Want people to buy your stuff? You need a strong value proposition!
The value proposition is about tangible and intangible offerings of your business.
There is a reason why it is integral to your marketing strategy. The stronger your value proposition is, the higher the conversion rates you can achieve.
So, if you wish to know everything about the value proposition in marketing, this post is just perfect for you!
What is the Value Proposition?
The value proposition is defined as a marketing or business statement used by a company to brief, why a customer must buy their product or service.
Such a statement is used to convince potential customers that a specific service or product can better solve their problem or can add value to them. Companies and businesses use this statement to target customers who can benefit from using the products of a company.
It is more like a promise by the company to a specific market or customer segment. The stronger and easier to understand your company’s value proposition is, the easier it is to target the specific customers.
For this reason, the value proposition must be a clear statement that highlights the benefits and problem-solving aspects of a product or service better than other products on the market.
An ideal value proposition is one that is concise and appealing to the customers.
Why is Value Proposition So Important?
What happens when you are unable to communicate with your customers?
Your customers will not be able to understand why they must select your product or service and why they must spend their money on your offerings.
A value proposition can help you communicate with your customers. Moreover, a well-written and well-thought value proposition can help your business to grow and expand.
A powerful value proposition can grab customer’s attention because of stellar benefits the customer can avail, using the service or product. It can pull in your business and make it wanting more among the customers.
Besides this, a value proposition can:
- Grab the attention of the right customers and enhance the quantity as well as the quality of potential leads
- Create a strong difference between you and your competitors
- Help you gain market share in your targeted market segment
- Support you in enhancing tools that can help you bring more business
- Enhances overall operational efficiency of your business
Still, want some clear idea? Let’s glance at some of the best examples of a powerful value proposition!
Some Best Examples of Value Proposition in Marketing
1. Uber:
The value proposition marketing technique of uber is unique, as it highlights problems related to traditional taxi picking and how their service is superior to others. Their value proposition is simple, but it is tempting to the customers as they can clearly understand the benefits attainable by hiring Uber.
2. Slack:
A part of the world is using slack, and the other part has still not tried it. If you too are unaware, then slack is a workplace messaging and a productivity app. With an easy to use interface, it can be used by endless numbers of team members. The value proposition of slack talks about making lives more pleasant, simpler, and more productive. This is what the people need today, and that makes slack fit for everyone.
3. Apple iPhone:
Though the consumer electronics market is oversaturated. Still, Apple has been successful in making a mark. The value proposition of Apple talks about its range of products highlighting the specifications, design, ease of use it can bring, and the unique qualities that the iPhone can deliver to the users.
4. Less Accounting:
With a compelling value proposition, LessAccounting has been able to grab a good position in its preferred market. It clearly highlights simplifying accounting and bookkeeping. The value proposition strongly reminds its product range and how it can make accounting painless and simple.
Now that you have known how even big companies are getting benefited through their value proposition marketing, sure you would want to create one for your business as well.
So, let me tell see how you can create a compelling and powerful value proposition for your business or company.
But before that, let’s talk about the different types of a value proposition!
Different Types of Value Proposition:
The value proposition can be differentiated on the type of your company and the type of your offerings.
1. Operational Excellence:
This type of value proposition is ideal if your customers are always looking for a good product at the lowest price. For them, it is the price that matters the most.
If you are not introducing new products and simply producing more volumes at a lower price or focused on creating operational efficiencies to keep the cost low, then this form of the value proposition is ideal for you.
2. Customer Intimacy:
If your customer market is flooded with services or products similar to your offerings, but your customers are interested in customized solutions, then this type of value proposition is ideal for you.
Additionally, your aim is to know more about the interests of customers and build successful relationships so that you can offer correct services, products, and solutions over time.
3. Product Leadership:
This form of the value proposition is perfect when your customers care more about the product. Your customers want the best, and your company and team are absolutely dedicated to offering high-quality and innovative products.
Components of Value Proposition:
The value proposition is mainly a block of various elements portrayed in a compelling and attractive way with a visual element. Though there is no correct way to go about it, still there are some aspects that are vital to include in it.
Headline:
This talks about the end-benefit your product or service would bring to the users. The heading must mention the core benefit of your offering in just one line. At the same time, it must be attention-grabbing.
