#094 - How To Write A Strong Value Proposition For Your Business

Show Notes

When a person buys your product or service, they’re making a choice. Simply put, they’re choosing you over your competition. But when businesses offer similar features, how do shoppers decide? One way to ensure your business ‘stands out’ is through the powerful marketing messaging of a value proposition.
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In this episode Lori Vajda and Nola Boea are breaking down the steps so you can easily write a value proposition that connects with your ideal customer.

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In This Episode You’ll Learn 

• How a memorable value proposition can convince prospective customers why you’re better than the competition.
• Why ‘job to be done’ is a convincing way to tap into what sets you apart from the competition.
• The simple steps for writing a powerful value proposition. 

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:

• (03:28:22) How your value proposition combines your customers’ wants, needs, and fears with your product or service’s benefits. 
• (05:06.51) How strong messaging captures your audience’s attention.
• (8:53:39) Creative tips to make it easier to craft an unforgettable value proposition.
• (12:23:83) An example of a memorable value proposition by a well known eye glass company.
  

Resources 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Lori: Whether you've started your own business or you're in the process of getting it started, being able to communicate the unique value of your company, its products and services, is what sets you apart from your competitors in the same space. So how do you create messaging that clearly articulates that? Stay tuned friends, because in this episode, we are giving you the steps to write an unforgettable value proposition for your business.

[00:00:26] Announcer: You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where time strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week

[00:00:37] Nola: To be able to powerfully communicate the need your product or service fills as well as its star factor, you need a strong value proposition. Your value prop is a foundation for all your marketing messages and strategies for engaging new customers and clients. Without it, your marketing and sales communications will seem disconnected. In part one, we told you what a value proposition is and why your business needs one, regardless of its size. In this episode, we're giving you the steps to write your company's compelling value prop.

[00:01:08] Lori: A clear and concise value prop is easy to remember and sticks in the minds of prospective customers, current clients, friends, and colleagues, ensuring your brand's value isn't lost in translation. At its core, it expresses what your company does better than anyone else, and why someone should do business with you or buy your products and services. Yet for many entrepreneurs, it can be a challenge to articulate.

[00:01:33] Nola: And we certainly can relate to that. Right, Lori? I mean, think back how many iterations of our value proposition do you suppose we made?

[00:01:41] Lori: More than I've kept track at? There's like a certain number where you stop counting.

[00:01:48] Nola: Which is probably a healthy thing to do. And so,

[00:01:52] Lori: It sure is.

[00:01:53] Nola: Yeah. I mean, we know firsthand how challenging it can be, and it's likely that the very first draft, or even the first few drafts you create will really only be a starting point. And that's okay because as your business grows, your own customers are gonna tell you what you do better than your competitors, in their own words. And this information will shape both your business and your value prop. So before we give you the framework for writing one, we wanna give you a vantage point that we believe will help you.

[00:02:25] Lori: You know, when I was doing research on this, just to make sure that we could concisely convey the steps, I actually came across a recommendation that says every few years, you should change your value prop because as your business grows and your products or services expands, you need to be able to stay in front of the competition. And I think that that is really helpful information So, the idea of the evolution, it definitely is okay.

[00:02:56] Nola: I'm sure it is. My red flags go up because I'm thinking if you're gonna shift your value proposition all the time, you don't wanna keep your customers spinning, wondering who you are. But I think as long as that value proposition is really something that ends up refining and refining and refining little by little, that's one thing. If you just, you're not gonna totally say I'm no longer selling surfboards, I'm selling pencils, then that's a problem.

[00:03:22] Lori: Absolutely. And I agree with you a hundred percent. So with that idea in mind, we talked about the criteria that a listener should keep in mind when they're putting together the steps to write a value prop. Yeah. So can you talk about what that criteria is? Can you remind our listeners or anybody who didn't listen to the first episode or anybody tuning in for the very first time?

[00:03:48] Nola: Sure thing. Just to recap, this is what we covered on our part one. Number one, the compelling value proposition is specific. It tells the customer the specific benefits they're gonna receive. And ideally it should focus on just one single benefit. Like it works faster or it's more powerful, lasts longer, something like that, but just one.

