How do I develop a Unique Value Proposition?

In marketing, a unique value proposition can be defined as a concise statement demonstrating the benefits a company provides to its customers with its product or service. It is a ”clear, simple statement of the tangible and intangible benefits that the company will provide, along with the approximate price it will charge each customer segment for those benefits.’‘

The proposition must quickly identify and communicate the main benefit of the product or service for the consumer.

The importance of a value proposition:

A value proposition can be the one factor that sets you apart from your competitors. It is a simple text that lets the consumer clearly understand the benefit they will receive in purchasing your product or service, thus providing current and potential customers with why they should engage with your business.

A solid value proposition is crucial for a company’s success and survival in today’s competitive landscape. A value proposition is essential not only for your consumers but also for your entire business ecosystem. A value proposition allows all employees to clearly understand what they are working towards and aim to deliver in all aspects of work for the business.

The three critical elements of a value proposition:

Relevancy

How does your value proposition identify your consumer’s problems or issues and address how your product or service will solve them? First, your value proposition must be relevant to your current consumers and target audience.

You must construct this text to speak to this audience in a language they already understand. There is no purpose in using sophisticated jargon that they may need help understanding. By keeping your language simple, concise, and consumer appropriate, you can join in on the conversation they already have about the product.

Quantified Value

The following critical elements of your value proposition outline the quantified value for your consumer. First, you must demonstrate your product or service’s key benefits and what the consumer will gain from making a purchase. What is the overall value that you provide? This can include functional value, monetary value, social value, psychological value, or even a combination of these values.

Differentiation

The final element of your unique value proposition is differentiation. Here you must illustrate to your consumer why they should purchase your product or service over your competitors. This step requires an in-depth understanding of your competitors and your product.

You must understand the value your competitor’s product brings and how you differ from them in a way that will provide value for your customer. After reading your value proposition, the audience should understand what your business’s product or service offers better than your competitors and what sets you apart from the rest of the pack.

Developing a unique value proposition

A unique value proposition isn’t a catchphrase or position statement. Avoid using taglines and slogans; although helpful in other areas of marketing, these should be separate from your value proposition. Your unique value proposition should only consist of who you are, what you provide, the value you provide, how you offer it, and how you differ from others.

It should be clear, concise, and easy for your intended consumer. Complicated jargon should be avoided to ensure your consumers clearly understand what you provide while only having to read it once.  

Format for a value proposition

There is no one size fits all formula to writing a unique value proposition. How it is structured is up to you and what works best for your business. With value propositions, simple is good, and an excellent basic structure is a headline, sub-headline, bullet points of features/benefits, and an engaging image. This is a simple but often effective starting point for your business, but you should ensure to change it to address all your needs.

According to research from CXL Institute, users prefer the information to be listed in bullet form. This is because they spent a long time on the value proposition compared to elsewhere on the page if there was more to read, and more people could recall the purpose of the product or service if there was more information provided in the value proposition.

The key takeaway from this data is that it is beneficial to provide sufficient information about your product or service and its purpose; however, to do this in concise, easy-to-read bullet points.

A unique value proposition is essential in illustrating to your current, and potential consumers what your product/service is, how purchasing it will benefit them and how you are different from your competitors. It should be referred to every step from the first introduction to final product delivery.

It should be understood by every person in the business involved in the sales and marketing of the product or service to ensure the success of your campaign.   

By Struan Thomson