Knowing your value proposition for business is such a fundamental part of business plan and a key element in your brand messaging.

As part of two New Business and Entrepreneur programs I’ve been delivering this year, we’ve focused a lot on messaging to ensure you can articulate your value to potential clients. One of the tasks is creating a succinct statement for their Business Model Canvas.

The reality was that both groups struggled with this exercise. By the end of the day, they each admitted to a little brain drain. What often happened in these groups is that it was easier for someone to help another business owner come up with their statement, while they struggled to do their own.

I’ve done this many times now and I know that the more minds that are working on crafting this with you, the easier it is. The closer we are to our businesses, often the harder it is.

So let’s look at what you need to do to start creating your own…

What is a value proposition for business?

If you’ve never heard the term before or someone’s suggested you need to create one, but you don’t quite understand what is it you’re creating, then break it down into its simplest form.

A value proposition is the value you’re promising your ideal client you will deliver. It’s answering “why” they should invest with you over anyone else.

Too often we know why our business is the best choice for someone, but we just don’t articulate that – or know HOW to articulate that.

While a value statement is only a simple statement, rather than a long marketing message, the simplicity of it is what often prevents business owners from coming up with their statement in the first place. You don’t need to get too fancy with this one., but you do need to explain the:

• Problem: Identify the problem or pain you help solve
• Benefits: What are the benefits of what the client will receive?
• Advantage: Highlight why they should invest with you rather than your competitors. What’s your advantage?

all in one statement.

Why do you need a clear value proposition?

When you clearly state your value on your website, within seconds you can capture their attention by sharing the benefits of why they should stick around. Effectively, it can help confirm you as the best option and encourage someone to take action with you.

You may get a little confused by all the different terms you need to create within your business fundamentals and marketing messages. I get it. It can feel like all these different pieces are a little too alike and you may wonder why you have to create each.

Here’s how it fits into the bigger picture:

• Your tagline conveys your ONE big idea
• Your value proposition for business bridges the gap between what your customer wants and what you offer. It, should support the one big idea.
• Your brand message is the story that creates a visual for people to better understand your tagline and value proposition. This brand message then allows you to create marketing messages that align with your overall business.
• Your content spreads your value and brand message to a wider audience.

Do you need ALL of these? My thoughts are that you do what’s right for your business. Some have combined their tagline and value statements into one short heading. As long as someone can clearly see the value of your business to them when they land on your website, that’s the main goal. Without it, they’ll leave.

How to write a value proposition for a business plan, website or speaking

One thing before we start is to understand that your first version won’t be perfect. You’ll need to keep refining it over a period of time to capture the perfect statement. You may even notice the big brands are continually evolving their statements as well.

During the New Business program I facilitate, we bring together all the assets we’ve created BEFORE starting to write our value proposition for Business Model Canvas. This can make writing the statement must easier and ensures you stick to what’s important to your brand and your customers. These assets include:

Vision

The vision is the why of your business. It shares your aspirations and is a guide for your team on where you’re going.

Mission

The mission is the “what” and the “how”. This shares what you do and helps you focus on your core purpose and key goals to help achieve your vision.

Values

You need to align your actions with your values. Whether it’s marketing your business or getting team members to truly represent the brand, they first need to know what the values are. What characteristics tie your past successes together and what do clients thank you for?

Unique Selling Proposition

What is it that makes your business unique? This is your distinct advantages that helps you stand out from other businesses. It could be anything from price, quality, value, design, the way you deliver your service, the performance, a guarantee or choices on offer. It may even come down to concepts or words. Or even a small element of your offer that’s different, but highly valued.

Ideal Client

You need to know who your ideal client is. This isn’t a broad “target market”, but drilling down to a specific person (or a few key client types) to help you better visualise who it is you’re creating your services and products for. The clearer you are on your client avatar, the easier it is to do all of the above elements – and your value proposition for business.

The basic question you want to ask is “how is my business different and why should they choose my business over a competitors?”.

There are different models you can use to create your statement. You can capture that first version using what is probably one of the simplest temples – the Steve Blank model:

We help X do Y by doing Z.

• We help X = Pain Island

Who is your ideal client and what is the problem or pain your ideal client is experiencing? What is their “before state”?

