The Value of a Value Prop - Part 2

 

INTRODUCTION

Everyone in business – and in marketing especially – knows that you need to have a value proposition (aka, value prop). But yet, no one really seems to know why, it’s just one of those things that if you’re in business, you’re supposed to have.

What’s worse, many marketers don’t know what a value prop should include or how to develop one.

In Part 1 of this blog we discussed what a value proposition is and why you need one. In Part 2 of this blog, we’ll explain how to quickly and easily craft an effective value proposition.

HOW TO DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE VALUE PROP

How do I develop a value prop that isn’t just a restatement of other marketing materials?

While there are many ways you can go about developing a value prop, it basically boils down to a few simple steps:

STEP 1

The first and most important thing to remember when developing a value proposition is that a value prop is NOT a sales pitch. This is critical, because too many marketers don’t understand that fact. You’re not trying to sell a customer on anything through the value prop. All you’re trying to accomplish is to generate interest in the buyer.

STEP 2

Next you need to gather information on the following and make certain you understand it:

 

• What your product does
• What the customer problem is that your product solves
• What the value of your product is to your customer
• What makes your product different/better than the competition
• Why a customer should buy your product over the competition

This is the minimum amount of information you need to begin developing a value prop. However, the more in-depth knowledge you have about this information, the better you’ll be able to develop the value prop.

STEP 3

Once you’ve gathered the above information, then the value prop development process actually begins. The easiest way to start is by writing short, informative sentences that encapsulate the above information. As you begin writing these statements, be sure to use a strong, active voice in the sentences, not a passive voice.

Write down as many of these sentences as you can, remembering that at this point, the main thing you want to accomplish is to distill the information into sentences. In effect, this is a brainstorming exercise based on what you know about your product, your customers, and your competition.

Don’t begin judging or editing the sentences yet, that will come in the next step. Right now you just want to begin crafting them.

STEP 4

After you’ve created the initial sentences, then begin the editing process. This is where the information you’ve gathered begins taking shape into the actual value proposition. As you begin editing, remember that the value prop you’re developing should be a concise distillation of the most critical information and ideas that you want to communicate to your customers, so that it gives them a reason to want to learn more.

Begin editing by reviewing the statements to determine what information is redundant or unclear, which statements are too long or too wordy, etc. Doing this helps you begin to rethink the statements you’ve written to determine how you can revise or restate them, making them much more crisp, clear and concise. As you go through that process, you should also begin combining and refining the statements, as that is what you will use to create the value proposition.

While many marketers think that this process is a one-and-done type of process, the reality is that this process will take some time; you won’t create the perfect value prop after only one try. Developing a value prop is an iterative process, so it will likely take several attempts.

Repeat these steps as often as is necessary until you’ve developed a tight, well-written value prop that provides your customer with a reason to want to learn more about your product.

SUMMARY

That’s really all there is to it. Developing a value prop is an iterative process, it’s not something that you can just create once and be done.

Remember, that in order to be effective, a value prop needs to be:

• Focused on the customer outcome, not the product/service/solution
• Use a strong, active voice, not a weak, passive voice
• Crisp, clear, concise
• Provable, supportable (if you can’t quantitatively prove it, with quantifiable data, then don’t use it; anecdotal evidence is useless)
• Tells a story, but in just a few sentences
• Clearly defines your advantage over the competition
• Appeals to the customer’s strongest needs and business drivers

 

 

© 2021 – Richard Hatheway / Catalyst Strategic Marketing

 

 

#marketing #valueprop #valueproposition

The Value of a Value Prop - Part 1

 

INTRODUCTION

Everyone in business – and in marketing especially – knows that you need to have a value proposition (aka, value prop). But yet, no one really seems to know why; it’s just one of those things that if you’re in business, you’re supposed to have.

This blog will explain what a value prop is and why you need one.

WHAT IS A VALUE PROP

Let’s begin by defining what a value proposition really is.

