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Value propositions; what are they and why are they so important?

Do you consider yourselves to be a market orientated organisation or do you think marketing is not really for your company and just something that eats away at your budgets for indeterminable results?

Research shows that market orientated organisations are more financially successful than their other orientated counterparts. The reason is simply that market orientated organisations focus on building and positioning products and services that people want to buy. They hunt for their markets and make sure that they create the best possible solutions for their prospective customers.

However being market orientated is not enough; you may have the best products and services in the world and a marketplace hungrily awaiting your solutions but if your potential customers don’t know they exist, or they don't understand that you can solve their problems then you will never sell them!

Your value proposition is how you succinctly and effectively describe your solutions to your clients so that they can understand the problems they will solve. We often hear the term elevator pitch used in our industry and that is the final description you should get to for your products. An elevator ride, even in the tallest building, rarely lasts more than a minute or two so your elevator pitch should encompass your best, most unique selling points from your value proposition in two or three sentences.

Your overall value proposition will be a little longer and should consist of a precise description of your product or service, its benefits, the benefits of working with your company and of course the key things that differentiate it from any competition you may have.

When we run value proposition workshops we always start with as many benefits as we can and then reduce them to the core benefits which really differentiate your solution. I'm sure that you have had the difference between features and benefits explained to you many times but the key thing to remember when creating your value proposition is what is the value to your customer? How will it help them? Widgets and gadgets that you may be justifiably proud of have no relevance in your value proposition as they are probably meaningless to your customers and will merely distract from the real benefits.

You should include any differentiators that make you stand out from the competition. Are you the fastest, the closest or the most experienced? Can you demonstrate this to your clients?

You may also choose to include some ROI calculations in your overall proposition so your customers can understand the monetary value of your solution.

A value proposition is essential for your prospects to be able to understand that they need your solution. Without it no one will know that you have the perfect solution to their problem. So every product and service sold by your company should have a value proposition attached and you should have one for the company too.

For more information about how Montrose Edwards can help you with your marketing please email us.

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