Many businesses fail due to poor communication with their prospective customers. Crafting effective value propositions for your brand can make sure customers clearly and effectively understand your product or service’s worth. This marketing magic is easy to execute if you know how. Here, I break the process down into simple steps.
What Is a Value Proposition?
A value proposition is a short, clear statement that defines the gain that current or potential customers will get from using your product or service. A good value proposition is more than just a description of a product or service — it gives reasons why potential customers should do business with you.
Delineating exactly what they will receive, and how it will improve their situation, builds a case for them to purchase it. Having a concise statement that explains your business’s value to customers also helps drive your overall marketing strategies.
Before Crafting Your Value Proposition
The first thing to do is create a profile of your target customer, sometimes called an “ideal customer avatar.” The idea is to imagine your audience in as much detail as possible. If you can’t identify the right person who would need your product or services, then you may waste time and resources targeting the wrong audience.
While developing your ideal customer avatar, include not only demographic information, but also psychographics, which examine your target customers’ motivations, fears, and mindset. In other words, think about your prospective buyers’ goals; what are they trying to accomplish?
It’s also important to consider the common obstacles they face. What problems can emerge while trying to accomplish their tasks?
Next, consider how your product or service can solve those problems. How can your business make the difference between their success and failure?
Lastly, create a profile for your product or service. Who is it designed to help? How does it alleviate some of their pain points? How does it add value to them? If you can’t identify reasons why your offering solves your customers’ problems or helps them achieve their goals, then they won’t be able to, either.
The Key Elements of a Strong Value Proposition
When crafting an effective value proposition, the most important thing is to be clear. Sometimes, people try to impress others by using sophisticated jargon, but when it comes to defining the value your product or service has, this is a mistake. To sway prospective clients to give your product or service a try, they must be able to clearly and quickly understand what it is. If they can’t seize your meaning, then they aren’t going to reach for their credit card.
In addition, try to be concise. Most people’s attention spans are short these days, and fluff can distract from your main point. Using the messages in your value proposition can hook people in, but only if it doesn’t bog them down.
Finally, stay as concrete as possible. Avoid general statements. A value proposition shouldn’t be mistaken for a tagline or slogan, which tend to be more abstract. Instead, value propositions offer a tangible promise about what your business offers. Your language should paint a picture that suggests success in your audience’s head. The more specific, practical, and realistic that picture becomes, the better.
However, value propositions are not positioning statements. They don’t call out competitors or directly say your rivals are inferior or deficient. On the other hand, drawing attention to your own business’s virtues may insinuate that others are missing something to good effect.
Incorporating Value Propositions Into Communications Strategies
Once you have crafted an effective value proposition, it should drive your messaging across the board. Since it summarizes why people should be your customer, repurpose it wherever you can. For example, you can include it in ads and on social media. It can also spark ideas for long-form content like testimonials, blogs, or case studies.
In particular, your value proposition should appear multiple times on your website. It’s a good idea to include it on your home page, as well as product pages.
When you include your value proposition on your website or marketing materials, it should have a headline followed by a subheading or short paragraph. An image is also recommended.
For the headline, use a short, clear statement that defines the value of a customer doing business with you right away. Often, this is creative or catchy, but not gimmicky.
For the subheading or paragraph, a couple sentences that detail the who, what, where, when, and why of your product or service would suffice.
While images are not necessary, these can help further illustrate the value proposition and convince the viewer your solution is easy and doable. Consider inserting a gif or jpg, short video, graphic, chart, diagram, or map.
Finally, put your value proposition in front of or next to the call to action in your sales funnel. Having it beside your “subscribe now,” “sign up,” or “start your free trial” buttons can help convert a greater portion of browsers into buyers.
Many entrepreneurs struggle with crafting an effective value proposition, but the rewards are worth the effort. By going through this process, not only will you become clearer about your company’s mission, but your communications with prospective customers will improve. Increased sales are sure to follow.