And, number two, it's pain focused. So no, it doesn't cause pain, but it focuses on whatever pain point it's solving. It states clearly and succinctly how your product or service will fix the customer's problem or improve their life.

And number three, it's unique. The way it's articulated, it means that your company stands above all other alternatives in solving that problem or in delivering that outstanding or unusual benefit. So again, it's specific. It's pain focused and it's unique.

[00:04:41] Lori: Again, sticky brand lab. As an example, our announcer says you're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where time strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week. Our value proposition speaks or the criteria speaks to those elements that we're talking about. And we're gonna give more detail a little bit farther down the line, but we're really talking about what you just said.

[00:05:06] Nola: Yes. And when you have a UVP, uh, sorry, that's lingo, UVP, unique value proposition, you don't have to necessarily restate it verbatim on everything. It's really the concept that you're carving out. You do it in writing because it really helps you articulate it. However, you can then create other messaging that points to that same concept. For example, on our website, our hero banner reinforces the same message that the announcer gives, but it's in different words. For example, the headline says, Turn your knowledge or idea into a successful side business adventure. And the subhead explains, Weekly tips, action, steps, and support, so busy professional women like you can confidently start your entrepreneurial journey faster and with more ease. So it's giving the same message.

[00:05:57] Lori: Yep. And even that we shortened it down, so you're right. It fits with what sets us apart from our competition. Nola, are you familiar with Clayton Christensen?
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[00:06:10] Nola: You know, I am, I watched something or read something and I remember he left a really great impression. Don't ask me what, and I do know he is deceased now, but I remember thinking he's a real classic and has a really cool perspective of way of seeing things. Why do you ask?

[00:06:27] Lori: Because for a couple reasons. Actually, I've seen him on Ted talks and he gives really good Ted talks and some other interviews. So, Clayton Christensen was a Harvard Business School professor and he actually came up with a theory called Jobs To Be Done. This happened while he was doing research and I'm most certain it was with McDonald. So McDonald's had expanded to sell breakfast items and they wanted to understand why they weren't doing as well. More importantly, they wanted to understand why people weren't buying the breakfast items and choosing some other things. In this case, it turned out to be milkshakes. So he set up a research team. There was somebody on the inside tracking what people were purchasing, and then there was somebody on the outside who interviewed the customer to find out what the rationale was for their purchases. And what they ended up finding was that very early in the morning, a great portion of the customers for McDonald's were buying milkshakes, which seemed kind of weird for first thing in the morning. And what they found in their interview was that there were a number of reasons why people were buying the milkshakes. One, they were stuck in traffic and the milkshakes were of a decent size. They stayed cold through rush hour traffic. Two, they could hold the milkshake in their hand or even better, they could put it in their console, and so they could pick it up and drink it while they were driving and maneuvering in traffic.

[00:08:01] Nola: Mm-hmm

[00:08:02] Lori: And three, the milkshake kept them full, pretty much close to lunchtime. So it had a number of values to it. So when he looked at the product, if you will, he saw that people hired the product you could say, or service, to do a job. In this case, you could say to be convenient, to keep them full, to offer nutrition, because it's milk based, and to be delicious, right?

[00:08:33] Nola: All while in transit. Yep. Yeah. Convenient. Mm-hmm

[00:08:37] Lori: So when you compare why people were making that purchase to the criteria that you talk about, it's easy to see what the specific benefits were, what the pain was that the customer was hiring the milkshake to do, and what makes it unique.

[00:08:53] Nola: Yes, that Job's To Be Done perspective, I think will really help in writing a value proposition. So why don't we get down to it? When you start writing your value proposition, we're gonna ask you four questions and you need to get out your pencil and paper, unless you, of course, are driving with your milkshake, then just make mental notes or read the transcripts later. But anyway,

[00:09:16] Lori: Or re-listen.

[00:09:17] Nola: Re-listen. There you go. There's that. So, first question you wanna ask and answer is, What is my brand offering? Literally. What is my brand offering? Number two? What job does the customer hire my brand to do? Number three, what companies and products compete with my brand to do this same job for the customer? Number four, what sets my brand apart from those competitors?

It seems like it would be pretty simple, but it really does take some thinking through to make sure that you can really differentiate your product or service, your brand, from everybody else out there. So just for example, let's go through our Sticky Brand Lab. Just because we know this one.