A value proposition is simply a statement that clearly and concisely summarizes the value that your product or solution provides to the end customer. That’s it. The value prop length may be from one to several sentences long, but is typically not longer than 2-4 sentences. The value prop may also include a concise summary of the problems the product, service or solution solves or the issues it addresses. The purpose of the value prop is to make the customer interested in finding out more information about the product, service or solution.

That’s straightforward and simple, right?

Sadly, no. Too many times a value prop comes across as nothing more than a poorly worded, passively voiced version of existing marketing materials. Instead of providing customers with a clearly stated reason to find out more about your product, you’ve done the exact opposite – you’ve proven that your business is just like all the other companies out there that really don’t get it. What’s even worse is that instead of trying to understand what the customer really needs, you’re trying to tell them what you think they want.

That’s why most value props are junk and don’t work. Instead of understanding the customer’s perspective so that you provide them with an incentive to learn more, most value props are just trying to push a product.

WHY A VALUE PROP IS CRITICAL

In the post-COVID-19 world, many businesses now work remotely, so your value proposition is often the first piece of information about your company or product that a customer encounters. This is because in today’s digital-first world, buyers typically turn to the Internet first when doing research. As your value proposition may include some of the search terms a potential buyer may use, your value prop may actually show up in the search results.

This means your value prop has to be compelling. It has to be clear. It has to be concise. It has to motivate a buyer to want to learn more about your product.

However, if your value prop is not written effectively, it won’t do any of that and you’ve lost an opportunity for a potential sale.

That’s why you need a value prop. That’s why your value prop needs to be well-written.

That’s the value of your value prop.

SUMMARY

A value proposition is often your introduction to a customer, which is the primary reason you need one. As such, it needs to be clear, engaging, and focused on the customer needs, not the product.

In Part 2 of this blog, we’ll discuss How to Develop an Effective Value Prop.

 

 

© 2021 – Richard Hatheway / Catalyst Strategic Marketing

 

#marketing #valueprop #valueproposition

 

MARKETING 101 – DON’T FORGET THE BASICS

 

OVERVIEW

Marketing, like any other aspect of business, requires careful planning to be effective. However, depending on the type of business, there are many different types and styles of marketing, ranging from traditional marketing to digital marketing that can be used to help a business grow. However, regardless of the type of marketing used, there are several basic steps that must be followed in order for it to be successful.

This blog will briefly highlight the basic steps that all marketers should follow before beginning development of any marketing activity.

GETTING STARTED

Regardless of the type, size, or scope of your marketing campaign or activity, there are certain steps that must be done first in order for it to be successful. Unfortunately, many marketers often skip these steps. They seem to think that marketing doesn’t really require any planning, so they jump straight into the development process. Then when their marketing fails, they blame it on anything other than their own lack of preparation.

That’s a sure formula for failure.

In order for any marketing activity to be effective, there are some basic steps that must be taken to help provide the foundation for that activity, as well as to help inform the marketing strategy development. To make that process easier, I’ve developed a simple, three-step method – the RTM Method.

RTM stands for Research, Targeting, Metrics. Here’s how it works:

STEP ONE – RESEARCH

The development of any marketing activity begins the same way – doing your research. Depending on what exactly your marketing goals are, there are different areas of research that will need to be done.

In general though, there are several standard areas that should be included in all of your marketing research:

• Understand the business goals you need to accomplish via marketing
• Know what the sales expectations are
• Know who the target/desired customer is
• Understand the customer’s business/infrastructure/IT environment
• Know the customer’s pain points and concerns
• Know the customer’s buying process and lifecycle
• Understand where/when/how the customer does research
• Understand in what format the customer prefers to receive information
• Know the market
• Know the competitive situation

This type of research provides you with the necessary insight and knowledge of your customer and their situation. This information also helps you clarify and understand exactly what it is that your marketing needs to accomplish.

Without this basic level of information and understanding, your marketing will fail.

STEP TWO – TARGETING

Once you’ve gathered the above information, use that information to take the following next steps:

• Develop your segmentation plan
• Develop personas for your targeted customer
• Develop your targeting
• Develop your positioning and messaging
• Develop your CTAs

These steps are necessary to help you understand who your targeted customer is, what is important to them, and how best to reach and engage with them.

