5 Keys to an Amazing Value PropositionWhat they never taught you in school when getting your MBA! !

Carl Hartman, from Brand.gineering Chief Brand Architect &Best-Selling Author

http://www.brandgineering.org

So??????

Value Propositions are meant to sell your brand or product to a customer, not build up your ego.

If it sounds like it is from the Dilbert Mission Statement generator, start over.

Without intense meaning to your customer, so f-ing what? Why should we care?

–Dr. Seuss

“A person's a person, no matter how small.”

First it is a State of MindRemember that this is only about your customer. You don’t matter!

It is not a Mission StatementShould you be doing this to paste up in your lobby, wrong reason. This is practical data used for marketing strategy.

The end of this presentation has exercises to put the elements taught here into practice, so

after the explanations continue on and get some additional value.

Value Proposition Defined

Your product or service MUST have an 1) attraction and 2) personality that is so 3) critical and 4) compelling 5) to the customer that they voluntarily take their money out of their pocket and spend it with you.

Value Proposition BreakdownYour product or service MUST have an 1) attraction and 2) personality that is so 3) critical and 4) compelling 5) to the customer that they voluntarily take their money out of their pocket and spend it with you.

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The AttractionThink hard about those little things that make people gravitate to your brand.

1 - AttractionSongs have what is called a hook. The hook is that part of the song that keeps your toe tapping long after the music stops. It makes it stand out. Your product or service must have a hook.

Some define this as a differentiator. If you have a local construction company and there are 20 other construction companies in your area, you have to set yourself apart and make yourself a lot different than the other companies, in the mind of your customers.

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PersonalityEven inanimate objects have personality and so should your brand.

PersonalityThe majority of products are sold on a basis of human interaction, people want to feel good about our purchase and have a relationship with the person selling us the goods or with the store.

An iPhone has personality. Remember that.

People do purchase based on price, but only in certain market segments. The fact is, people want an amazing customer experience and relationship while getting a great deal.

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Critical and CompellingTwo sides of the same coin, want and need.

CriticalThis is going to sound opposite. If a customer has a critical need, you need to fill in the other blank, which is creating a compelling reason to purchase.

If your customer has a bad water heater and goes to the Internet searching for a plumber to supply their need to make a rapid replacement (critical need), your marketing effort must be directed to providing compelling reasons to use that service, that includes managed word-of-mouth and communication that evokes feelings of appropriate trust in the time of critical need.

CompellingNow, the opposite side of the equation. Should your customer have a want, your job is to create the feeling of a critical need.

Should you be a plumber that specializes in remodeling bathrooms in tight financial times, your efforts would be focused on an effort that establishes you as the local expert on cost effective bathroom remodels and channels them toward feelings of critical need to take the next steps to purchasing from you.

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The CustomerQuality communication and service

Customer ServiceYour interaction with your customer and their experience is a key driver of sales. It also drives word-of-mouth, your best ROI in marketing.

How you communicate your message to your customer is critical and that usually happens through your marketing materials and your customer interaction. All your efforts, media or in-person, should be focused on a customer focused, emotional experience.

Value Proposition = Message + ExperienceYour value proposition is always a blend of the message and interaction.

Practical ApplicationExamples of practical application in the next slides. !Our FREE workbook goes through all of these in great detail. !Download Here: http://www.brandgineering.org/brandgineering-book

Pen and PaperIf you have been doing this without pen and paper in hand, get some now.

STOP!!!

Remember what we said at the start. Rather than a magic bullet solution or a nice statement you can engrave on a plaque and put in your lobby, a value proposition is the definition of the important elements that define your brand to your client. !Eventually, you can reduce it to a simpler statement, but right now this is about your customer and you, not flowery wording!

Attraction ExerciseDefine the elements that, in a meaningful way, speak to your ideal customer.

Define those things you want your dream customer to feel and keep with them after they interact with your brand. What is that one message that sticks with them?

All this is done in a manner that is empowering. Reframe weaknesses to positive statements, even if you don’t believe those statements, yet.

Attraction ExamplesOur plumbers provide total disaster restoration solutions, including water clean up and mold remediation services to insure safe and secure solutions to your plumbing emergencies.

Negative fact reframed: Our employees are not well trained. (This needs to be fixed, but you and your customers need this positive for you to thrive.)

We have a well trained and certified staff of plumbers.

Personality ExerciseNot everyone has the luxury of direct and personal contact with the customer. That is why we talk about the importance of a perceived relationship; because the reality is that almost all customer relationships are perceived relationships. Rarely, will you have your customers over to your house for dinner and the salesperson at Nordstrom’s or Macy’s probably will not remember your name, unless it is on your credit card. However, your vast customer database must feel as though they have an authentic relationship with your brand…

Personality Exercise

Outline the things you are doing now to build or maintain your relationships with your customers or the things you would would do, if you are still in the process of designing your brand.

Describe what kinds things you would be doing with your dream customer to build relationships and attract those customers.

Personality Examples

We spend valuable time with our customers at charity events and never discuss business, building deeper relationships so we understand them better.

We go out to our customer’s location and work beside them to understand their requirements from our products and services.

Critical & Compelling

Describe why your brand is critical to your dream customer.

Describe why your brand is compelling to your dream customer.

This might be more difficult than you would expect. So, we will pour on even more pressure. Your customers ask these questions and are hard on you. Therefore…

So f-ing what?

Describe to your dream customer why would voluntarily make a purchase. Remember to use the “So, what?” question.

Put yourself in the place of your ideal customer and rip yourself apart. Again, your customer do this to you, beat them to it! Maybe find your friend that is an ass when he gets drunk and give him a few beers, then talk businesses; but, be hyper-critical.

Now what?You have done more today than most big companies do in creating a meaningful value proposition and having a brand strategy. You have focus!

Example: We want a web site for the company. Your value proposition now gives you the basis for asking go questions. Does the design and message stick in the customer’s mind? Leave them wanting more? Set us apart and provide sections that answer both the critical and compelling needs of my customer to generate a purchase? Well…???

Now what?

Now that you have totally befuddled your web site designer, you have done something important. Your content now is doing what it should, not a pretty design, but a design that moves your product.

The value proposition is your guiding light and structure for all your marketing efforts.

Ending so soon?Grab our FREE workbook goes through all of these elements and so much more in

great detail. !Download Here: http://www.brandgineering.org/brandgineering-book !Find us here: http://www.brandgineering.org

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