What happens when you combine Value Proposition Design with your PR and marketing strategy? More revenue!
“Why do your customers buy from you?” This is the first question I ask my new clients when I meet with them for the first time. Prior to this meeting, I perform a Google search about the company and key staff, read the company website to familiarize myself with the products and services, and review any printed marketing material, looking for the company’s stated Features and Benefits. I find it interesting how people respond to my question. For many, it has been over a year since they spent the time thinking about why their customers buy from them. Business owners, internal marketers, and salespeople sometimes get so hung up on delivering the sales message to their customers, that they lose focus on what motivates a customer to buy.
The Value Proposition Design map forces you to think about what motivates your customer to act. This action is a choice of using your product or service over a competitor, or making do without it. At the core of the Value Proposition Design (VPD), you need to think about your Customer’s Jobs. These jobs can range anywhere from business jobs, such as achieving a sales goal, to a personal job, such as accomplishing a task in as short a time as possible so that that person can attend a child’s sporting event. Knowing your Customer Jobs comes from knowing your customers, and the only way to truly get to know them is by meeting with them in person. When was the last time you sat down with your customers to talk about what motivates them? You can ask them about any gaps they have in achieving their revenue or sales goals, and this will give you a good metric to measure in the future, or you could talk to them about wasting time, which is valuable on a business and personal level. One of the favorite sayings of the author of VPD is “There are no facts within the four walls of your office. You need to get out and meet with your customers!”
After you identify the Customer Jobs, you can think about the Pains and Gains that the customer have and how your product or service delivers Pain Relievers and Gain Creators. Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, try to imagine what the customer sees, hears, and feels when experiencing your product or service. This is where a good public relations strategy comes into play.. A customer may seek third party endorsement for using your product or service (so called “social proof”). If you have done a good job of obtaining positive placements of your product or service, then your Pain Relievers and Gain Creators will be at the top-of-mind with potentials customers.
A customer can do research on Google, and find information about the Features and Benefits, providing a compelling reason to choose you. “Because of…” this Pain Reliever, “You can…” experience this Gain Creator. This is Selling 101! When you pitch reporters on a story idea about the product or service, you can refer back to these benefits for their audience. Reporters need to cover stories that benefit their audience, so the clearer that you can express this idea, the better. This is why it is so important to go through the Value Proposition Design exercise!
If you would like more detail about Value Proposition Design, here’s a link to a recent presentation. For more information or assistance with implementing Value Proposition Design at your company, please contact Ed Mayuga at (314) 485-9810 or ed@ammcommunications.com .