Value Propositions & Messaging

Finding Your Mojo in a Sea of Clutter

Why Should I Buy from You?

The value proposition is an essential element of your strategic marketing toolkit, especially for those predominantly offering services. It's used to describe your business briefly and in a way that helps it stand out from the pack. It answers the question “Why should I buy from you?” vs your competition.

Why You Need a UVP

You may have heard about USP (Unique Selling Proposition), that is, what you do differently from the competition. The UVP (Unique Value Proposition) takes it a step further to see things from your customer’s point of view — important for creating compelling messaging.

Those messages then get reworked into your website — whether that's for a home page headline or deeper content describing products or services — but for other communication vehicles and media channels as well. The process we go through is described below.

Offering a "Quality" Service Isn't Good Enough

Service providers often use the word "quality" to describe themselves; often, it's meant to mean “high quality.” Here's why that's not sufficient as part of a value proposition:

• The word quality is used so much, it has little meaning any more.
• Quality is relative. Not everyone wants or is willing to pay for "high quality." What they really want is value. What someone will pay is a measure of how they value it.
• Quality means different things to different people. As they say, one man’s trash is another’s man’s treasure.
• Quality, whatever that means, may not be what people are seeking. Better to focus on what you offer that resolves people's problems or needs. It may not be quality per se.

Work with Us

Developing value propositions that resonate with your audience is a team effort that takes knowledge of your business and industry (which you have), and our ability to put it together in a marketing context that's brief, compelling, and helps you create a website that gets you more leads.

Contact us or schedule a free consult to discuss the options.

Value Proposition Development Process

foundation

What Your Company Does

A brief, but broad high-level description.

Something like, "We’re a consulting firm that does X for Y market."



It should not be a laundry list of services or features.

Audience

Who we’re writing this for.

For example, C-suite managers at airline carriers around the world. Then, we list what they value, such as saving money, saving time, etc. (specific and prioritized).

Differentiation

We define what sets you apart from the competition in ways that the audience cares about, being as concrete as possible, i.e., brand ideals, specific methodology, precise experience, distribution, etc.

This is not a list of features, but what the business has, offers, or does differently.

identify benefits

Value

We describe the value you bring to your audience, or how you create value for them. In other words, what they gain or achieve by working with you (or buying products/services). Conversely, what they may lose or risk if they don’t. 

What is the Audience Thinking?

What are they trying to achieve in work or in life on a personal, emotional, social, or task-based level?

What do they require, expect, desire? How would you help them deal with the unexpected? 

Again, being as concrete as possible in describing the benefits. However, we avoid talking about price and don’t use generic terms like quality or superlatives, like best.

We Do This, So You Get That

We put the gathered information into a phrase that's gets to the point as quickly as possible.

For example, we might start with, "Our software integrates with most major platforms, so you won’t have any downtime or need to pay anyone to install it for you."

And end here for the bullets described below, “Avoid disrupted operations that can ruin your bottom line.”

messaging

Messaging Starts —>

Our next step is to write statements that communicate the most important points you always want to make with customers, no matter where you’re saying it. 

Tie Two Elements Together

The main differentiated points you’re trying to make about your business and 

what your audience cares about (benefits).

This is not about writing clever copy, just straightforward statements. Key points should be prioritized by what's most compelling to your customer.

Key Messages are Universal

Strong key messages can be used anywhere, from your website to print materials, sales scripts, and more. They can be used as bulleted copy on your homepage after the opening “value proposition” paragraph, described later.

WRITE THE VALUE PROPOSITION

Positioning

Now we add what sets you apart from the competition in each of those messages. Once again, this isn’t about being creative necessarily. That comes next.

Write Several of Them

An example:

"Our software is the only one that easily integrates with your existing systems, so you won’t have any downtime or need to pay anyone to install it for you."

Convert It to Your Home Page

Then we turn the value proposition statements into an opening line and supporting paragraph(s) that communicate in a compelling way.

Example: "Software that's so easy to deploy, no one will notice the change."