Sub-Heading:
If your headline is compelling enough, then surely the customers would read through sub-heading in order to have more understanding of your offerings. The sub-heading can be 2-3 sentences highlighting how your product is useful, why it is wise to purchase it, and for whom.
Features or Benefits:
Now, this particular section of your visual proposition can be showcased in bullet points. The bullet points must list the key features or benefits of the product or service. The bullets must be concise, clear, and must clearly inform users of the core features or benefits of your product.
Visual Elements:
Visual elements communicate much faster to the audiences than words. You can show the product, the shot, image, and other visual elements of your product in the message. This will reinforce your main message.
Things to Do While Developing Value Proposition in Marketing
While you develop your value proposition, make sure that it is able to give well-defined answers to three core aspects:
Define:
Your value proposition marketing must be able to define as well as determine the problems that your offerings can solve. It is extremely vital to get through the pain or issue of your customers. Otherwise, you would fail to target the potential leads.
Solve:
Just like the problem; it is important for your value proposition to solve the problem as well. It must talk about how a problem can be solved.
Differentiate:
You are not the only one offering this product or service. There are others too in the market. So, why customers must buy your products?
This aspect must present to your customers what sets you apart from the competition. Is it the price, special skill, experience, or any other thing!
You have to be clear in the proposition so that it is convenient for you to target the selected market.
How to Create a Successful Value Proposition:
The value proposition of a company communicates the important reasons why a service or product is best suited for a particular customer segment. For this reason, it must always be presented prominently on the website of the company as well as other points of reach for the customers.
At the same time, it must be intuitive so that the customer can hear or read the proposition and understand the value offered by it without needing further explanation.
A value proposition is deemed successful when it has a bold headline that communicates the offered benefits to the customers. The headline must be a single memorable sentence. It can be a tagline or phrase that is easy to understand and remember.
The sub-headline is usually presented under the headline. It must expand the explanation of value offered and offer a specific example of why the service or product is superior to other products, which the customers might be considering. Hence, the sub-heading can be a short paragraph in two to three sentences, but not in bullet points.
The features or benefits of your offerings must be listed in bullet points and below the sub-heading. This enables customers to scan the proposition completely and quickly. Mentioning such aspects in bullet points will also ensure that the customers can pick up on your product easily.
Now since the visuals increase the communication between consumer and business, it is vital to include attention-grabbing visual elements in your value proposition.
Just remember, value propositions can be of different formats but it must be unique to the company and the consumers it intends to target. Your value proposition would be deemed successful only if it is easy to understand and can illustrate specific results to the customers using your service or product.
It must differentiate your product from your competition, avoid overused promotional buzzwords, and effectively communicate to customers in just seconds.
Testing Your Value Proposition in Marketing:
One major mistake that businesses or companies make when developing the value marketing proposition is to craft a statement that is too confusing or too vague.
To ensure you don’t make this mistake, you must be able to recite your value proposition in less than 10 words. If you are able to recite in less than ten words, then you are on the correct way path to creating a successful value proposition for your business.
But this is not enough. It is equally vital to test your value proposition before you launch it!
In order to test your value proposition, you need to check the following aspects:
Relevancy of Your Marketing Proposition:
The relevancy of your value proposition must not be internal, it must also be external. Especially, it must reach your target audience in a powerful and influencing manner.
Believable or Realistic:
The value proposition must have a compelling message, but at the same time, it must be realistic and believable. It must be credible and able to deliver the best messages in an efficient manner.
Defensive:
You must portray your value proposition in a way so that it defends all the questions that your customers can ask.
Flexible:
Sure you would not want to confine your business. Hence, your value proposition must be flexible enough so that it grows with your business. Your proposition must resonate with your business on a gut level or otherwise it would fail to connect to the customers afterward.
Focus and Prioritize:
Being a company, you need to create a value proposition that narrows down your offerings in a more specific and concise manner. While creating it, you must focus on the needs and wants of your customers and what your competition is offering.
You might discover an unmet requirement in the market, or you may determine a better way to differentiate from your competitors.
Your value proposition must strengthen your business in the short run as well as in the long run. It is an integral part of your marketing strategy. But remember it is not a positioning statement, and hence, must be carried in its unique way.