There's one single most important thing you should be doing if you want to prove your expertise and position your business and brand as the leader in your field.
I’m talking about case studies.
Look, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a consultant, a service provider, or a course creator: if your expertise results in some kind of positive transformation for your clients, you need to be documenting it and sharing it.
The benefits of well written case studies
- They provide evidence that you deliver real results, making you stand out above your competitors
- They help potential clients identify with a situation they recognise, making your services feel relevant rather than generic
- They build credibility with people beyond potential clients: podcast hosts, conference organisers, collaborators, and anyone else deciding whether you're worth their platform
- They give journalists, interviewers, and introducers something concrete to reference when writing about you or introducing you
- They force you to articulate what you actually deliver, which often sharpens your own positioning
- You can choose the angle you write your case study from, highlighting the area you want to focus on
Highlighting the transformation
The most powerful, impressive case studies don’t just show the process of what you did for a specific client. They clearly describe a transformation - a before and after - with you sitting in the middle as the facilitator. Make sure your case studies include:
- The problem the client had that led them to working with you
- How your service or product solved the problem
- How your service or product has changed things for them
Don’t think you can write a case study?
I often get pushback from business owners when I tell them they need to publish some case studies on their website. Here are the most common objections:
“I don’t have the time to write a full case study”
A case study doesn’t have to be long. A few paragraphs documenting the before and after, and how your service facilitated the transformation, is fine. Pair that with a glowing testimonial or review from the client and you’re golden.
“The work I do is sensitive and clients don’t want their story published”
I get it, I really do, and there are a couple of ways around this.
One - have you actually asked your client if you can publish a case study about the work you did for them? Happy clients are often fine with you sharing their story, especially if they have some element of control about what does or doesn’t get published.
You could write the case study and send it to them first, asking if they’re happy for you to publish it, and checking if they’d like any details added or removed. Of course the downside to this is they might straight up say no (which is a pain, if you’ve already spent time writing the case study), but most of the time they’ll be fine with it.
Two - anonymised case studies don’t pack the same punch as mentioning a specific, named client, but they’re better than nothing at all. If you change or redact the names of people or businesses, just be sure to be specific enough about the other details (the problems, the work, and the results) so that it doesn’t sound like you’re making it all up.
“I didn’t get any feedback from the client at the time, and now it’s too late”
I hear this all the time, but this isn’t a problem at all. Because actually, the best time to get feedback from a client is a few months down the line, once some time has passed and your client has had some time to see the results of your work play out.
It’s absolutely fine to send them a quick email explaining that you’re checking in because you’re writing up a case study and you have a few questions for them. Most clients are happy to oblige, especially if they’ve seen great results since working with you.
If you try to contact previous clients for feedback but get no response, you can always write a case study anyway, documenting the problems the client came to you with and how you solved them. It won’t be as effective as mentioning the subsequent results, and backing it up with words from the clients themselves, but again, it’s better than nothing!
“My clients are all currently on retainer, I don’t have any one-off ‘projects’ I can write about”
That doesn’t matter! If you’re consistently getting results for a retainer client, or you have an membership where members are consistently celebrating small wins, you can do a mini case-study based on one or more of these wins/results.
Still don’t think you can write a case study?
Honestly, I think case studies are SO important for your business and brand credibility, there’s very little that should stop you from writing and publishing them.
My recommendation: Don’t hide your case studies away in a PDF that you only send to potential clients on request. Publish your case studies on your website, update them regularly, and share them often. Now get writing!