Most people don’t know what a value proposition is, let alone how to create one. So, for those of you who need some guidance on how to sell your product or service in an effective way, this post inspired https://baymn.org/ will give you the understanding and tools that will help you communicate in more convincing ways.
The key to any value proposition is developing it from a customer perspective. You need to think about why your customer would want your product and then come up with the message that can most effectively convey its strengths.
The best way to start with a value proposition is to brainstorm, think about what you do, identify the benefits for the customer and then try to come up with a headline or phrase that captures the essence of those benefits.
- What Does Your Company Do?
The first thing you need to do in order to create a value proposition is understand how your company fits into the marketplace. The easiest way to get an overview of this is by looking at your company from the perspective of your customers. They don’t care that you have an innovative new product if it doesn’t solve their problems or provide them with tangible benefits.
- What is it about your product or service that effectively solves customer problems?
This is where you have to identify the problems you are trying to solve and then find ways to explain how your products help solve these problems. Not only will this help you clearly communicate what your company does, but it will also help you identify the potential benefits and features of your products or services.
Why? Well most people want to buy solutions, not just a bunch of features. They want something that solves their specific problem in a way that makes things better for them. Something that improves their situation and allows them to do what they want to do in an easier way.
- How Do You Deliver the Benefits?
Finally, you need to be able to put it all together and create a headline that captures the essence of what your company offers and how it does it. This can often take several iterations or a number of revisions. Once you have come up with a good value proposition, then you are ready to move on to developing your brand.
It’s OK if your initial effort is vague or needs some work. In fact, I would encourage you to do this exercise quickly (takes about an hour) and then look at the results later when you have had time to think about them more carefully.
This initial exercise will allow you to get the creative juices flowing and open up new possibilities for your company. These are things that you might not think of until you take the time to think about them in a more structured way.
TIP: Once you have completed this exercise, try looking at the results a few times over the next few days and ask yourself whether anything has changed from your initial impressions. You may be surprised at what comes out after having time to reflect on it.
The Value Proposition Framework
When developing value propositions, I like to use what I call “the value proposition framework” because it helps me think through all of the benefits that customers might receive from my product or service.
There are two parts to this approach. The first is to identify the specific benefits that I want to communicate in my value proposition. These can be anything from solving a particular problem or improving a situation to making a life easier in some way. Distill these down into the absolute core benefits or features for your customers.
The second part is to decide how I want to deliver those benefits or features. Will it be by making something faster, clearer, cheaper, more powerful? This means that you will need to identify the key strengths of your product or service and then decide how you want people to perceive them.
