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Case Study Hell

I am amazed how hard it is to get an application story/case study – whatever you want to call it – from an AV Integrator!

Let me elaborate.

For a year now, we’ve had a section on our rAVe site (www.ravepubs.com) that’s called AV in Action.  Basically, it’s a place where we publish (for FREE) case studies of impressive (and sometimes uniquely mundane) installations done by AV integrators in our market.  Again, it’s free.

If you can imagine a portfolio of all the good, better and best AV installations in the market, that’s the place they are posted – so we thought (that was our concept).  Again, it’s free.

But, what amazes me is how hard it is to get stories from you – the AV integrator.  What’s the deal?

Look you can advertise all you want – wherever you want, for as long as you want and NOTHING, I mean NOTHING, is as good a marketing tool as samples of your work.  Again, it’s free.

You can design a cool logo, advertise in the yellow pages, advertise in the local business journal, send sales people to cold-call, have interns call random people, go to local after-hours business network gatherings and send e-mail to all your current and potential clients saying anything you want to say about your company – and NONE of it is as effective as a case study – your own work!


You can design a cool logo, advertise in the yellow pages, advertise in the local business journal, send sales people to cold-call, have interns call random people, go to local after-hours business network gatherings and send e-mail to all your current and potential clients saying anything you want to say about your company – and NONE of it is as effective as a case study – your own work!
Seriously, what is the deal?  This is simple Marketing 101.  Heck, it’s like Marketing 10.  Or, Marketing 01.

Sure, the economy’s in a slump, your bookings are down, your client list is shrinking, but get a clue here – I am PLEADING with you all to start documenting your worn jobs and posting them
everywhere you can.  Certainly your own website is a start, but give them to us – we’ll put them on our AV in Action site, too.  Did I mention it’s free?

And, if you don’t have anyone to write the case study, hire someone, get an intern from your local journalism school or have the salesperson write it up.

Walking into a potential client with a portfolio of jobs to show them is awesome.  But, imagine walking in there and showing that not only are your jobs highlighted on your own website to spark ideas for your clients, but a third-party (in this case rAVe) thought your stuff was good enough to highlight it, too!

Marketing 201.

Did I mention it was free?

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