That’s why case studies and magazines tend to be the first thing they’ll pick up, at a sales meeting, at your booth, or from your website. These pieces promise real information that not only educates them on your product but on their industry.

Case studies are some of the most valuable tools you can have in your arsenal of marketing materials because they have real value. Dollar for dollar, they are by far the most cost-efficient: because of their tremendous reach and value, case studies pay for themselves thousands of times over.

Of course case studies on their own can’t close a sale for you. They aren’t sales people, and they will never replace them. But they are sales tools that your sales folks can really count on for backup.

Why am I such a proponent of case studies? Because I see a lot of marketing people get caught up in some of the fancier-looking stuff. Cool flash-based websites, hip, award-winning advertising campaigns, and sexy video downloads are much more fun projects than constantly pinging your client list for case studies.

But at the end of the day, we’re here for one thing and one thing only: to promote sales. Not to win awards and not to look cool (unless that increases sales). The marketer’s job is to let everyone know just how great your product is.

And case studies do that.