Best Practices and Case Studies: Be Very Afraid

Best Practices and Case Studies: Be Very Afraid

by Allen Weiss
Questions to ask about case studies and best practice examples when applying ideas to own situation.

"Do I have the same type of customers? The subject of the case study or best practice might have a very loyal group of customers, or price-insensitive customers. But do you? These customers might be in totally different industries, or have different backgrounds, that make them more or less susceptible to offers, and so on.

Do I have the same type of competitors? The subjects of some case studies have no real competition that can bid away any advantages. But do you?

Do I have the same skills and financial resources in my company? Often I see case studies about, say, what the Wall Street Journal has done to build subscriptions. It's an interesting story, but unless you have millions of dollars to spend, and a history of over 100 years, it is probably best viewed as just that, an interesting news item. So ask yourself if you really have the same skills and resources as the company in the case study or so-called best practice.

Is my company at the same level of market development? Look at how easy it was to get venture capital money back in 1998 and how high advertising rates were on the Web. People were thrilled to see case studies of how so-and-so got funding, and you really didn't need to know much about marketing to survive. But the common thing was that this was a new market, and in new markets most new firms can easily exist (e.g., a high tide raises all boats). But when the market matures, the entire game changes.

Do I have a similar cultural environment? Some companies are successful because they have the right type of organizational culture, and their customers exist in the right type of culture.

Is the timing of the best practice or case study the same as mine? Viral marketing got a huge boost when Hotmail grew by giving away its accounts for free and making it easy for people to refer others to a Hotmail account. Great… but that was at a time when email was virtually unknown to many people. Viral marketing is a whole lot harder today! "