Are you in the process of starting a business, launching a new brand or creating product differentiation strategies to help your products or services stand out from the competition? Learning how to write a value proposition for a business plan is crucial to your success.
In this article, we will give you brand position examples and show you seven important steps to take to help you succeed with your unique value proposition.
As an entrepreneur or business leader, you have to constantly think of ways to position your product or service to occupy a different place in the mind of your consumers.
This is especially true when it comes to b2b sales, which requires an element of relationship building and a real understanding of the problems your customers face.
A few years ago, establishing a unique value proposition was easy but with the advent of technology today and competition from all over the globe, the ability to hone in on and communicate to customers, investors and employees – why your product or service is unique requires the creativity of the entrepreneurial mind.
Let’s begin by explaining what a value proposition is and then talk about how to write one.
What Is a Value Proposition?
In very simple terms, your value proposition is a statement to customers showing them why you are valuable to them. It is a summary that explains why customers should buy your product or service and not your competitors’.
Your value proposition should be simple to understand and customers should be able to identify it straightaway from your marketing collateral, your website homepage and even from your social media accounts.
When we spoke about pricing mistakes in a previous post, we expressed that pricing is not static but changing it often will annoy and confuse customers. Instead of constantly changing the pricing of your products or services, you should reinforce your value proposition to explain to customers why they should pay more for your product.
How To Write a Value Proposition
Now that we have given you the definition of a value proposition, here are some important techniques to keep in mind when writing your value proposition:
- The Seven Why’s. There is an old technique that was originally developed as part of the Toyota lean manufacturing process in Japan called the “7 Why’s”. It says that if you truly want to get to the root of an issue, ask the question “why” seven times. Start by asking yourself (perhaps with some friends and colleagues) why your product, service or approach is unique. When you get the answer, ask “why” six more times. In the end, it will give you a deeper sense of your value proposition and how it needs to be honed to be truly unique.
- Intelligence That Only You Possess. Anyone can start virtually any company these days. What cannot be copied is the intelligence that comes with experience. A local politician won a mayoral race in a big city against a politician that was well known in the state. The underdog winner focused on things only he could know from having grown up in the city, like the pothole on 5th avenue and the underperforming train system. He used the knowledge he could only obtain from the years he spent growing up in that city. You can’t copy intelligence or experience so find yours as the basis of a unique value proposition.
- Unique Doesn’t Just Mean Product or Service – It Can Mean Approach. Your uniqueness does not have to be a feature of your product or service. It can be the way you approach your market. Take Starbucks. When they launched there was no shortage of coffee in America. Take Apple. The technology behind songs and MP3s existed for a decade. But each of them took a unique approach.
- No Need to be Unique to Everyone – Just to Your Target Market. It is virtually impossible to be unique for an entire market in this day and age. And while it still takes creativity, it is much easier to be unique to a specific market segment. Think of a high-end car club in which members get access to multiple high-end cars. Approaching a whole market where there are existing services might be hard, but what if you only approached affluent women in Nashville and created a car club that really focused on the Nashville scene? Might be pretty unique.
Brand Position Examples
When writing your value proposition it is important to look at examples of other brands who have positioned their products or services in a unique way.
One very prominent example of brand positioning comes from a struggling company who offered online wellness services for health plans. In one of their projects, they were offering these services for the Hispanic market where the need was unique. In that market, transportation, religion and family member by into health decisions were critical. They used this unique knowledge to gain real traction when they took it and focused on the Hispanic market.
Writing Your Value Proposition
In summary, your value proposition will explain why you are valuable to your customers, why they should buy from you and what your products or service offers that is different to everything else out there. When you write a value proposition it is important to ask yourself why. Sometimes, you don’t even need to have a unique feature in your products, your uniqueness could come from the way you approach your market.
If you would like to find out more about how to write a value proposition, check out our Learning Community.