What’s a value proposition all about?

The value proposition is a powerful statement that (preferably) captures the mind and the heart, and reveals a unique, highly relevant advantage or appeal. It is usually expressed as a tagline and a clear set of statements that form a platform for communicating a company or product brand.

A value proposition can be thought of as a distinctive position in the “mind’s eye” of the customer, based on perceived emotional and functional benefits. It is often a promise of customer experience. It’s a single idea you own that makes someone more likely to choose you. It’s the essence of the brand’s benefits – functional and emotional – that current and potential customers should expect to receive when experiencing a brand’s products and services.

A value proposition is most akin to a positioning statement. Personally, I prefer to use the words “value proposition” instead of “positioning statement”, since it focuses attention on the number one need – establishing value. After all, what’s the point in blowing big media budgets on promoting something that, even if it manages to capture your target audience’s attention (the ad campaign won a prize regardless of whether the product sold), people don’t feel there’s enough value to bother trying the product or calling you for a meeting?

In search of meaning
There are plenty of ad agencies out there that create pretty meaningless statements about their companies and/or their products. Stuff like: “The preferred professional partner” or “We do it a little bit better”, or “the leading provider of xxxx”. Statements like these are, quite frankly, useless.

A true value proposition can take many forms. For example:
- We’re No.2 – we try harder (reason to prefer: “I appreciate the values of modesty and a will to make things better, and I expect that a company that makes such a honest statement really does go the extra mile”).
- Design for the people (reason to prefer: “I want designer furniture, but I can’t afford top-end brands – here’s a company that appreciates my position”).
- A thousand shades better (reason to prefer: “This hearing aid delivers the best possible sound quality, which I understand is the most important single factor when choosing a hearing aid”).

You can arrive at your value proposition by considering:
- What functional benefits might our customers want from a company like ours?
- What might grab their attention?
- What might appeal to their hearts? Capture their imaginations?

In a world where people are disinclined to give you even a split second of their attention, nailing the value proposition means identifying one key message you can say about your offering that will make people want to know more. Then you need to support it with no more than three sub-messages that make the main message even more compelling.

For example (for a new hearing aid):

Main message:
“The No.1 choice for an active lifestyle”

Three sub-messages:
ReSound Live™ is the No.1 choice when you want to be:
- Physically active – whenever you need to move your body
- Socially active – whenever you’re together with friends or family
- Mentally active – when you want to be at your focused best

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 pm by Jonathan Winch and is filed under Business, marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.