6. How much will it cost?
When case studies, success stories and testimonials are part of a PR program, they can be generated from the news releases, feature articles, website content and other projects that we produce for you on a monthly basis. If done as stand-alone projects, a multiple-interview success story can run anywhere from $750 to $1,500 (including design and layout of print-quality artwork). Simple success stories can be produced for $500 to $750. For a more exact estimate, please email Mar Junge at mar@c3pr.com or call her at 408-730-8506.

7. How do we get started?
Here are a few typical questions that we’ll ask you or your staff before we interview your client and sample answers. This information enables us to evaluate the strength of your solution and pre-qualify the best candidates for a full case study. We are aware of the sensitive nature of some vendor/client relationships and always present the project in a very professional and positive manner.

Q. Describe your client’s problem
A. Our client, a new, but fast-growing telecommunications company, sells its enterprise phone systems and software solutions exclusively through a channel-partner network Our client’s channel partners need a steady stream of qualified sales leads to generate new business. While our client was getting a large quantity of leads from its advertising and marketing efforts, it did not have a program in place to pre-qualify these leads before sending them out to its channel partners.

Q. How did the initial problem become a major challenge?
A. Our client’s marketing personnel had no time to sift through mountains of sales leads to pre-qualify them, so they used temporary personnel to input the data into a database. The channel partners who received copies of the database frequently discovered that the description of the prospect’s requirements, product interest, and even contact information were inaccurate. It wasn’t long before the channel partners stopped following up on the leads and many valuable sales opportunities were lost.

Q. What was your solution and why did your client select it? (Include quantifiable data.)
A. We developed a custom sales lead management program to categorize, update and mine our client’s existing database of 1200+ names. We also developed a software program that accurately pre-qualified new sales leads, approximately 200 every month, and automatically added these leads to the database without requiring the information to be retyped. We were able to demonstrate that, while our custom software cost twice as much as an off-the-shelf version, the features we provided would double or triple the number of accurate, pre-qualified leads and produce a 30% increase in sales, covering the cost of our custom software.

Q. What was the end result?
A. Sales by our client’s channel partners increased by 50% in the first six months. Our client reduced sales lead processing costs by 75%. A follow-up survey of the channel partners revealed that 90% were now satisfied with our client’s sales lead program, compared to just 30% the previous year.