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Have you flipped through a trade magazine or scrolled an industry website and seen an article about your competitor's equipment on a jobsite? If so, your competition is running a proactive public relations effort and using one of its most effective tools: the case study.

When you market to the professional trades, case studies (also called job stories or customer success stories) are among the strongest sales and marketing tools you have. A case study positions your company and its products as innovative, as problem solvers and as newsworthy. Because it is not a paid placement, readers respond to it differently and see the brand as trustworthy.

A job story puts the equipment to work on a real project.

Three formats

Case studies typically run 1,000 to 1,200 words and follow one of three formats:

• Success story. Highlights a specific project, the work that went into completing it and the equipment as the hero of the story.
• Problem and solution. Features a particular jobsite challenge and how the equipment offered a unique or innovative answer to it.
• Trends or maintenance. Discusses topics affecting the industry, with comments from product experts at the manufacturer.

The development process

Start with the publications' editorial calendars. Monitor the key magazines in your target markets and note the features they plan to run in the next two to six months. If three publications are featuring skid steer loaders next quarter and you build skid steer loaders, it is time for a case study.

Then work with customers, dealers and your own team to build the story:

• Ask dealers and territory managers to identify customer successes, unusual applications and best practices in their area
• Contact the customer and develop the angle through a series of interviews
• Write a draft that positions the customer, the dealer and your team as experts on the equipment and the application
• Route the draft to the customer and dealer for review and approval
• Incorporate changes and finalize

Photography

Gather images that support the story. Existing library shots work for trends and maintenance pieces. Customers can provide photos as long as they are high resolution and show safe operation. A professional photographer on the jobsite raises your odds of a cover or a lead article. Capture video while you are there, because most publications now want a link for their website and their channels.

Placement and reuse