What's Your Value Proposition?

In reading yesterday, I came across the buzz word “value proposition.” As a person from the school of direct response, it was refreshing to see that brand marketers actually know and use the concept of the value proposition.

Anyhow, let’s take a brief look at value propositions and I’ll chime in with my two cents.

First, what is a value proposition? A value proposition is simply a short statement or message that clearly communicates the benefits a potential client receives by using your product, service or idea. A value proposition takes all of the intricate details and complexities of the sales pitch and condenses them down to answer the question of “What are you going to do for me?”

With the question above in mind, just think about how many times people have attempted to sell you on the basis of “we’re the best” or “we’ve won these awards” or other non specific pitches. If you’re like most, you could care less about awards and claims of this and that. Bottom line… companies want to know “What are you going to do for them?”

And this is where the value proposition comes into play. Awards don’t provide value to a prospective client but tangible results specific to that prospective client do. A good marketer pitches ideas on the basis of solid measurables – increasing brand awareness, strengthening brand identity, delivering actionables, etc.

For instance, when I present to clients, I don’t go in and base my pitch solely on vague, conceptual ideas or past accolades. My value proposition is simple. I answer the question “What are you going to do for me?” based on real actionables and real numbers that can be expected at certain levels of commitment. In other words, my value proposition is that you can expect “X” number of actions (leads, sales, reservations, downloads, etc.) based upon a budget of “Y” dollars.