Redflash Group recently released the 2026 edition of our “State of Public Safety Marketing” report, and while there were definitely new takeaways, some findings were consistent with our previous survey. One of those was that marketing teams continue to say case studies are their most effective content, with video coming in a close second.
We agree. Case studies can be true workhorses, boosting brand awareness, clarifying your value proposition and—perhaps most importantly in public safety—building trust and confidence with your prospects.
The thing is, like anything else, case studies aren’t always created or leveraged optimally. Here’s some practical advice for doing both.
Really think about who you’re trying to reach and what you want them to do.
We get it if this sounds painfully obvious, but intentionality and specificity are critical when putting together a case study. By that, we mean not only that you should consider exactly who your target audience is, but think about the customers you want more of, the specific products or services you want to sell more of, and exactly how you want prospects to buy and use your product.
Let’s say you make dispatch software, which can be customized. Doing so, though, is time-consuming and the profit margin is slim. Choosing a case study of a customer who loves how you tailored a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to exactly fit their needs doesn’t really make sense if you don’t want to do more of this type of work.
Similarly, if you’re trying to grow your business to include larger urban agencies, featuring the story of a small, rural agency doesn’t track. Geography can be very important, especially for businesses looking to expand to new states or regions. If most of your customer stories come from, say, New York, that’s not as impactful for prospects who live elsewhere and want to see themselves in the stories you share.
Think “use case” rather than “case study.”
Happy customers are worth their weight in gold, no question about it. But the most compelling stories you can share about them should highlight how they used your solutions to solve a specific (and common) problem faced by many in their industry. For example, when working with a large technology company, RedFlash created a use case that focused on how a disaster response network was set up and launched in record time. For another, the story emphasized how the technology was used for incident command during a wildfire.
To showcase business impact, ask for customer testimonials that speak to specific attributes, features or benefits of your product or service. Especially if your case studies follow a succinct problem-solution-outcome (or challenge-solution-impact or another variation) format, it’s important to home in on exactly how the product/service made a difference in the business—operationally, financially or in some other way.
Include data whenever and wherever you can.
Just as hearing from someone outside your company typically means more to prospective customers than hearing from your marketing team, so does seeing hard numbers. “After three months with ABC technology in place, our customer retention rate grew by 18%.” “Thanks to this scheduling software, we’re saving 50 hours of staff time every month.” Statements like these ground the benefits in terms public safety can relate to and gives them information they can use in making the case for approval and funding of a new product or upgrade.
To be clear, we know many clients will be reluctant to divulge figures about sales and revenue; others may think they don’t have relevant data to share. To uncover these nuggets, include questions about results, ROI, benchmarks and analytics when interviewing your customers. (Here’s a customer questionnaire to guide you.) Tap your customer success team, too. They may have heard great stories from clients about meaningful changes made possible by your products.
Humanize the story.
Even a single photo of the happy customer featured in a case study helps bring that story to life. If the person is in uniform, that boosts authenticity. Images to ask for: One or several people on your client’s team using your tool, or candid shots taken during implementation, deployment or training. Since pictures, like data, can sometimes be hard to get from very busy public safety professionals, this is your sign to take your own photos and video the next time you’re onboarding a new customer, conducting a training or doing an on-site repair or upgrade. (Just be sure to get signed releases for anyone in the photos or video you take if the images will be used in promotions or commercially.) Also, having a photo portrait of your customer along with their quote/testimonial goes a long way to making those words relatable and credible.
Remember, too, that video came in a close second in our survey question about most impactful content. So why not consider combining case studies and video for even more marking oomph? AI tools promise to make creating case-study videos easier than ever by drafting a script in minutes, creating voiceover, sourcing B-roll footage, adding captions and more.
Choose your interviewee wisely.
If you have a choice about who you talk to from your customer’s organization, opt for someone who is a peer to those you’re trying to reach. If you’re selling firefighting gear, it may make sense to hear from a firefighter or company officer. If you need to connect with purchasing decision-makers, they will see themselves in a fire chief, police chief, sheriff, 911 or EMS director. When you can, match the title or the individual in your case study with those you want to read the case study.
Make your case studies work hard.
As you create an inventory of compelling customer stories, you might notice certain themes emerging. Maybe a number of clients talk about a specific challenge your solution helped them overcome, or you see that several are in the same state or part of the country. Aggregating those stories into a white paper, a conference presentation or the foundation of a webinar gives you a new and often wider outlet to share these impactful outcomes.
Check out the “State of Public Safety Marketing: 2026 Report,” and if you’re ready to talk about how to create compelling case studiesake , we’d love to schedule a conversation.
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