“Your guidance helped me work quickly to articulate my brand” -Christen, Life Coach
Today, I’m talking about an asset you need for your business. It’s not a mindset. It’s not an ethos. It’s a cold hard asset and I’m going to teach you how to write it. And what is “it”?
It is a value statement. Also known as a value proposition. It’s different from a USP.
Your product or service is likely not the only one of its kind. At this point, that would be impossible to achieve. There’s nothing new under the sun.
You will have only a split second to convince people that they need your brand in their life. Because I mean…why do we buy anything? We want it because we’re convinced, by teams of marketers, that we need it.
It’s not the products we’re convinced that we need. No one needs to pull into 7-Eleven for a Coke. We’re convinced that we need refreshment and we can’t get it from water. Coca-Cola’s brand promise is “To inspire moments of optimism and uplift.” It’s a lifestyle brand.
Getting honest about the fact that your customers can probably live without your product/service will help you get real about the way(s) you position yourself and connect with your audience.
What is a value statement?
A brand value statement (also called a proposition) is “the emotional and rational benefit that customers derive in purchasing a product”.
2 steps to write your own value statements
Ready to upgrade your business? Do these activities to organize your thoughts and create some killer statements about your brand.
Assumptions I’m making before we start:
- You know what you make/do/sell
- You know precisely who your audience is
The second one can be a little scary, because you might be worried about niching down so much that you’ll leave other people out. You won’t.
Being specific about your target is like that saying “shoot for the moon and you’ll land amongst the stars” (or something like that). Point is, others will still hear your voice and jive with you, but you NEED TO BE SPECIFIC about who you’re talking to.
Step 1: Articulating the problem you solve
Behind every product or service is a bleeding, human, pain-point. You need to nail down what those pains are.
Fill in these blanks:
_______________ need to __________________ because they __________________ but they ___________________________.
Example:
Completing that sentence builds a clear picture for WHY your product exists and HOW you can communicate directly to your ideal customer’s deepest needs and desires for the kind of life/business they want to lead.
Complete that sentence a few times over from different angles (types of customer personas, different needs your business fixes)
Now that you have words to describe WHY they need you, the next step will be easier.
Step 2: Communicating how you solve the problem
Now that you have words to describe why your customer needs you, use those insights to empower them with your “so you can” statements.
Start with what you’re selling and finish with “So you can ___________”.
When you’re done, strip out the first bit and 💥BOOM💥 you have yourself some value propositions.
Example:
I wrote the above sentence a few times and from them, I was able to extract the following value propositions:
- Connect with authenticity
- Build rapport with your customers
- Stand out from other life coaches
- Stock photography featuring you
Step 3: Use them
Go look at the headlines on your website and the bios across all your social platforms. Implement these value statements to communicate your business in a way that SELLS.
Additionally, you don’t have to use these phrases verbatim. They can become the underpinning values with which you communicate everything you do. So pop some post-its around your workstations and allow these values to be present in every interaction you have with your audience.
If you have a brand to communicate visually through photography or design, get in touch!