So, the answer to the question, What is my brand offering? Well, we offer the specific elements for starting a business and we bring on guests that either share their story for inspiration, or they talk about how they applied specific elements of starting a business.

Number two, the answer to What job does the customer hire my brand to do? For us, customers hire, basically hire that's in air quotes, our podcast to help them break down the action into small, doable steps that they can take in 30 minutes a day or three hours a week.

 Number three, What companies and products compete with our brand to do this job for the customer? Our answer is, you know, what? All of those side hustle type podcasts out there.

And number four, What sets our brand apart from those competitors? We found that the majority of those showing people how to start a business are primarily male and under 45. Whereas we are women and over that pristine age of 45.

[00:11:20] Lori: We are. And our actual number is unlisted.

[00:11:23] Nola: It's unlisted.

[00:11:25] Lori: So using another example. Are you familiar with Warby Parkers?

[00:11:32] Nola: They are an online eyewear shop, right?

[00:11:37] Lori: Yes. So the story behind them, when they started a long time ago, was they were three college students. And I don't remember exactly if all three of them wore glasses or not, but what ended up happening is as struggling college students, one, and then another one ended up breaking their glasses. And to get them new glasses was so expensive. And in doing research as to why that would be, what they found out was that eyeglass companies, whether it's a Pearl or some of the other discounts out there, or you go into your own local optometrist, and you look at the frames or order contacts, all of those really are a monopoly owned by a few companies.

[00:12:23] Nola: Wow.

[00:12:23] Lori: So, yeah. They set the price on this, creating an opportunity for these struggling college students. So you could say that, what the brand offers, the Warby brand offers is affordable, designer eyewear, including contacts. You could say that the customer hires them to provide high quality eyewear at affordable prices. And the customer does that because the company gives back to the community in a convenient way. Number three, which is, What companies and products competes? You could say all the other eyewear brands out there, which really is maybe three. Okay. When you think about it and number four, What sets their brand apart from their competitors? And that's their commitment to give back to the community and it's to sell eyewear at an affordable price.

[00:13:22] Nola: Okay.

[00:13:23] Lori: So you could think about how would they draft their value proposition? And actually, there was a time where on their website, it said, Buying eyewear should leave you happy and good looking with money in your pocket, glasses, sunglasses, and contacts. We've got your eyes covered.

But since then, and we, you and I talked about this. In the beginning, you have iterations as customers give you feedback. You get to learn what really sets you apart. And as you expand your products and service, so do you change your value prop, but it's not a 180, it's more like thin slicing. It's more like just a touch and improvement. If you were to go to Warby and look at their website, now what you would see is messaging that says, We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good looking with money in your pocket. You could say that they took their longer message and shortened it.

Beyond that, there's another set of messaging that says, In the fall of 2019, we launched our first ever brand of daily contacts. Scout by Warby Parker. We believe that buying contacts should be easy and fun. Just like shopping for glasses. Plus leave you happy with money in your pocket.

[00:14:43] Nola: Now we see the connection, how it has iterated little by little, and it's expanded with a new product, but still kept its value proposition.

[00:14:52] Lori: Yeah. They're not writing a whole new value proposition. They recognize what sets them apart. They recognize the pain that the customer feels. They recognize who their competition is. And they're not saying anything negative. They're focusing on their client, the benefits.
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[00:15:08] Nola: Well listeners, thank you so much for tuning into this episode. We hope it makes all the difference in you getting started on your value proposition so you can create your best business and most exciting life. If you found the information shared here today helpful, do let us know by posting here where you're listening or on our Facebook page.
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[00:15:30] Lori: Not sure how to turn your idea into a profitable side business? Contact us at sticky brandlab.com/contact. We'd be happy to help you.

[00:15:40] Nola: Be sure to come back next Tuesday and every Tuesday for another informative, inspiring and motivating episode. And remember. Action creates results. So tap into your desire to create a business and brand you love by taking 1% action every day. Small steps, big effects.

[OUT-TAKE]

[00:15:59] Lori: Am I matching what I'm hearing people tell me sets me apart from others.

[00:16:05] Nola: The end.

[00:16:07] Lori: The end done.