Emphasize Your Value Proposition
If there's no difference between you and your competition, there's no reason why a buyer would be compelled to work with you. Your value proposition is what will differentiate you from others in your space and make up your prospects' minds that you're the provider to go with. It is part of a company's overall marketing strategy.
You may be wondering: Why bother learning how to write a value proposition? It’s like investing in the foundation of a house. You may not see the foundation, but everything you do see — and the long-term safety and security of your home — rest on it having a strong place to start from.
What Is a Value Proposition?
A value proposition is a statement that answers the ‘why’ someone should do business with you. It should convince a potential customer why your service or product will be of more value to them than similar offerings from your competition. You know why your company is great, but do your potential customers know what sets your brand apart?
A good value proposition can give you an advantage over your competitors and is often what your prospects use to evaluate you. And for many consumers, your value proposition is the first thing they encounter when exploring your brand. So, having a clear, concise value proposition always displayed prominently on your company's website and in other consumer touch points is more important than ever. (Remember: You’ve got less than a minute to capture a site visitor’s attention.)
When creating a value proposition, it’s important to identify all the benefits your product or services offer. Describing what makes these benefits valuable in a quickly digestible way for the reader will help your value proposition make an impression. It’s also critical to identify your customer’s main problem your value proposition helps solve. By connecting this value to your buyer’s challenges your value proposition will become clearer. This is what helps differentiate your brand as the best provider of this product or service.
Top Characteristics of a Great Value Proposition
- Be concise and easy to understand
- Define what you do
- Make it easy for someone to find you in an online search
- Explain how your product resolves a pain point for your potential customer
- Be displayed prominently on your website and/or your consumer touch points
- Answer the question: “If I am your ideal customer, why should I buy from you instead of any of your competitors?”
The Elements of a Value Proposition
There are three main elements of a value proposition: the headline, the subheadline, and a visual element.
Headline
The headline of your value proposition describes the benefit the customer will receive as a result of making a purchase from your business. The headline can be creative and catchy, but it should be clear and concise first and foremost.
Subheadline or Paragraph
The subheadline or paragraph should explain in detail what your company offers, who it serves, and why. In this section, you can elaborate on the information in the headline.
Visual Element
In some cases, a video, infographic, or image may convey your value proposition better than words alone can. Enhance your message with these visual elements to capture your audience’s attention.
How to Write a Great Value Proposition
To create an integrated, cohesive value proposition, start by answering these three questions:
1. Which customers are you going to serve?
2. Which needs are you going to meet?
3. What relative price will provide acceptable value for customers and acceptable profitability for the customer?
Try the Steve Blank formula to create your value proposition
Steve Blank, a former Google employee who runs the Lean Startup Circle, noticed that many startup founders emphasize features instead of benefits when they try to transform more detailed insights into a succinct value proposition. Instead of summarizing how a company offers value to customers, leaders often get stuck in the weeds.
Blank saw the need for a simple formula to transform a brainstorm into a simple sentence. We love distilling more detailed insights with his method:
We help (X) do (Y) by doing (Z).
By using the above formula, you can come up with your own value proposition. Remember that the first thing that comes to mind may be the best. Your gut instinct could be spot on here, and that’s what makes this simple solution so valuable.
Wrapping it up
A great value proposition demonstrates what a brand has to offer a customer that no other competitor has and how a service or product fulfils a need that no other company is able to fill.
What do you do better than anyone in the industry? Conveying this makes a compelling argument.
If you need assistance with creating your value proposition, you can reach out to us, and we’ll be glad to help you work this out.
Oak Marketing & Brand Management provides the expertise of a full marketing team for your business without the need to hire more staff. Learn more about our services at www.oakmarketingqa.com
