The market for case study writing is growing each and every year, especially as case studies involve increasing amounts of complex analysis and background research.
While there are no exact figures available, an estimate by Prentice Hall said the industry will grow by 28% between now and 2023.
This is partly due to the fact that case studies offer a reliable source of high-quality content for businesses large and small. That content can be repurposed and reused across the organization, bolstering the content marketing strategy.
The Rising Popularity Of Case Studies
With the rise of the digital age and the abundance of information on the internet, people are seeking out content that is easy to understand and well-written. The result is a growing popularity for case studies.
According to HubSpot Blogs research, 43% of consumers have read a case study and 28% have read a business biography. Only 20% have read an analysis of market research data. This points to the fact that people are seeking out simplified explanations of complex issues.
Further evidence of the popularity of case studies can be found in the HubSpot Blogs research on the top 15 topics that consumers want to learn about. The list includes everything from renewable energy (1st place) to streaming services (5th place).
No one factor can be attributed to the growing popularity of case studies, but there are three areas that are worth noting.
1. They’re Easy To Write.
The Prentice Hall estimate said case studies involve “a significant amount of research and fact gathering.”
While researching information for a case study would not officially count as work experience for a student, it can be exhausting. Especially when taking into account the amount of time it takes to draft a single piece of content.
Now imagine how much time it would take to do research for multiple case studies. If you’re doing this part-time, it could be a lot of unpaid work. And that’s what’s making this type of content so attractive to increasingly strapped-for-time students and working professionals.
2. They’re Broad In Scope.
According to the Prentice Hall estimate, case studies can range “from a couple hundred to a couple thousand words.”
This means that they are suitable for a variety of content marketing, educational, and business goals.
Businesses can use case studies for a variety of purposes. If a business has a sizable audience on Facebook, they can use the platform’s ‘Study’ feature to conduct an ‘exploratory’ study on the audience’s demographic and psychographic characteristics. As a result of this analysis, the business can determine which content to promote and which to hide away.
Other examples of the various ways in which businesses can leverage case studies include using them to explain complex business strategies or to simply highlight a company’s key success factors.
Case studies are also effective in business intelligence and analytics, where they can be used to compare businesses and industries or to analyze competitive performance. For instance, you can compare two mattress companies and then decide which one you want to purchase from based on your own research or that of another consumer.
3. They’re Reliable.
Even though case studies can be quite detailed, they are often based on a relatively limited set of assumptions. This makes them reliable even when reviewing them from a skeptical standpoint. As a result, businesses can use case studies to shore up their claims or arguments without the fear of being easily disproved.
An abundance of caution is often cited as a key reason why businesses avoid risk. But risk-taking is important for businesses to grow and evolve. It is impossible to know exactly what will happen in the future, but being fearful of taking a chance will only hold you back from reaching your full potential.
In fact, as Edmund Burke so wisely said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” and this rings even truer today than it did over two hundred years ago. Doing nothing keeps evil at bay. But it’s up to good men and women like you and I to stop evil in its tracks through action and through diligence, so that good can triumph over evil once and for all.