How to Write Case Studies—Easily!
It all started with a Threads post about how hard case studies are…
“Why is writing case studies the hardest business task to ever exist?” That was the very question from Threads that inspired this episode. The question that opened the door to me spilling ALL my case study copywriting secrets—in the shortest amount of time ever! I’m sharing my framework and the process I use to get case studies written in just 10 days!
If you’ve wondered how to write a great case study as part of your business marketing strategy, or you find yourself lacking motivation to get the fluffing thing written—you’re not gonna want to miss this episode. (And if you consume this while driving or walking—you're gonna to need to listen to it again so you can take notes!)
With this podcast episode:
Discover an easy-to-follow case study format (framework).
Learn how to get motivated to write a case study.
Uncover the secret to writing the best case study for marketing.
Don’t forget you can submit a question that will get answered in an upcoming podcast!
Links & Mentioned Resources:
How to Blog w/ SEO [email course] (join the waitlist)
Brain.fm (free 30 day trial!)
My podcast interview w/ Ellen Yin on Cubicle to CEO
Case Study Training Program (Doors open 4/22!)
Connect w/ Brittany:
This episode of The Basic B podcast is brought to you in partnership w/ Leah Bryant Co.! Help me reach more service providers like you by following the show & leaving a rating or review on Apple & Spotify!
The unedited podcast transcript for this episode of The Basic B podcast follows
Welcome back to the Short and Sassy series within the Basic Bee Podcast. As you know, these episodes hover around 10 minutes. They're pretty actionable most of the time and they cover a range of topics. Today our topic is how to actually write case studies easily. And this was kicked off because of a post on threads and shout out to my friend Letitia who is constantly tagging me over there.
With anything that's about SEO or case studies, I absolutely love it and it means the world to me. Before I dive in, I need to say this in one of the episodes. If this video ever makes it to YouTube and you watch the videos and you're like, why are you looking around? I need you to know that I'm not the most comfortable yet with using a teleprompter. And especially for this episode, I've got a few different things that I'm looking at. So I want you to know that I'm looking around at notes so that I can give you really.
quality information even if that means that the video is being sacrificed a little bit. Because I'd rather you know what you need to know and have the information presented in a relatively organized fashion. Okay. So the topic with how do we make writing case studies easier actually came about because of a thread that started with this post. Why is writing case studies the hardest business task to ever exist?
So of course, immediately when I saw this, I was like, it doesn't have to be. Like, let me tell you about this. So I commented on the thread, but I also immediately knew that I needed to make a podcast about this topic because it doesn't have to be hard. It does not have to be complicated. Just like I tell you SEO, it doesn't have to be complicated. Case studies do not need to be complicated. I'm gonna be sharing my framework with you, my process. I'm gonna walk through a run through of that.
and I'll tell you I'll modify it for whether you're writing them for a client or whether you're writing them for yourself so you know what to do and how to make it much easier. So let's start off with my framework, which I absolutely love and I find it very funny that I'm actually recording this podcast and my dog Jac is here because my framework is the Pet Framework and as soon as I heard that name my friend Brenna helped me figure this out. I was like, oh my gosh.
Brittany Herzberg (02:34.514)
I can use that paw emoji. So I use the paw emoji. I love animals. My dog, Jac, like I've got all of these elements where I'm just like, yes, I love this. It fits me. It's amazing. Not only does it have a cute name, it's actually really helpful for writing case studies. So my framework, the pet framework, the pet P stands for problem, E stands for experience, T stands for transformation. So let me break that down a little bit more for you.
We're organizing the case study in my world. We're organizing the case study in this format. We're introducing them to the problem, the before, then we're walking them through the experience or the during, and then we're highlighting, hey, these were the transformations, these were the wins, this is the after of going through this course or working with the service provider. So that's the format that we're following here. You're welcome to borrow it, please use it. I will give you some extra resources at the end of the episode, but like.
Please use this, I want you to. I created this not only for myself, but for you, because writing case studies can be complicated if you don't have a framework or a process, you know? Like if you don't feel like you have the motivation to writing them, to write them, there we go. So P, problem. As I alluded to, this is kind of the before. Where were they stuck before meeting you? Why did they even go?
about this journey of trying to find someone like you, trying to find a course like yours, trying to find a service like yours. What brick wall were they running up against? What was going on in their world? Why did they need help? I'm giving you all of these questions. Like start writing notes my friend. E is for experience. What was their experience like working with you, going through your course, being in your membership? You can even extend this to products as well.
but like what was that actual experience, that actual, you know, using the thing, working with you, whatever that looks like, expand on that. Share with the class. And then T is for transformation or the after. And I will always, always harp on this, but there are internal transformations and external transformations. Internal transformations are emotional wins. They're emotional transformations.
