7 Steps to a Strong Value Proposition September 2016

Value Proposition A value proposition is a positioning statement that explains what benefit you provide for who and how you do it uniquely well. It describes your target buyer, the problem you solve, and why you’re distinctly better than the alternatives. http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelskok/2013/06/14/4-steps-to-building-a-compelling-value-proposition/#73306fa01f2c

Positioning Positioning refers to what the audience thinks about your brand versus the competition. Writing a Value Proposition is a strategic exercise and tool to help you focus so you can influence how people think about your brand.

Classic Form For (target audience), Brand X is the (category or competitive frame) that (differentiator) by (reasons to believe).

1. Identify Your Competitive Frame Key Question: What business are you really in? Be ruthlessly honest with yourself about this. Is Facebook in the advertising business or in the entertainment business? Is UPS in the shipping business or the logistics business? Does your company make nails or ¼ inch holes?

“Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, once asked a group of MBA students to tell him what business they thought he was in. The hamburger business of course, they told him. No, he replied, “My business is real estate.” http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/06/mcdonalds-corporation-a-real-estate-empire-finance.aspx

2. Make sure there’s a benefit Snap Spectacles are sunglasses that let you record :10 or :30 video, sync it with your phone and upload it to Snapchat. They cost $130. What’s the product benefit?

3. Think hard about the target Think long and hard about who’s going to use the product and why. Do people like this exist in the real world or is it a fantasy? Only one of these products appealed to consumers:

4. Don’t delude yourself Identify real consumer needs and wants. Benefits that fit your hopes and abilities aren’t enough. Unless you can create a need or a want, capture imagination and manufacture desire. Can you?

5. Be different It's best to be first or different. Then build a brand that can withstand the shaving of differentiation; often it becomes a distinction without a difference but for the brand. Differentiation isn't just about the product features. It can be rooted in the experience, the attitude, the culture, the users/who it's for, the partners and products around it. 

“All progress occurs because people dare to be different.” - Harry Millner, writer

How are they different?

6. Use emotion effectively

7. Use simple language Avoid cliches, jargon or fuzzy marketing speak in your strategy. Watch for words like: Disrupt Curate, Pivot Synergize Optimize Write simply and clearly.

Positive Affirmation You can write a great value proposition. It’s not that hard. All you have to do is some homework, lots of thinking and edit, edit, edit.

Let’s try to write one For (target audience), Brand X is the (category or competitive frame) that (differentiator) by (reasons to believe).

Questions?

Please keep in touch Crystal Merritt VP, Director of Account Planning Rodgers Townsend Crystal.Merritt@RodgersTownsend.com

7 Steps to a Better Value Proposition September 2016