As a writer, an important part of your business development kit would be your ‘portfolio’ — a collection of your best work. But, have you considered something a little more important, but significantly more differentiating: The case study?

While a portfolio can tell the potential customer what your output might be like, a case study will show them what your process is and what impact you achieved. Here’s how I approach it.

The context: Why did the customer come to you? What problem did they have that you solved? For instance, if you wrote a brochure for them, why did they need it? How would they use it and so on.

The process: How did you collect the information? What prototypes did you try? Why did you choose the language you eventually did? Was there any conflict with the client at this stage?

The output: The product itself that you created. Feel free to link it if it’s publicly available.

The outcomes: This is tricky if you’re in some kinds of creative work. Let’s say you’re a designer, making illustrations for the content on a client’s blog, how would you measure the outcome? How would you know how much revenue that illustration contributed to?

Well, you won’t. So use feedback, testimonials, perhaps even a small survey, if you can afford that. But tie it all up together, line your outcomes with the goals and problems you outlined in the context.

Some examples of what we do at emdash are here.