A case is a promotion tool for both business and blogger. Cases convey tacit knowledge, show your expertise, tell your success story or your client's story. The perfect case is history. A story like a fairy tale.
What the perfect case consists of
In an ideal case, as in a fairy tale, there are 4 main elements:
- A hero who wants to empathize
- Events that change the hero
- The goal on the way to which the hero overcomes obstacles,
- The secret ingredient.
Narrative is the secret ingredient in history. Narrative is the key to understanding reality. This is the meaning that each of us puts into any stories, fairy tales, events. This is the moral we draw from the stories around us. The narrative is different for everyone. We all perceive fairy tales in different ways and attribute different meanings to them.
To write an ideal case, you need to put in it a clear narrative, an idea that is important for you to convey with the help of the case. This narrative should run like a red thread through the entire structure of the case. Narrative creates a reader's involvement with your story.
The structure of an ideal case
The perfect case tells a story in which the hero goes through 5 basic steps.
- A crisis. The starting point of the hero. A situation when the old methods and solutions do not work, and something needs to be changed in order to get out of the crisis.
- Problem. The hero formulates the problem he faced, sets the tasks and defines the goal.
- Instruments. What was done to solve the problem and achieve the goal? Steps, solutions, techniques.
- Result. What is the hero's conclusion? The result can be positive or it can be negative. It is important that a negative result is not described in an ideal case as a failure. A negative result is like a valuable experience that taught the hero something.
- Experience. What the hero of the case understood and what he learned while getting out of the crisis and going to his result.
The order of these elements in the case can be any, but they must all be present.
Test yourself: your case is perfect if …
After your case is ready, it contains all the necessary elements and all the steps of the structure, check yourself with the questions:
- Does the case read your idea, your narrative? Will people be willing to share your story? Did they feel a sense of belonging?
- Is your case enjoyable to read? Is the format convenient? Is the style interesting? Boringly written cases will not hook the audience, even if they formally follow the structure.
- Can you imagine your story? It is important to visualize what you are writing. It helps the reader to immerse themselves more deeply in your story and understand it better.
