Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2006 5:56:46 GMT -5
Creating A Value Proposition For Your Business
Copyright © 2005 Trey Pennewell
the Phantom Writers
thephantomwriters.com/
Marketing experts have long been using the concept of creating a
value proposition for their services or products. If you do not
know what your value proposition is or even what a value
proposition is then you need to spend some time developing one.
A value proposition has many names. Some refer to a value
proposition as a unique selling point or an inferred positioning
statement. No matter what name you give it, a value proposition
is critical for a business to successfully sell their product or
service.
A value proposition has three primary elements that you should
focus on. The first of these elements is the target market
segment. Who are you trying to sell your product to? Who do you
believe that your customer base is? These are easy questions to
answer for some while difficult for others. If you are selling
men’s hair coloring to remove gray hair then it is easy to
identify your target market. You are looking for men over 40
years old primarily. If you are selling make-up then you are
focusing on women only. However some products make it more
difficult to define the target market segment. If for example,
you are selling automobiles then you want to appeal to a vast
array of people, men, women, various age groups, etc. You need to
spend time thinking about which target market segment that you
want to buy your product or service and whom you think will
actually purchase it. If you are selling high dollar furniture,
you do not want to market to a lower socioeconomic customer base.
If you are selling low priced automobiles, you will want to focus
on that market segment instead of the more affluent market.
The second element to a successful value proposition is the
reasons why a customer would buy your product or service. This is
a point of differentiation amongst your competitors. Put simply,
why would a potential customer choose your product or service
over a competitor? Depending on your marketing strategy there
are a variety of reasons that a customer may choose you
over a competitor. Some of these reasons may include, price
differentiation, quality, brand name, customer service, etc. As a
business owner you need to decide which of these factors you want
to focus on the most. Do you want to set your product apart from
others because of the price? Do you want to draw a customer base
that is focused on quality? Of course in a perfect world we would
offer the customer the best of all these categories, but that is
very hard to achieve. Appealing to both the cost conscience and
the person looking for name brands is quite challenging and may
very well be impractical.
The third element of a successful value proposition is comparison
with other products. This is similar to defining why customers
would choose your product or service over others. This is a frame
of reference for you and for potential customers. If you sell Kia
automobiles your frame of reference will likely be on the value
of the vehicle. Conversely, if you sell Mercedes automobiles your
frame of reference will be on the prestige associated with it and
the quality of the vehicle. Volvo is often associated with being
the leader in safety in the automobile industry so their frame of
reference is different from both Kia and Mercedes. Understand
that all of these automakers are extremely successful in their
individual target markets. You too must choose what approach you
want to take with your product or service line. Do you want to
position your product as a value, a prestige product, a higher
quality, etc.? Once you have decided what your frame of reference
is you can begin your marketing campaign.
It is critical that you choose a marketing position that you
can defend. Much like Kia is able to defend their claim to be
inexpensive, Volvo has numbers to back up their safety claims.
Positioning involves making a clear choice of the target
segment to be served, the points of difference compared to the
competitors and the frame of reference for the customers. A
successful business offers more than one single benefit and
appeals to more than one segment of the market while staying
focused on the key benefit of that product or service while
identifying to whom it has the greatest appeal. Positioning
allows the business to choose with whom it competes.
Now look at your product or service and start thinking carefully
about what you want your value proposition to be. It is quite
difficult to change that value proposition once it has been
implemented. For example, consider if Kia tried to compete with
the customer base that Mercedes has. It would be quite difficult
to implement, although not impossible. So get started today in
developing that value proposition before throwing away money on
misdirected advertisements.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Trey Pennewell ghost writes for thePhantomWriters.com .
Before joining the Phantom Writers, he had written keyword
optimized content for hundreds of websites, to pay his way
through college. He continues to write because he enjoys the
process of research and writing content that others will find
valuable. He has written on topics ranging from internet
technology to online business and marketing, and he has even
written on topics related to his degree fields of sociology
and medical business administration.