Without this type of information, your marketing will not be focused.

STEP THREE – METRICS

Finally, before you begin developing any marketing actions, you need to:

• Decide what you will track and how you will measure your marketing results
• Establish the OKRs, analytics, metrics, and KPIs you’ll need
• Determine when/how you will analyze the data
• Plan what your response will be to the results (e.g., keep doing what you’re doing, tweak/make a change to what you’re doing, do something else, stop)

Doing this ensures that you’ll be able to track your marketing activities to see if they’re hitting the mark or not, along with taking the appropriate data-driven action(s). While it seems obvious to do this, sadly, this is typically what most marketers fail to include.

Without supporting metrics data, you won’t know if your marketing worked or not.

SUMMARY

The above steps are not complicated. They are, however, critical to marketing success.

By following these basic steps and taking time to do the necessary research, you’ve laid the proper foundation to develop your marketing activities. Your planning will be easier and more effective, as you’ve clarified who the customers are that you’re targeting, what their pain points are, and how you need to engage with them. Most importantly, you’ve clarified what you need to accomplish via marketing, how you will measure it and how you will adjust it if necessary.

This makes your marketing better positioned to deliver successful results for your business.

 

© 2021 – Richard Hatheway / Catalyst Strategic Marketing

 

 

#marketing #marketingbasics #marketingfoundation #marketingplanning #marketingresearch #marketingtargeting #marketingmetrics

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MARKETING

OVERVIEW

In the COVID-19-influenced world, a company’s digital presence is typically the first thing a customer turns to or discovers when they seek information about your products or services. That’s why the use of digital marketing is critical to business success.

This article will provide an introduction to what digital marketing is, some items to consider when developing a digital marketing strategy, and some of the different digital marketing channels that are available for you to use.

DIGITAL MARKETING 101

The term “digital marketing” has been around for almost as long as marketing has been around (there’s one argument that the first instance of digital marketing was when Alexander Graham bell placed the first phone call in 1876, but that may be a bit of a stretch). Depending on your perspective, a variety of significant dates could be considered the beginning of the digital marketing era:

• The IBM PC was introduced in 1981
• Database marketing software became available in 1986
• The World Wide Web was developed in 1989 by Tim Berners Lee
• In 1993 the first banner ad was placed on a website
• Yahoo! was launched in 1994
• And many more…

So although digital marketing is considered to be several decades old, there’s still a lot of confusion about when exactly it began, what it is and how to use it. I’ll leave determining when it began up to the “experts” and just deal with what it is and how to use it.

DIGITAL MARKETING DEFINED

In its simplest form, the term “digital marketing" refers to using digital channels (i.e., marketing channels that are typically accessible via the Internet) to connect and engage with your prospects and customers. The wide variety of digital channels available provides marketers with greater freedom than many of the more traditional marketing pursuits. However, due to the large number of digital channels available (such as websites, social media, email marketing and mobile marketing), marketers must be very prescriptive about which digital channels they use.

A key point about digital marketing is that it’s not just about the customer destination; it’s actually a business model you need to embrace. It’s not just about having a website (which is basically table stakes in today’s digital world); it’s about understanding and optimizing the customer engagement process across all digital channels so customers can easily find the information they need, when, where and how they want it.

Digital marketing is doing business in a manner that takes into consideration all the different ways your marketing provides information about and drives awareness of your product so that it enhances the customer’s online experience, provides them with the information they need, and incents them to continue moving down the sales funnel. This means knowing how you’re going to use your website and other digital channels to most effectively provide the customer with the right information, in the right way, at the right time, in the right format.

THE VALUE OF DIGITAL MARKETING

This is where digital marketing really provides value. The term digital marketing implies the use of technology, and through that technology digital marketing offers several key benefits that are not typically available in traditional marketing.

