Understand Your Business: Value Proposition 101

 

I urge you to take the phrase above and repurpose it for your brand; in which ABC is the product or service your organization offers, and XYZ is your target audience. 

 

Did you do it? If so, you have just identified your brand’s value proposition in its simplest form. Obviously, there will be outliers and cases where this abridged value proposition may not make complete sense for your brand; however, it is a good exercise to break-down your established proposition into its simplest form. 

 

For example, “Synecore provides integrated digital marketing services to small- and mid-sized businesses.”

 

As you can see from the example, it is important to avoid listing all of products and services your company offers. Synecore provides an abundance of services that I could have included, however it is crucial to keep your value proposition simple. Try to compile your products and services under a common umbrella or two to enhance the effectiveness of the statement.

 

Before I get too far ahead, what exactly is a value proposition? Simply defined, it is a tool to communicate the value of your brand’s product/service to your prospects and customers. To further expand, it is a positioning statement that succinctly explains what problem you solve, for whom you solve it, and how you solve it uniquely well. 

 

So let’s take the above definition and expand our simplified value proposition we’ve recently created.

 

Our organization provides ABC to XYZ by/through 123.

 

Once again, please relate the phrase to your company. Only this time, incorporate what makes your offering unique and different (123). Up to this point we have only established what you offer and whom you offer it to; such a simplistic value proposition is most likely going to be identical to thousands of other companies throughout the world. When creating and solidifying 123, I urge you to take a little bit of time, dig deep, and deliver the core reason(s) as to why your organization does it better than anyone else. What makes you different? How do you provide genuine value to your target audience?

 

For example, to add to the proposition above, we might revise our value proposition to say, “Synecore provides integrated digital marketing services to small-and mid-sized businesses by implementing proven, data-driven inbound marketing strategies.”

 

Of course I could have continued to expand on the competitive advantages of Synecore; I’m sure many of you could go on for hours when tasked to describe your brand’s competitive advantage. However, I challenge you to continue to simplify those elements of your business to best appeal to your target market or XYZ.

 

Did you come up with something?  Good, let’s take it one step further.

 

Our organization provides ABC to XYZ by/through 123 providing 789.

 

Let’s take a look at what we have so far – you have established your brand’s overall product or service offering, your customers/targets, and your brand’s/offering’s unique advantage. Now it is time describe the benefits achieved if and when customers choose to purchase from your organization. This may be the most important part towards the creation/revision of your value proposition. During this step, be sure to understand the separation between the features of your offering and the benefits of your offering. Be sure to take your time.

 

Once again reconstructed, “Synecore provides integrated digital marketing services to small- and mid-sized businesses by implementing proven, data-driven inbound marketing strategies that increase lead conversion and improve ROI.”

 

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

 

 

Lacking a universally accepted methodology fueling their creation, value propositions are expressed in all shapes and sizes. In this article, I have shared this method in particular because I think it is easy to understand, establish, and solidify. Whatever method you choose to follow, strive to answer the following questions:

 

1. What product or service do you provide?
2. Who are your customers/targets?
3. Why is your offering unique and different?
4. What end benefits/expected improvements does your offering provide?

 

Interested in other initiatives similar to value propositions? I encourage you to check out our IDM Blueprint: Define and Establish to learn more about taking the first steps towards becoming a Digitally Integrated Organization.