What is a Value Proposition?
There are many definitions out there, but I use a very simple definition of Value Proposition:
I am proposing that the value of my product or service is greater than the dollars you have in your bank account to purchase it.
That’s it.
Nothing fancy is needed here.
What Value do you Propose to your Customers?
The value proposition is everything. It’s the reason you have a business. SEO doesn’t matter, Social Media Marketing doesn’t matter, nothing matters if your Value Proposition is flawed.
If you focus on this simple sales principle, it will hone down your content marketing focus to the point that everything you post will matter to your core audience.
“Why should I buy from you?”
“Why should I buy THIS?”
“Why buy now?”
These questions are all answered by a properly assembled Value Proposition.
Of course, this is only true if your product or service doesn’t suck. If you’re just putting lipstick on a pig (old school sales lingo for dressing up a product or service that is not actually attractive to the customer), a value proposition will only be as effective as it takes the customer’s experience to deflate it.
How Can You Improve Your Value Propositions?
Improving Your Value Proposition Often Starts with Improving Your Product or Service.
Robust self reflection on your products and services will reveal weak spots, or even products you should eliminate. If you don’t solve a big problem, do all you can to move your positioning so that you do.
If you have to pivot, do it.
If you’re selling tons, but you don’t FEEL that you’re solving a big problem, you’re obviously missing something that the customer gets. Do all you can to learn what that is.
This leads me to one of my favorite tactics for Austin small business owners seeking to improve and grow:
Harvest your Testimonials.
Comb through your testimonials to tell you what you’re missing in your customer experience. Go one step further and interview your customers to gain valuable insight into how your product or service solves problems for them.
Then, plow that new info into your value propositions.
Once you’re done with that process, you should emerge with some rock-solid value propositions for your branding and your core products or services (you should only have 3-5).
Read This Post on SEO, Value Propositions and Branding
You should emerge from this process with a core Value Proposition for your Brand, along with one for each of your core products or services.
Those Value Propositions will also contain your most valuable keywords for any SEO company to use, unless you’re doing your SEO yourself. If they do not, you have to go back to the drawing board. You should be able to enter your product value proposition in a Google Search and come back with a page full of your top competitors (along with you, if your SEO is right).
Again, if that doesn’t yield those results, you still have work to do.
Value Propositions are the hinge on which your entire Content Marketing and Sales Process hang. You simply can’t do too much work on them.
Do the work. It will pay you back many times over.
Happy Marketing!
