Creating Your Value Proposition
What a tricky business marketing is. You say the right things about the value you provide, you get the right customers. You say the wrong thing… not so much. Yet you do need a certain set of words sitting prominently on your web home page or in your other marketing materials that succinctly describes your value.
Your value proposition is more than a slogan or catchphrase. It’s not usually a product or service but is instead how you improve someone’s life.
Defining your value proposition can be a big question for marketers. After all, there’s so much to choose from. Do you promote your long tenure in this business and your authority as an industry leader? Do you focus on the high-end technology you use to deliver services, or that is found in your cutting-edge products?
What if your distinctive feature comes down to how you treat people – because you deliver unparalleled service and stand by your commitments with strong guarantees?
A value proposition provides a clear statement that explains how you can solve your customers’ problems. It’s specific in the benefits to be received. And it’s exclusive in that it tells your ideal customer why they should buy from you and not your competitor. Also, it avoids hyped-up language and over-the-top claims.
Maybe you already know what you like best about yourself, but the real question is: which definition of your value would get the best response from your prospective customers? How can you use your value proposition to boil down the themes of your marketing into a message that your customers can easily grasp and remember?
This takes some creative brainstorming – including trying to get into the mindset of your customer. Then, when you do settle on a focus, present it in the language that your customer would use and understand (not technical features or a boring sales pitch).