• Do Y = Pleasure Island

Where do they want to be.? What does life look like once you’ve helped them? What customer needs are you satisfying?

• by doing Z = The Canoe

What value are you delivering to the customer as the canoe to take them from pain island to pleasure island? Why is your offering unique or different to what others are doing? Your unique selling proposition should help you here.

Other frameworks include the Value Proposition Canvas from Peter Thomson. This is a more complex model if you want to delve deeper

The real challenge with a value statement is that there are different formulas but no real set rules around how best to format it. Some create a one-sentence statement or headline, others go over two or more sentences, then there are bullet point form.

I think that’s one of the reasons people struggle with writing it, because there’s no formula for it.

Ultimately though, it needs to speak to a customer’s challenge, position your business as the solution and highlight your value to the client. Yeah, easy right?

Let’s try some examples.

Value proposition examples to inspire you

It’s often easier to see how to write one when you can look at different types. So here are some example to help inspire you:

Shopify

• The ecommerce platform made for you: More than a million of the world’s most successful brands trust Shopify to sell, ship and process payments anywhere.

This tells me that they’re a preferred provider and references the “more than a million users” which creates social proof. Not to mention, it sells me on how I can do every element of my shop all in one platform, creating ease.

WordPress.org

• Beautiful designs, powerful features, and the freedom to build anything you want. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

I love that their statement is empowering to the user, which especially appeals to the creative soul. However, the real key to this one is “both free and priceless”, which shows that while it won’t cost you anything to use, its value is hard to put a price tag on.

Groove

• Everything you need to start selling online in 1 place

LIke Shopify, they’ve zeroed in on being a holistic solution for your marketing and sales. Having used a myriad of different tools over the years and now being signed up to Groove myself, I can see the benefits of having everything in one place. No more using third party tools to help one tool “talk” to another. Many a launch has gone wrong because these integrations have failed.

There’s even a statement at the top of the page that says “Over 550,000 new users this year made us the world’s fastest growing CRM and marketing automation platform for digital and eCommerce marketers”. This statement adds plenty of social proof and confidence in why you’d want to invest in this option. Of course, if you’re going to use a statement like that, make sure you can back it up with proof.

Shirley Dalton

• I partner with overwhelmed, pissed off or stuck business owners to align your business, people and systems so you can reclaim your freedom and enjoy your ideal business lifestyle 

Shirley is a client of mine who specialises in leadership development. She focuses on three areas – people, processes and possibilities. Creating the value proposition first, enabled us to more easily create her tagline. Often people feel they have to come up with the tagline first, then the value statement, then the brand message. You’ll find it much easier if you start with the value first.

The eventual tagline was then:

RECLAIM YOUR FREEDOM – Align Your Business, People and Systems 

Kellie O’Brien Media

• Empowering service businesses to use storytelling, strategies and systems to build a legacy business that repays you and your family long into the future.

As an online marketing business coach and consultant, a key strength of mine is having spent 16 years as a journalist, having written a biography of a high profile business couple, and a few other things that all centre on the skill of storytelling. My goal is to help business owners build assets that will build upon the next, in turn building their business for longevity.

I use elements of this in my elevator pitch and on my Online Marketing Mastermind sales page.

My tagline then became: Share your story. Build your brand

Where to use your statement?

You can be as creative as you like when it comes to using your value proposition, but a few key areas you want to focus on is:

1. The homepage of your website to ensure people who visit instantly know why they should care about your business or offer
2. Any online or offline marketing you’re doing, including within your social media, brochures, automated email sequences etc
3. Your elevator pitch or within conversations when meeting new people

How to achieve the best value proposition possible

As mentioned, it’s rare to create the perfect proposition on the first go. If you’re working with a team, it may require a few sessions together to come up with the perfect copy. The truth is, it will evolve over time. If you go into this exercise with that mindset, you’ll save yourself a lot of stress.

You also need to remind yourself that your ideal client will evolve and, therefore, so will your statement. Revisit it each year to ensure it still aligns with your business and clients.

If you need help in writing your value proposition for business or even your vision, mission, unique selling proposition or brand story, become part of the next Online Marketing Mastermind or simply reach out.