If you do any sort of marketing for your business, you probably already know that it’s important not to say what your company does, but instead what it does for customers. The best marketing is centered around value. But how do you go about working out what your company’s real value is? If you’ve never done a value proposition before, it could change your whole marketing approach.
A lot of people sit down and work out their USPs as a way of finding the value in what they do. But I can’t remember the last time I actually asked a customer what its USPs are. It’s probably been more than ten years since I had a conversation about USPs in the marketing world.
This is because USPs aren’t as strong today as the idea of differentiation. It has to run deeper than just a list of bullet points of things that make you stand apart from the competition. You don’t have to be unique, but you need to be different, and it must embody everything you do across your business.
I find working through a value proposition is always a very useful task. It stops you thinking about your company and forces you to put the customer first. It makes you realise the true value of what you offer, and it highlights just how you stand apart from the competition. So if you’ve never done one, now is the time.
Value Proposition
There are six steps to a value proposition across two parts.
1. Customers
The first part is to look at your customers, and you need to create three lists.
The first list looks at pain points. What challenges are your customers facing? How is life difficult for them? What barriers are there coming across that they need to overcome? Write down everything that you know, and maybe do some research if you feel you could know more.
The next list looks at the gains that customers are searching for. While their pain points might be things they’re living with, the gains will be something they’re actively hoping to overcome. What are they searching for that will add to their business, create more revenue for them, solve some of their problems or make life easier for them?
Then the very last list is to write down the jobs that your customers do. Literally what they sell and what services they offer.
2. Products/Services
Now you’ve done the work on customers, the next part is to review your products or services. Again, you’re going to write three lists.
The first list is called pain relievers. For every single one of your customers’ pain points, write down how what you do relieves that pain. It might be that you can’t relieve them all, but where can you help your customers break through those barriers and overcome their issues?
Next you look at gain creators. For each of the gains your customers are searching for, how can you make that desire a reality?
Finally, list down your products or services and compare how they align overall with the whole of the customer side of the value proposition.
By the time you finish this task, you should have a much clearer view of the value you offer, whether it’s helping your customers overcome issues or aiding them in their desired growth.
Creating content
Now you need to turn all that thinking into marketing. As a start point, make sure that for all of the pain relievers and gain creators you identified, you mention them on your website. It might be that you create a new page, or just increase the content you already have.
Then decide how you could write a series of blogs about the pains or gains. Could you do some social posts? Could you run a campaign that highlights just how you have the perfect solution to relieve that terrible pain?
If you can get to the heart of the value that you offer to customers and convey just how easily you can support them, your marketing should attract the attention of customers in a much better way. If you’d like help in creating your own value proposition, please get in touch.
