Determine the Target Audience for Your Case Studies

This is a part of a series that was cre­at­ed to help you cre­ate case stud­ies for your com­pany.  This series will walk through the process, nec­es­sary roles, in addi­tion to guides for each role to help your com­pany get started quickly.

Creating a case study is a great way to showcase the impact and achievements you’ve had in your particular market, with a very satisfied customer. However, before you get started, the most important thing you must do is determine who your target audience is.

To do so, ask yourself the following:

• Who do I want to read this document?
  
• What is this person’s role? General characteristics? Pain points?
• Is this individual numerically-motivated or narrative-motivated?
• What do I want to achieve by releasing a case study to this particular persona?

When you work with your outsourced writers and designers on the case study, you must clearly articulate who the persona is that will be reading the document. It is helpful to create a chart or brief summary of the persona you are targeting.

Why is this so important? At the end of the day, there is a big difference between presenting something to a finance director as compared to a marketing director – two potential target personas. Your case study must speak to the particular individual you are trying to sell to.

External Resources:

How to Determine Your Buyer Personas, Tracy DiMarino

Determining the Target Audience of Your Small Business, Allbusiness.com

The importance of buyer personas in web marketing, David Meerman Scott

Next week, I’ll give you some tips on determining how often you will release your case studies.