How do you stand out in a competitive Architecture/Engineering/Construction market?
Client case studies offer a powerful way to showcase your firm’s expertise while building stakeholder trust. These success stories offer benefits for your company, the happy client, and prospects who want to know what it’s really like to work with your professionals. And after you’ve completed the case study, you can use its components in many ways — in your proposals, client interviews, award entries, and more.
I’ve developed a seven-step process to help you plan and create the case study. Before you begin, select a few strategic completed projects to feature. Is there a happy client willing to explain how your firm helped them solve their problem? Which highlighted projects will help you achieve your strategic goals for 2025 and beyond?
During your strategic planning process, ask for input from management, marketers, and business developers. Which signature projects should be highlighted? Select the best ones and then schedule their development. If you get buy-in from the start, your final documents will get more use.
Encourage your personnel to use the completed case studies and their valuable components, such as testimonials, photos, and graphics.
In this article, I’ve included some tips for using Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of the process. Consider an AI, such as ChatGPT, as a helpful assistant. Don’t rely on it to write your case study. The result will lack the human connection you’re seeking, which is one of its main benefits. AI can assist with brainstorming and editing, but keep the narrative personal. Don’t sound like a robot.
Ready to get started? Use the following steps to create case studies to engage your readers and show how you helped your clients achieve their goals.
Step 1: Prepare to Write and Gather Insights
Internal and freelance writers should understand the company’s business goals for the case study.
Before you start writing, gather as much information as possible. Review project summaries, talk to a technical manager or owner about the project’s challenges, and develop key questions to ask the happy client. Share the questions with the client before the interview to increase the individual’s comfort level with the process.
AI TIP: Share project information with AI and ask it to develop a list of interview questions for you. Edit as needed.
Conduct the Interview
The next step is interviewing the happy client and asking pertinent follow-up questions to reveal the project’s value.
Unexpected obstacles arise during most A/E/C projects. Ask your interviewee to describe how your firm overcame them to deliver a successful result. Prospects will have more confidence in firms that can resolve challenging situations.
When talking with the client, let them tell their story and ask pertinent follow-up questions. You can also interview the A/E/C firm’s project manager for additional technical information and project insight.
Identify Key Components
After the interview process, review your notes and transcripts. Look for engaging quotes and significant metrics.
AI Tip: Ask AI to summarize the transcript in an outline form. In your prompt, state your case study’s goal, the intended audience, and tone.
When writing your case study, describe the challenges the happy client faces and how your firm’s solution made a difference. Weave in surprising outcomes or examples of extraordinary effort that will engage the reader.
Also, remember to consider your firm’s differentiators. Are you known for helping clients obtain grants and other financing? Or does your case study feature a construction firm specializing in solving issues in a tourist area with many restrictions?
Highlight how the firm’s specialized experience improved the project’s outcome.
I look for two to three quotes that can be used as callouts in the case study. These quotes can explain why the happy client hired the firm and what a difference the project has made. One quote may emphasize the client’s positive partnership with the firm.
The quotes should resonate with prospects who want to know what it would be like to work with your firm and the types of solutions it could provide.
Consider including the happy client’s logo, a headshot of your interviewee, and any other needed graphics or photos to demonstrate how your firm’s project made a difference. You also could include a photo of your firm’s project manager.
Step 2: Create Compelling Headlines
Consider using an AI platform like ChatGPT to generate headline ideas. After you’ve developed a list of headlines, look for a few that will capture a reader’s attention. You could take the best phrases from a few of the proposed headlines. Then, craft an engaging headline that addresses what your case study will cover.
During your draft process, you can also create subheads with a few bullet points under each of them. You can expand on the bullet points when you write your first case study draft.
Step 3: Highlight the Challenge
Set the scene in the opening paragraphs by describing the happy client’s challenge or problem. You can also begin by highlighting the project’s positive results. Encourage the happy client to explain why they chose your company for the project and how you helped them succeed.
Here are a few examples:
- For a park project, describe the popularity of a new public park with soaring attendance and new playground equipment and shelters. You could also reveal how the existing recreational facilities needed improvement.
- An owner could explain how they turned to an engineering firm to oversee a construction project’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) aspects, which saved them time and money.
- A construction firm representative could report on how collaborating with a consulting firm improved the efficiency of their client relationship management (CRM) program. The case study could begin by describing previous challenges or existing benefits.
Engage the reader by giving details about the happy client’s problem. Some prospects may face the same challenges.
The next step explains how your firm delivered a tailored solution.
Step 4: Showcase Your Firm’s Solutions
Many project summaries focus on technical solutions, which are critical for a project’s success. In the main narrative of the case study, explain how your company’s solutions resolved the client’s challenge. Perhaps new technology was used, or the project approach was streamlined to meet a tight deadline.
In the case study, use layman’s terms that non-technical readers can understand. Your firm’s project manager can offer insights into the value of the design, process, or equipment that led to the project’s success.
Step 5: Demonstrate Results
Impressive metrics add credibility to a project but aren’t always available. Results may be more qualitative.
Can you include data that shows how a project increased efficiency, cost savings, or revenue growth? Does the completed project improve safety, increase attendance, or lead to greater employee satisfaction? Perhaps improvements have reduced the workload for some employees so they can focus on other priorities.
Before and after project photos also help tell the story. Plan on getting great “before” images to show the impact of your firm’s solution.
If you tell an authentic story, your prospects will relate to the client’s dilemma and appreciate how your A/E/C firm overcame challenges.
Step 6: Add Bonus Facts in a Sidebar
It’s often beneficial to include a sidebar. This is where you can add bullet points about a project’s scope, partners, funding sources, or other relevant information that can be excluded from the main narrative.
Step 7: End With a Call to Action
At the end of your case study, include a clear call to action that encourages prospects to contact your firm for a free consultation or more information. Include an email address, website, and your A/E/C firm’s logo.
Follow these steps to create engaging client-focused case studies demonstrating your firm’s capabilities and help attract new clients.
Want to Know More?
Are you sharing your firm’s success stories? I invite you to share your thoughts in the comments section below and subscribe to A/E/C Connect to learn more. If you have a challenge or question you would like me to address, post it in the comments section or contact me at blaizecommunications@gmail.com. I’m here to help you with case study development.
