Today I want to talk about Unique Value Propositions and share a couple of pointers to help you all formulate that Unique Value Proposition.
One of the questions that gets people stumbling most often when we’re having our initial meetings is just that – when I ask them, you know, what’s your unique value proposition? And they’ll usually just chime off a list of their products and services that they do. And that is not a unique value proposition. So I want to share three or four areas that you want to address when you’re putting together unique value proposition.
Number one, start with your target market. Who is the business or who is that person that you’re trying to sell to? Who is the customer that that’s going to benefit from your product or service? Follow that up with what makes you different. You know there’s probably competitors in your space.
Why are you better or what makes you different so that your target market, that customer would choose you because you’re the better choice for that product or service. Then you want to work in some pain points that you help solve. So what are the problems your customer’s having that your product or service will solve for them? And lastly, you can sprinkle in some of your company values or things that your company stands for. Now this will help you put together an all encompassing statement that covers exactly what you do as a company, right?
So let’s take a quick look at an example of a bad, unique value proposition statement and a good one. So a bad one could be, we are a website design company that build websites for businesses in Toronto, right? So two things that are really wrong right off the bat, you’re not defining what you do specifically enough.
It’s just a website. There’s thousands of kinds of websites out there. Secondly, Toronto is full of every kind of business of every shape and size. So you’re not really demonstrating who you’re gonna really work well with. So a better way to do that could be, we built digital marketing strategies for furniture companies in the Toronto area to help them grow their online presence and grow their online sales with a lower cost of acquisition.
See what I did there? I identified exactly who I’m working with. I identified exactly the type of company that we want to work with, what we do. And notice I didn’t say the word website because you don’t want to pigeonhole yourself into service, right? Someone may not be looking for a website, but they’re looking for an online strategy or something online to make their business better.
So take these tips and a suggestion for you is, you know, make a list on a piece of paper and talk about your target market. List out what makes you different. List out the pain points your customers are having and what your company stands for, and then dwindle it all down and try to condense it all into one sentence. You don’t have to tell the world everything you do in the unique value proposition, but you want to give them a good overview of what you do. Quickly get to the point so that they can ask more questions.
