Kelford Labs Daily: Value prop implementation
Promises into action.
Once you’ve defined your value and you understand what your best customers like most about how you deliver it, it’s time to demonstrate it.
How do you turn your value proposition—your promise to your best customers—into value-based marketing?
The first thing you want to do is have your value prop and your marketing position all in one place, like this:
Who: Who are your very best customers?
What: What do they need in their words?
How: How do you uniquely help them based on specific tradeoffs?
When: When do they need your help?
Where: Where are they when they need it, and where do they go for help?
That’s your position, it’s the ground you want to occupy in the mind of your best customers.
As an example, a specialized bookkeeping service might have this position:
Who: Founders or CFOs at science and research-based startups
What: Their books taken care of quickly and easily
How: Our specialized systems allow for easy, fast, and automated bookkeeping so our clients can focus on their work and we can focus on ours
When: Funding rounds, year-end, etc.
Where: Peers, investors, mentors, accountants
Next, write out your value proposition like this:
We offer (WHAT THEY CLIENT NEEDS IN THEIR WORDS) to (YOUR BEST CUSTOMER TYPE) so they can (WHAT YOU HELP THEM ACCOMPLISH). It helps them (YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE CATEGORY) without the (TRADEOFF YOU’VE MADE).
As an example, our bookkeeping business might have this value prop:
We offer fast, responsive bookkeeping services to science-based startups so they can get back to the lab and out of the paperwork. It helps them keep their books up to date and organized without distracting back-and-forth busywork.
Once you’ve got this in place and articulated, you now have a lens—a focusing apparatus—to keep your marketing on track and on target.
Whenever you get a new marketing opportunity, or simply start writing a blog post, a LinkedIn comment, an ad, or anything else, re-read your position and value prop and ask yourself:
Will this reinforce and amplify my demonstration of value, or will it distract or detract from it?
If our example bookkeeping business got the opportunity to sponsor a golf tournament, based on this position, would they do it?
At the very least, what questions would they need to ask to find out if it’s a good fit or not?
What questions would they ask about the participants? The other sponsors? The location? The timing?
How could they do more of what reinforces their position and value prop, and less of what distracts from it?
How could you?
