In today’s unstable economy, it is essential that you make a case for getting funding for your products and services. After all, haven’t you ever made a great presentation, offered a fair price and still been shot down because of funding?
In every company there is an internal struggle for funding between departments and their projects. Since companies never seem to have enough money or IT folks, they must make a choice between priority projects. The rest are passed up for better times or better economic conditions, whichever comes first.
Case studies are the perfect vehicle to help justify investments. They are essentially third party endorsements of your product or service, couched in an article format which grips the reader with a common difficulty, then presents a resolution.
While white papers are used primarily as introductory, lead generation marketing strategies, especially in the high-tech industry, case studies are generally better for prospects that are beyond the initial contact stage and now anticipating going deeper into the sales funnel.
Here you want to pour on the details because when prospects are looking to justify an investment in equipment or services, they need ammunition to convince top management the purchase is not only feasible but economically sound.
The 2007 Tech Target and CMO Council Technology Buying and Media Consumption Benchmarking Survey found that when you deliver information needed to make enterprise technology purchases, white papers were effective 85 percent of the time, while case studies came in at 75 percent. The only conversion tool that enjoyed a higher ranking was trail/demo software downloads at 87 percent.
Case studies are usually structured as articles with a beginning that presents a feeling of tension, identifying a common problem which grips the reader, and then continuing the story line throughout until the conflict is resolved.
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