A well-crafted value proposition is both an art and a science. In the B2B world, where prospective clients have a sea of information at their fingertips and little time to wade through it all, being able to stand out and catch – as well as keep – their attention is no easy feat.
But before we even dive into what sets good value propositions apart from mediocre ones, tips and tricks to writing an effective, results-focused value proposition, and examples of the industry-leading work we’re currently seeing, let’s start at the very beginning.
What is a B2B value proposition, actually?
If you break it down, a value proposition is meant to tell customers the value they will receive by selecting your brand. It lays out in a concise and easy-to-understand way the reason prospective clients should choose your products, services, or solutions.
More than that, though, an effective value proposition communicates how the services that your company provides will solve specific business challenges and the benefits customers will get from them. It’s the ultimate unique selling point (USP), showcasing exactly what differentiates your offering and why you should be their brand of choice.
Seems pretty straightforward, right? And it’s not hard to see why a good value proposition is critical for today’s B2B brands, who are operating in a highly competitive environment.
The businesses who succeed at conveying their value proposition in a clear, informative, and persuasive manner are the ones seeing an uptick in lead generation and sales, conversion rates, and overall growth.
So, what’s the secret to getting it right?
Elements of a strong value proposition
Our Tech for Thought 2024 report found that 92% of tech B2B buyers are spending as much – or more – time researching suppliers through content than they were a year ago.
That means they’re invested in finding the product or solution that is the right fit for their business. But, equally, it means that they don’t want to waste that time filtering through irrelevant information that doesn’t tell them upfront what they need to know.
The answer is a clear value proposition – and a good one always has these key components:
- Headline: Your headline needs to sum up what your offering provides to customers. It should be catchy and memorable, but not at the expense of being accurate and informative.
- Sub-headline: This is a one-line description of what you do, building on the core message of your headline.
- Key benefits and differentiators: This section is where you fill in the gaps from your overarching brand message, providing clarity on what your product, service, or solution does, the value customers will get from it, and why it is different from other offerings on the market.
- Visual elements: Images and graphics need to help explain and showcase what you do in an eye-catching way.
These are the building blocks to creating your value proposition. Taking it one step at a time – and making sure you get each step right before moving onto the next – is the simplest way to get the results you’re looking for.
Tips to write a winning value proposition
Follow these five easy steps to create a value proposition that will stand out from the crowd:
1. Identify your target audience and build an ideal customer profile (ICP)
This one may seem obvious, but the bread and butter of every business – no matter its size or industry – is its customers. And if you aren’t able to identify your target audience and exactly who you’re catering for, how can you speak to them in a way that will resonate with them and convince them they should choose you?
The best method to help you nail down the customer base you should be focusing on is creating buyer persona profiles: 82% of companies claim that it has improved their value proposition, after all.
Build your ICP by: defining your target clients (you can start by listing existing clients to give you an idea of who you’re already serving); describing what their role is in the buying process; and determining how much they know about your solution. Here’s a free ICP template for you to get started.
2. Understand your customers’ needs and pain points
Once you’ve got a good idea of what your ideal customer looks like, it’s easier to get to know what makes them tick and why they want or need your solution. What problem are they looking to solve?
An exercise we find useful to do this is writing down the problem statement as a ‘how to…’ or ‘in what ways might we…’ question. Then, imagine trying to explain the problem to your grandmother or a 10-year child – that means no jargon. Identify what the human problem is, and see if you can turn that into one word or phrase. And, as a last step, note your desired outcome framed around the phrase, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if…?’
3. Craft your headline
It sounds so simple, but distilling everything your business, product, or solution does into one clever, but effective headline is probably the hardest part of the process.
What we often do is the ‘one word’ method mentioned above. Once you have written your ‘how to…’ problem statement, reduce it to one word or phrase. And then find a better, more interesting, and less obvious word. Use a thesaurus to make it easier to see if there is another word that sums up the problem more accurately. Ask other people in the business to do the same, and compare notes to come up diverse ideas and then see which one works best.
4. Develop sub-headline and supporting statements
Much like crafting your headline, developing your sub-headline and supporting statement requires effectively summarising your brand essence. For this, you could use empathy mapping, where you look at what the customer will say, do, think, feel. As part of this, it’s critical to look at pain points in relation to your target or goals and where you are now, and then identify where your product or service could help turn pain into gain.
5. Define features and benefits
No one knows your product or service better than you, so listing all the features and benefits customers will get by selecting your product shouldn’t be too challenging. But if you need some inspiration, why not try the ‘What would brand X do?’ approach. This is where you step into the shoes of well-known brands and imagine how they would tackle it. Google the brand and find examples, and then apply it to your task if it makes sense.
While there are no hard and fast rules about how to go about creating a value proposition, having a few tried and tested methods to spark creativity does help. Knowing what pitfalls to avoid is also important.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Confusing your value proposition with other brand assets like a slogan, tagline, or vision/mission statement. It’s true that these elements make up your overall brand image, and help explain who you are and what you do, but they are not a value proposition because they don’t, on their own, help close the sale. A value proposition does this by looking at the problems you will be solving for your customers and why your solution is the best choice.
- Not understanding who your customer is. In one of our podcast episodes of How did you do that?, executive leader Marty Roberts spoke about the disconnect that often exists between the way brands want to sell their product and how customers want to be sold to. He stressed the need for B2B businesses to understand the personas they are selling to, their pain points, and their wants and needs. This is where investing the time and resources to create the ideal buyer persona profiles mentioned above about comes in. By getting the foundation right, it becomes that much easier to develop a value proposition that actually speaks to what your customers need and deliver on that.
Examples of Effective Value Propositions
There are a couple of value propositions that really stand out for us:
Slack
There’s no mistaking what you get as a Slack user. This value proposition clearly states what the product does, how it does it, and what you get out of it as a customer. Simple, clean, colourful – and effective.
Hubspot
This one works so well because Hubspot had to condense three service offerings – marketing, sales, and software – into one clear, easy-to-follow value proposition. And they did, while still paying homage to each of those services.
Value propositions are only one part of a brand, but it’s clear that they play a critical role in driving sales and growth. Getting it right can be tricky, but if you do, it will yield results.
Need help crafting an effective B2B value proposition? We can help! Get in touch on hello@isolinecomms.com
