This was a list that I memorized for a class, and carried with me since I graduated. What do you do when organizations don’t have any news that isn’t technically newsworthy, though? It’s especially hard for PR pros who represent clients who produce products and services which don’t have regular newsworthy announcements.
One of my favorite—and frequently used—tools is a case study.
It’s a useful tool for PR pros to pitch for placement, on social media and for contributed articles. It can also be used by marketing teams in their efforts.
A case study is basically a story about how your client’s product or service solved a problem for an end user. They typically follow a standard format of challenge, solution, and results, using quotes from people involved on both sides.
PR pros of almost any industry can use case studies to get coverage. Here are the best practices for writing one:
1. Get people involved.
You can’t write a case study by yourself. It must have both points of view: the end user and the perspective from your client.
Interview individuals from both sides about each component of the story; it’s important to present a balance instead of focusing on how great your client is. A genuine story will be more successful with reporters.
2. Take photos.
Similar to social media posts, case studies work better with images.
In my experience, it’s much more difficult to get case studies picked up if they don’t have images. If you do end up in that situation, turn it around by using the content for a contributed article and submit a product photo or executive head shot.
If you’re able to, take pictures that demonstrate each element of the case study—the challenge, solution and result—and make sure that you have permission to share the images publicly.
3. Keep it interesting.
Because case studies aren’t breaking news, you don’t have to revert to overly factual, dry writing. Your writing should always be truthful, but you can use more flowery language and have fun writing case study stories.
If your article is a compilation of information, it won’t be as interesting to journalists, meaning you might have a hard time getting it picked up.
Think about the real story that can be told with this example. Is this a problem that the industry is facing, or a new direction that it’s going in? Think about how the study is relevant to the reporter you’re pitching and the industry as a whole.
Once you have a compelling case study, expand its reach by sharing it on social media. You can pitch it to relevant trade publications who might publish it as is, but you can also use it a few different ways to build new content.
Use your gathered quotes to write a story about how people are using certain products or services, write a contributed article and use the case study as a best practice or connect a couple of them together as a trend story.
The value from the case study isn’t over once it’s published. Recycling the content is where additional value comes in—and why they’re one of my favorite PR tools.
Laura Shubel is a senior account coordinator at Caster Communications. A version of this article was originally published on the agency’s blog. You can connect with Laura on Twitter: @LauraShoebell or LinkedIn. Connect with Caster Communications on Twitter, too: @CasterComm.
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