JUMPSTART STEP 6: VALUE PROPOSITION & BRAND POSITIONING

How to Create a B2B Value Proposition that Rocks

Up until now, every step of the JumpStart plan has been all about discovery. Discovery of what you want to accomplish, who you should be talking to, how your past efforts are working, what your competition is up to and how your internal teams think you’re doing. Now we start to bring all of that together with your value proposition. So let’s talk about how to create a B2B value proposition and what exactly that is.

A value proposition tells your prospective customers why they should choose your business over your competitors, and what makes your services unique and better than other options.

By thinking about all of the factors you’ve been evaluating, your value proposition should start to become obvious. Take everything you’ve discovered, and think about what stands out about your business.

What did your sales people tell you about the competition?
What areas of differentiation did the competitive review highlight?
What does your target audience want to hear?
What has resonated and worked in the past?

Now, align that with what you know you do well, and it all starts to come together.

We’re not talking about creating one perfect statement that does it all. You’re going to want to edit and tweak it to different audiences, channels, etc. A value proposition can include a few pieces that you put together in multiple ways for different purposes. It can help to break those pieces down into core values and the brand promise.

Core values are the building blocks of your brand. Why do you do what you do? How do you do it? These are what you believe in as a company. By connecting them to each other (via everything you’ve already discovered about your business), you can come up with your brand promise. This simple statement should encompass your core values and easily say what makes you special.

Often, the trickiest part of defining core values and brand promise is getting consensus from the decision makers of your business. After all, your company can be something pretty different to all of the members of your C-suite, board or even marketing team. But by going back to the research and all you’ve discovered by following the JumpStart steps, you should be able to distill it into words and statements that make sense on a broader scale for your business.

By combining those pieces with great marketing writing, creativity and strategy, you will be able to communicate your value proposition in any situation and bring it to life. Whether it’s on your website, a trade show display, print materials, digital advertisements, social media or in a presentation to a prospect, your value proposition should be front and center, leading the way.