Copyright © 2005 Trey Pennewell
the Phantom Writers
thephantomwriters.com/
Marketing experts have long been using the concept of creating a
value proposition for their services or products. If you do not
know what your value proposition is or even what a value
proposition is then you need to spend some time developing one.
A value proposition has many names. Some refer to a value
proposition as a unique selling point or an inferred positioning
statement. No matter what name you give it, a value proposition
is critical for a business to successfully sell their product or
service.
A value proposition has three primary elements that you should
focus on. The first of these elements is the target market
segment. Who are you trying to sell your product to? Who do you
believe that your customer base is? These are easy questions to
answer for some while difficult for others. If you are selling
men’s hair coloring to remove gray hair then it is easy to
identify your target market. You are looking for men over 40
years old primarily. If you are selling make-up then you are
focusing on women only. However some products make it more
difficult to define the target market segment. If for example,
you are selling automobiles then you want to appeal to a vast
array of people, men, women, various age groups, etc. You need to
spend time thinking about which target market segment that you
want to buy your product or service and whom you think will
actually purchase it. If you are selling high dollar furniture,
you do not want to market to a lower socioeconomic customer base.
If you are selling low priced automobiles, you will want to focus
on that market segment instead of the more affluent market.
The second element to a successful value proposition is the
reasons why a customer would buy your product or service. This is
a point of differentiation amongst your competitors. Put simply,
why would a potential customer choose your product or service
over a competitor? Depending on your marketing strategy there
are a variety of reasons that a customer may choose you
over a competitor. Some of these reasons may include, price
differentiation, quality, brand name, customer service, etc. As a
business owner you need to decide which of these factors you want
to focus on the most. Do you want to set your product apart from
others because of the price? Do you want to draw a customer base
that is focused on quality? Of course in a perfect world we would
offer the customer the best of all these categories, but that is
very hard to achieve. Appealing to both the cost conscience and
the person looking for name brands is quite challenging and may
very well be impractical.
The third element of a successful value proposition is comparison
with other products. This is similar to defining why customers
would choose your product or service over others. This is a frame
of reference for you and for potential customers. If you sell Kia
automobiles your frame of reference will likely be on the value
of the vehicle. Conversely, if you sell Mercedes automobiles your
frame of reference will be on the prestige associated with it and
the quality of the vehicle. Volvo is often associated with being
the leader in safety in the automobile industry so their frame of
reference is different from both Kia and Mercedes. Understand
that all of these automakers are extremely successful in their
individual target markets. You too must choose what approach you
want to take with your product or service line. Do you want to
position your product as a value, a prestige product, a higher
quality, etc.? Once you have decided what your frame of reference
is you can begin your marketing campaign.
It is critical that you choose a marketing position that you
can defend. Much like Kia is able to defend their claim to be
inexpensive, Volvo has numbers to back up their safety claims.
Positioning involves making a clear choice of the target
segment to be served, the points of difference compared to the
competitors and the frame of reference for the customers. A
successful business offers more than one single benefit and
appeals to more than one segment of the market while staying
focused on the key benefit of that product or service while
identifying to whom it has the greatest appeal. Positioning
allows the business to choose with whom it competes.
Now look at your product or service and start thinking carefully
about what you want your value proposition to be. It is quite
difficult to change that value proposition once it has been
implemented. For example, consider if Kia tried to compete with
the customer base that Mercedes has. It would be quite difficult
to implement, although not impossible. So get started today in
developing that value proposition before throwing away money on
misdirected advertisements.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Trey Pennewell ghost writes for thePhantomWriters.com .
Before joining the Phantom Writers, he had written keyword
optimized content for hundreds of websites, to pay his way
through college. He continues to write because he enjoys the
process of research and writing content that others will find
valuable. He has written on topics ranging from internet
technology to online business and marketing, and he has even
written on topics related to his degree fields of sociology
and medical business administration.