Thread by @amandanat

There's one piece of content that's sure to yield a positive ROI.

A case study.

Here's the secret sauce that most marketers forget: 🧵

You need these components in a truly effective case study:

1. A solid customer relationship
2. Your customer's KPIs
3. A personal story
4. A pressure test

More on each...

1/ A solid customer relationship

Because you'll refer to this case study often, it will get the most scrutiny.

Can you trust your business contact to handle tough questions? Can they speak with a reporter on short notice?

Many marketers forget about the next component...

2/ Your customer's KPIs (a.k.a. data your customer measures)

There’s certainly data that *you* can pull. But are there success metrics that *only your customer* can verify?

Your customer’s owned data is stronger proof to the skeptics.

You might brag that users sent 100,000 messages through your app in less than a week. Or that your PR services garnered 50 million impressions for your client.

But your data alone doesn’t tell the full story.

You need your customer’s KPIs to bring the outcomes full circle.

It’s only your customer who can say that your SEO strategy earned them $$$ through organic traffic.

Or that your solution helped them save millions of dollars in healthcare costs.

Plus, this is where your customer has vested interest in co-telling your story...

Your customer doesn’t want to talk about how fantastic *your solution* is.

They want to talk about how *they were successful* with your solution.

3/ A personal story

When people are new to your solution, a personal story will help them more easily understand your value.

For instance, would you know how Fitbit trackers can help office workers get healthier? Maybe, on a vague level.

Here's a 🤯 story...

A woman had spina bifida. She was wheelchair-bound.

She wore a Fitbit to track her arm workouts on a burn machine. Got strong enough to lift herself out of her wheelchair and onto another surface, like a toilet or bed.

Then she took a solo vacation. For the first time ever.

This woman got her Fitbit from her employer. And her benefits manager taught her all about nutrition and exercise, and helped her set fitness goals.

All through Fitbit’s corporate wellness program.

It’s a story everyone can appreciate, no matter how much they know about health and fitness.

It's relatable and unlike the business KPIs, it's human-focused.

It appeals to the head and the heart.

4/ A pressure test

The final element to this case study is that it holds up to a pressure test.

You’ll work with the most critical stakeholders in your company and in partnership with your Legal team.

And then...

This is where you’ll dig into the customer’s data — how do you know they actually saved 120 hours of weekly work, or $1 million?

You’ll also verify the personal stories. Did that person really achieve the outcomes they said?

Once all the information is out there, your potential customers might ask tough questions.

And if your PR team pitches it to media, it will be those reporters’ job to be skeptical.

So poke holes in that case study before it’s published.

There are 2 other kinds of case studies that will also help your business. Here's my past thread that provides an overview.

https://twitter.com/amandanat/status/1405217729771016193

I publish weekly threads on marketing, content, and occasionally, life.

Follow me: @amandanat

And if you prefer a blog post version of this thread with more detail, you can read it on my personal site.
amandanat.com/marketers-read…