Brittany Herzberg (04:55.266)
Did someone go from feeling really lost and confused to very clear on what their next steps need to be? Did they go from feeling really unworthy to being so incredibly confident? You know, that really impacts someone's life. So what were those internal transformations? The external transformations are more, you know, you have them, they're more tangible. That's the word I was looking for. You have them. They, there's data, there's numbers to back it up.
There are before and after pictures. If you're a hairstylist, you've got the before and after photo, make sure you take them. If you, my dad sells windows, if you sell windows, your house is going to look different. Your electric bill is going to be different, or you have oil and you're in the Northeast, like whatever that is for you. What was the before? What was the during? What was the after? And I will say, because I get this kind of like eye roll situation.
disbelief a lot whenever I do guest teachings on this or even when I'm talking with my clients about this or my students if You quote-unquote only have internal transformations those emotional transformations You have the most impactful transformation at your fingertips It doesn't always matter if you have those external ones. It doesn't matter if someone had an X amount dollar launch It doesn't matter so much if someone saved
money on their electric bill, if they're happy, if they're getting compliments from neighbors, if someone's getting a compliment on their haircut, on their hair color, that means the world. That makes someone feel really good and that's what we connect with in the story. So, pet framework, problem, experience, transformation of the internal and or external variety. That is the framework. Now for the process.
And I wanted to get into the process because when I was, again, over on threads, and I'll make sure that I link this thread, when I was on threads, I initially responded to the fact that this person was like, why is it so hard to write case studies? I thought the same thing that some of these other commenters thought, which was framework. They need a framework. And they actually wrote back and they were like, I have a framework. I just lack the motivation. So of course I was like, I have thoughts on this. Let me share my process because maybe this will help you too.
Brittany Herzberg (07:18.634)
So my process, and like I said, I'll give you, at the end I'll give you some heads up of like, if I'm, what the modifications are, if I'm writing this for myself, or if I'm writing this as a deliverable for a client. No matter what, both versions, both my case studies for myself and my case studies that I'm writing for a client, always start with some kind of interview. Either I'm doing the interview of my client, or I'm interviewing a client's client.
Things get really meta over here when I'm talking about case studies of case studies. Bear with me. So, there's an interview. It could be a podcast interview. It could be a Facebook Live, like video interview. It could be an interview, like a video recording that's maybe just stored on Google Drive that they don't intend on sharing out with the world. So whatever that looks like, there's some kind of interview where we're capturing that information.
of what was your problem, what was your experience, what is life looking like now, what are those transformations. So I either conduct the interview and I have a good idea of this or I am watching the interview or listening to it. I just realized I told you I was going to give you the, what is, modifications of writing case studies for myself and then writing case studies as a deliverable at the end. Clearly we're just going to do this as we go. So...
Interview has happened. And then I listen to or watch the interview back and I pull quotes. I want to hear from the clients what their words are. And we'll get to why in just a second. But I'm going to pull quotes. And from that, I'm able to create a story arc. I'm able to fill in the story arc is the same thing as that pet framework.
So I'm able to fill in what was the problem, what was the experience like, what are the transformations, are they internal, external, both. I'm able to create that story arc. After that, this is why I want to capture their words, these clients' words. This is why I want it, because then I do keyword research. And you bet your tooshie that I am doing keyword research based on the social proof, based on the testimonial quotes. That is super key.
Brittany Herzberg (09:37.858)
So I do keyword research. Then I kind of create the SEO strategy, which you don't necessarily need to worry about unless you really want to. And then you could get the SEO basics checklist that I have. This is just how case studies are written in my world. They are story-based, they are data-driven with the keywords, and they do a really darn good job of marketing your business for you and of converting strangers or lurkers into clients, paying clients. I'll get off my soapbox.
So after I do the keyword research and create the strategy, then I'm writing a rough draft. And my friend, even though I am a case study copywriter, I still struggle with that shitty first draft. Get the crappy first draft out. So here's a couple of things that helped me. One is actually having that story arc in the Google Doc. So I'm not actually starting from a blank Google Doc where the cursor, blinking cursor of death is in my face. I don't have that problem because I have this
framework on the page. So I know exactly where I want to start. I know where I want to take it. I even include at the top, I'll say like this is the big point that we want to emphasize, especially if I'm doing this case study as a deliverable for a client. I'm putting that big point that we want to drive home front and center for me so I don't lose sight of it. The other thing that I have in addition to the story arc is what is our giant call to action.