The first benefit is that it provides you with numerous different ways to track and measure the effectiveness of your marketing activities. You’re able to track your marketing on a very granular basis (for example, by customer or by how certain content is performing), so you can immediately tell what is, or is not, working. This level of insight allows you to make faster adjustments to your marketing strategy. There are also numerous tools (many of them free) to help you track and measure your digital marketing activities.

The second benefit is that digital marketing allows you to provide personalized content in real time. Through the use of AI and analytics, you can track customer visits to your website or other digital channel, analyze their activities there and then based on predetermined rules, serve up appropriate content based on what they’ve looked for, where on the site they currently are, etc. The ability to provide personalized content in real time like this differentiates your site from the millions of others on the web that only provide static content.

The third benefit is that depending on which channel you use, digital marketing allows you to communicate in real time with your customer. The ability to immediately respond to comments, answer questions, or provide clarification or additional information lets you keep the customer engaged while they’re actually looking, instead of after the fact.

As you can see, digital marketing provides the marketer with a wider set of tools with which to engage and interact with customers than more traditional marketing channels do. This is why digital marketing has become such an important part of the marketer’s tool chest.

GETTING STARTED WITH DIGITAL MARKETING

To get started in your digital marketing journey, you need to develop a digital strategy, the first step of which is to determine which digital channel(s) to use. As there are literally dozens (if not hundreds) of potential options, it’s important to have done your customer, competitive and market research before proceeding, as that will help inform your digital strategy.

Selecting the right digital channel(s) should be based on the knowledge of how and where your target customer searches for information, as that lets you properly position your company or your product in front of them. Your choice of channel(s) will then help you determine the type of digital marketing activities.

The following list gives you an idea of the breadth of available digital marketing channels from which you can choose:

• Website
• Mobile Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Advertising
• Online
• Banner
• Marketing Communications
• Online
• Paid
• Earned
• Owned
• Text/SMS Marketing
• Instant Messaging
• Apps Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Inbound / Outbound Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Blogs
• Posts
• Videos
• Tweets
• Articles
• Podcasts
• Audio
• eBooks
• Infographics
• Communities of interest
• Enhanced Reality
• Virtual Events
• Forums
• Webinars
• Virtual Roadshows
• Virtual Reality / Environments / Worlds
• Streaming
• On-demand
• Personalization
• Artificial Intelligence
• Chatbots
• Digital Assistants
• Machine Learning
• Gamification
• Interactive Demos
• SEO / SEM

RELATED MARKETING ACTIVITIES

While many digital marketing activities are done on a stand-alone basis, there are also other, more “traditional” marketing activities which are often used in conjunction with digital marketing. These may include:

• Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
• Advertising
• Demand Generation
• Event Marketing
• Field Marketing
• Inbound / Outbound Marketing
• Lead Generation
• Traditional Marketing
• Radio
• TV
• Print
• Billboard

There may also be internal functions at your company that take advantage of some of the digital marketing activities and outputs, such as:

• AR / PR
• Corporate Communications
• Executive Communications
• Sales Enablement and Training

I point this out to help you understand that digital marketing is not always a stand-alone activity. It can also be used just as effectively when combined with more traditional marketing strategies.

How you use digital marketing depends strictly on the needs of your business. From something as simple as a single digital marketing activity (such as an inbound marketing campaign) to a fully integrated marketing strategy that includes numerous types of marketing (such as traditional, digital, event, and field), digital marketing provides the marketer with a wide variety of channels and choices. It’s interesting to note that if digital marketing is used in an integrated manner, non-digital marketing channels are often used to drive traffic to the digital channels and vice-versa, providing numerous opportunities for cross-promotion.

SUMMARY

Digital marketing provides the marketer with a wide variety of channels to choose from to connect with customers. It also lets the marketer track how effective the various marketing actions are in a detailed, real-time manner, giving them the option of making changes immediately.

More importantly, it delivers value in an engaging, interactive way by providing the customer with more personalized, relevant content and information, helping them to move down the sales funnel.

 

 

 

 

© 2021 – Richard Hatheway / Catalyst Strategic Marketing