Crafting Compelling Case Studies for Fintech Companies

At the bottom of your marketing funnel lives a powerful conversion tool: The Case Study.

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In B2B, especially in the fintech industry, building trust and credibility is crucial. Our clients rely on content to do the heavy lifting of that initial push for brand awareness and engagement of their target market. But how do you get prospects to sign on the dotted line? How do you CONVERT interested prospects to paying customers? In the last stage of the content funnel, one tool shines above the rest - the simple, elegant, and effective case-study.

A well-crafted case study can serve as reliable "proof of value". It can showcase the strengths of your offering, offer social proof to a skeptical buyer, and help convert prospects who are already familiar with your brand. This last phase of the marketing funnel is known as the "convert phase," it is when a prospect is actively looking to purchase a solution to the problem you have identified earlier in the funnel.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating case studies that effectively showcase strengths through clients' success stories and help convert prospects into clients.

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1. Identify the Right Client to Feature

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This is the MOST important step and will determine the success or failure of your campaign. Choose your prospects wisely, and don't be afraid to ask several. If you are working with Hedge Fund clients it is likely you will hear 10 NO's for every one YES. Choose your clients as follows:

• Significant Results: Choose a project where you achieved substantial, measurable results and the client is happy with the outcome. This might sound obvious but that is where you start.

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• Relevance: The client project and outcome should be relevant to the services you offer and the audience you want to attract. Again, if the client is not your typical engagement or is not aligned to your main value props, look for another.

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• Client Willingness: Ensure your client is willing to participate and share their experience. Take steps to minimize the risk of compliance nixing the whole thing at the eleventh inning. This is how:
  • Tell them what's in it for them. Create a word document that explains what they can do with the case study. They can send it to their own prospects, they can use it as printed collateral at their conference, they can send it to their employees and partners to explain what they do quickly and easily.
  • Explain that the case study will paint them as a leader in their field, on the cutting edge of data and technology in the field they are in.
  • Anticipate the risks: If we are here two months from now and we haven't sent out the campaign, what happened? Did we run into compliance issues? Were all the right stakeholders aligned from the get go? The more pre-mortem scenarios you think of the more chances your case-study will see light of day.

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2. Gather Detailed Information

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Once you have selected the client and project, gather as much information as possible. This includes:

• Project Goals: Understand the client's original goals and objectives. Get everything you can on the start state. What did their org and process look like BEFORE the engagement.

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• Challenges: Document the challenges and pain points the client faced before working with you. Get as much of the pain as possible, make it very specific down to workflow items such as copy and pasting from a large excel sheet.

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• Solutions: Describe the solutions you provided and how they were implemented. Describe the what the team did, the communication involved, any hiccups are fine too - these make the story more real.

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• Results: Provide specific, quantifiable results that demonstrate the success of the project. This is the MONEY slide. If you can draw a clear contrast with pre-and post- states and the difference is eye-popping, you will build a compelling case.

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3. Structure Your Case Study in Five Sections

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A well-structured case study should follow a clear and logical format. Here’s a structure that has worked for us in the past

• Title: A compelling and descriptive title. Short sweet, to the point. Punchy enough foe people to read, yet substantive enough for them to forward it to their boss. "How a Start-up Hedge Fund raised a Billion dollars in a weekend by leveraging AI"

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• ‍Challenge: Describe the specific challenge or problem the client was facing.

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• Solution: Explain the solution you provided, focusing on your process, strategies, and tools used.

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• Result: Highlight the results achieved, using specific data and metrics to demonstrate success.

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• Testimonial: Get a key stakeholder to say something nice and REAL. Keep it short.

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4. Make it Beautiful, Use Visuals and Data

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Incorporate visuals (Charts, Infographics) and data to make your case study more engaging and easier to understand. Use charts, graphs, and images to underscore key points of the case study.

Make sure it is beautifully designed. Do not wing the design, but rather, get it done professionally. Everything from the messaging to the graphics must be crisp, clear and concise. The message has to "pop" and be easy to consume.

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5. Make It Accessible and Shareable

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DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP! Once your case study is done (woohoo!), make it easily accessible on your website (landing page? Interactive section?) and share it across your marketing channels. Consider creating a dedicated case studies section on your website where visitors can browse different success stories. If not - you should at least have a resources section with whitepapers and articles where the case-study can be hosted.

Distribution is KEY. Since we are at the end of your funnel, use you case study in drip campaigns, hitting the inboxes of prospects who read your other content. If you score your MQLs (marketing qualified leads) run a campaign for the 1,000 highest scoring leads. Hand it to your sales reps and ask them to send this out next time they follow-up with prospects. Finally, share snippets and highlights on social media, and include case studies in your broader email marketing campaigns to reach a wide audience - but keep in mind the most effective use of the case study is at the bottom of the funnel with prospect who already know you.

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To Wrap Up...

Creating compelling case studies for fintech companies requires effort - it needs careful planning and execution but the rewards are worth it. By selecting the right projects, gathering detailed info on the before state, and presenting the story in a structured and engaging way, you can effectively showcase your strengths and build trust with prospects, encouraging them to convert. Remember to focus on the client’s perspective, use visuals and data, and keep your case studies fresh to ensure they remain a powerful tool in your content marketing arsenal, particularly at the convert phase of your funnel.

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