Do we want to take people to a membership and get them in the membership? Do we want them to go to a podcast and become a listener and start following and leave a review? Do we want to get them in a course? Do we want to have them sign up for a program? Do we want them to fill out an intake form? What does that look like? And there really needs to just be one big giant call to action, although there's gonna be links in my world with the way I write case studies, there's gonna be links throughout the case study. But big point.
that we want to drive home in the case study, that story arc, so the pet framework, the problem, the experience, the transformation, and then what is that call to action? Where are we sending them from here? I write, and the way that I do this, this is where I wanted to share this for anyone who's lacking motivation. I tell myself I'm just going to be writing for an hour. Sometimes I write for an hour, sometimes I write for three hours and just bang the whole thing out.
Brittany Herzberg (12:00.906)
So if I just tell myself it's gonna be for an hour and then I'm like, okay, I just need to make it through this amount of time. A lot of times I just keep going because getting started is the hardest part. So I give myself an hour on the clock. I say, I'm gonna write for an hour. And then this is my favorite thing that I do know. I listen to Brain.fm. I will link it below. It has changed my productivity game. It is amazing. I use the focus one.
for, especially for any kind of like writing that I need to do. So I just love it. It's just amazing. I will link that below and shout out to Selly who told me about that. I just, it's amazing. I tried it for two weeks and I was like, you're just coming home with me. I like you. So once I get the crappy first draft written, I don't look at the case study for two to three days. They'll touch it. I don't look at it. I don't want to see it. I need a break. If I stay too much in the, in the
Brittany Herzberg (12:58.334)
it's hard for me to actually do the next step to a good level, to a good degree. And that last step is to edit the copy. So I was editing my own copy at the beginning, and then I pulled my boyfriend Daniel in on the job and now he copy edits for me. But still, I write the crappy first draft, I give myself two or three days where I don't look at it, I go back in and edit the copy and then I send it to him for a final look-see, for a final...
revision or you know, he's really checking for punctuation at that point for grammar and I know this is my weakness. So I want someone else to look out for me He makes sure that the story flows if there's ever like I'm missing transition or something just doesn't quite connect He calls that out and then I'm like, oh cool. I go back in I Update it and then I send that copy edited and modified draft to the client or if it's my stuff I publish it on my site
And then I'm done. It's, you know, it's that easy. It's that simple. And it really can be that easy. Of course, with practice, things get easier. So that's really great. But so you have the pet framework, you have the process that you need to work through. Something that I'm gonna touch on this because something that people ask constantly is, oh my gosh, how long do these need to be? Minimum of 500 words, maximum. That could be as long as you want it to be. The most I've seen.
from myself and from other people have been like 2000 words, maybe a little bit over 2000 words, but minimum 500 words. And if you tell yourself that, you probably only need to spend an hour writing, edit it after a couple of days, and then you have a case study ready to publish on your blog. So getting to that, there are three ways that I support people with case studies. And I want you to know this, and there's actually a bonus fourth option that's active like now.
So I have the profitable case study roadmap. It is my free resource. It is, I think, 12 pages. It might even be longer than that. I probably should charge for that, but I just want you to have the information so you can go and run with it. So that will be available below. And then the two paid options are that I do done for you case study copywriting. So if you're listening to this and you're like, these sound amazing, I don't want to do that, you can call me and I can write it for you. So.
Brittany Herzberg (15:21.046)
Do know that I usually book at least one to two months in advance, but there's an intake form on my website. I'll give you all the links that you need below, but do know that I can write them for you. And then your third option is if you're like, I want you to teach me how to do this. I have my case study training program and the sales page is under construction at the moment. Whenever it is live, I will make sure it's linked below. And that I think is launching this April. So April, 2024, if you're listening to this in real time.
So those are the three main ways that I help people. Also, February 19th, there is going to be, the doors are gonna open again for my How to Blog with SEO email course. In this email course, I spend time giving you a template for case studies, walking you through how you can make blogs about case studies and do it in a systematic, easy way. So that will also be available for you. I've gone over my time.
So I'm just gonna leave it there. And if you have any questions, come find me on Instagram and I'll be happy to answer them for you. See you next time.