Is Your Unique Value Proposition, Unique in Your Customer's Eyes?

Pretty powerful combination you might think. What would Brian Boru have done faced with 10th century marauders wielding 20th century weapons? He would not have had a hope! That is what dynamic imagery does for advertising and marketing. It provides an unstoppable combination that is guaranteed to get results. So what''s missing?

To be honest, without ammunition, the Vikings actually would not have had a hope. For a start, Brian and his gang of Celts, would not have known what the machine guns were, and secondly, the Vikings would not have had any other weapons to combat the fury of the zealous Celts.

It is vital that you have ammunition for your machine guns! Your Value Proposition, expressed in terms that your customer understands, is what gives your marketing the firepower required to get results. Without the right message, no-one will understand what you really stand for!

Creating your Value Proposition

So how do you go about creating your unique value proposition? First it is vital that you are disciplined, and you have to hand the following material.

A list of all customers
For each customer you need to identify
What they bought
A testimonial and/or value statement from those customers
Where they are geographically based
The industry they are in
Their size and turnover
A list of your competitors and information on their products.
An industry specific magazine that your best customers would read
A print-out of the Mission statement of your best 5 customers

We run ½ day and full day workshops on this, using tried and tested questions to get you really thinking about what your offerings provide. However you can try do this yourself, if you budget is limited.

Which ever category you fall in, I suggest, that to avoid firing blanks with your marketing budget, you undertake this exercise, and start getting the results you deserve.

Step 1 - Know your customers

To really be able to market successfully, and by successfully, I mean getting qualified leads that turn into sales, you must relate to your prospects. If you already have customers, then they must like what you are offering. But what was it about your offering that made them buy?

Ask them!

You need to be able to identify their

Needs ? what need in their business or life are you fulfilling?

Wants ? What do they really want, because a lot of purchases are based on wants not needs ? I mean who NEEDS a Porsche?

Pains ? what pain do they currently have that ownership of your product will ease or cure?

Because when you know those, then you know WHY they bought, and subsequently, it will be easier to ensure you have more customers.

Step 2 - Know your product

Successful business people all share a common trait; they are passionate about their offerings and they are persistent in ensuring it successful. So you know your product inside out. Agreed, you may not see it precisely as your customer sees it, but you do know it!

So you must identify the top ten benefits of your product. Use the checklist below as a prompter.

Service
Price
Uniqueness
Revenue generation
Cost reduction
Compliance with regulations
Fulfilling a desire
Better way of doing things
Proximity to customers
Adherence to standards

Now map each of these benefits to your customer''s needs, wants and pains.

Step 3 - Know your target market

So you know what your customers want and what you can give them. But who are your customers? There are many ways of finding out your target market, indeed books have been written on it. The best way is to use data that is available to you, such as;

Existing customer Data
Market research you may have conducted or bought
Who Influences, decides on and pays for your product. You need to target your message specifically to the right people. And different people within the decision process will want different things!

Finally, you need to determine on how to extend your target market, from your existing customer base, using factors such as;

Location
Industry
Products
Customer Profile

Step 4 - Know your competitors

There is an old saying that goes ? "keeps your friends close and your enemy closer" It is imperative that you know precisely what your competitors are offering. You need to know what they offer, at what price, to whom and where. You also should understand what it is about your competitors that your prospects like, and what they dislike.

Once you understand this, then you need to clearly differentiate, your top customer aligned benefits, from your competitor''s benefits.

Step 5 - Create a value statement for your top 3 benefits including;

This can be the most difficult step, since many people find it difficult to put their thoughts into words. With a clearly defined Customer Value Proposition Statement, your prospects will be able to clearly identify the benefits, in their terms, to enable them to make a buying decision.

If you feel you can do this, you should be sure to include the following 4 items in the Value Statement for each of your offerings and niches.

Time to benefit
Value of benefit
Benefit
Target Audience

Conclusion

Once you have your Value Proposition, clearly defined in a couple of concise statements, you can then start looking at your marketing plan and Budget. Quite simply, in my opinion, spending any money on marketing, without the correct message, is like attacking the high king of Ireland without viable weapons.

We regularly run Value Proposition Workshops, both with industry bodies and on a bespoke basis. At the end of the workshop, you will have the messages that when used in promoting your product correctly, will generate floods of qualified leads.

This article was written by Peter Lawless, founder of 3R Sales and Marketing. For previous articles like this, visit 3R''s Articles. Alternatively, subscribe to Success our free monthly Information Bulletin with sales and marketing articles.