Fourteen years ago, ShowMojo created the first Leasing Automation™ platform. But innovative products only get you so far, especially once copycats start popping up.

As ShowMojo’s founder, Peter Schuh explains:

“We weren’t educating our customers enough. So we were leaving a void. And our competitors could educate our customers about who they wanted us to look like.

The marketing team published a semi-weekly newsletter, was somewhat active on social media, and had a website. But that was about it.

To pour some gasoline on this smoldering fire, the team decided to launch a case study program.

It was a chance to kill two birds with one stone.

“We saw the case studies as one of multiple things that we did to educate the customers. At a deeper level, we saw the case studies as a really potentially useful sales tool."— Peter Schuh, Founder of ShowMojo

But despite having happy customers more than willing to be interviewed, ShowMojo couldn’t get the program off the ground.

Then they hired me.

Finding That Huge Middle Piece

Peter and his team had all the raw ingredients they needed to create great stories.

“We just didn’t have that huge middle piece,” he said.

That “middle piece” was a writer who could run point on interviewing customers, uncovering story angles, producing a case study, and teeing it up for distribution.

“You walked in, you had a plan, you did the interview, and then you churned out the case study. And 90 to 95% of that case study was what we needed. Maybe better than that. Some of the case studies, I don't think we had to do anything.”

The Results: How ShowMojo Put Case Studies to Work

Over the next 19 months, ShowMojo produced over 20 case studies that highlighted every one of their customer segments, demonstrated the value of the platform, and built trust and credibility in the industry.

Case studies became a potent tool for both the sales and marketing teams.

A Faster Sales Cycle

With a critical mass of case studies, ShowMojo’s sales team gained a new tool to keep conversations moving.

Whether trying to book a demo, close a deal, or overcome a specific objection, salespeople could send a relevant case study to prospects at any stage in the funnel.

“When a salesperson is talking to a lead and needs something to help kind of push them over to whatever next stage of that process is… that salesperson has two dozen case studies they can go and look through,” Peter said.

Peter also noted that the case studies became an important tool for helping prospects secure buy-in from their stakeholders.

Multi-Use Content That Supports the Whole Funnel

Rather than publishing the case studies and moving on, ShowMojo’s marketing team made sure these new assets pulled their weight as part of the broader content strategy.

First, they published each story as a standalone webpage on a dedicated case study section on their website. Then, they pulled out quotes and interview excerpts and formatted them for social media, the newsletter, and segmented email nurture campaigns. And they integrated case study modules and quotes into landing pages and other web content.

“They don’t just sit there,” Peter said. “You can use them on your web page. You can use them in your nurturing campaigns.”

This reuse extended the value of each story and helped ShowMojo’s marketing team address pain points, highlight key product features, and add social proof.

A Consistent, Scalable Case Study Engine

Over the past two years, I’ve worked with ShowMojo to remove friction from all aspects of the case study production and distribution process, from identifying story angles and customers to repurposing and repackaging the story.

As a freelancer, I’m often hired to do a particular job in a particular way. And while plenty of clients pay lip service to the idea that they’re receptive to new approaches, they rarely are.

ShowMojo’s team, on the other hand, is always receptive to new ideas and quick to implement the good ones.

That commitment to ongoing process improvement (plus strong customer relationships) is why ShowMojo has maintained a pace of just over one case study per month for more than two years now.

For a larger marketing team, that’d be a feat. But ShowMojo does it with just one other marketer and me, with logistical help from the operations team.

Ready to Start Your Storytelling Engine?

ShowMojo built a storytelling engine that reduces friction in the sales cycle, supercharges email and website content with social proof, and delivers a monthly case study come snow, rain, heat, or gloom of night.

I won’t say it’s easy. But it’s the kind of program any company with strong customer relationships and a willingness to invest in the process can replicate.

So if you're ready to make your customer success stories work as hard as your product does, I’d love to help you get there.