Create a Value Proposition by Knowing Your Target Audience

The next step in writing a value proposition is to identify your target audience and craft your message to them. Too many companies attempt to define their value proposition only in terms of their product. A product on its own, though, holds no value. It is only when a customer recognizes that your product provides them with some usefulness or otherwise answers some need that your product achieves value. Your value proposition, then, must be defined in terms of your target audience.

There are two things you must determine with regards to your audience. First, who is your ideal customer? Second, what value do you offer them?

First, you should identify exactly who you want to sell to. You should be very specific. If you are selling to other businesses, identify the industry they work in, the unique challenges they face, the size of the business, where they operate, and what kind of clients they work with. If you are selling directly to customers, you should identify their unique demographics such as age, gender, location, and income, as well as their interests, concerns, and problems. It is helpful to list all of this out, so you know who to target with your marketing efforts later on down the line.

Now that you know who your ideal customer is, you have to determine exactly what value you offer them. Your product should respond to a specific challenge or problem your customers face. Since you have already identified your customer and their challenges, it should be easy to articulate what your product offers them.

Try framing these ideas as questions with clear cut answers. What problem does your customer face, and how do you solve that problem? Why is that challenge something that must be addressed? In other words, why is your product important to your clients? You should look at your business as the solution to one or more of your customers’ problems. Your job is to make your customers’ lives a little easier by offering your product in as effective and efficient a way as possible.