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![]() Preparing Your Company for an Online Presence
By Barbra Bannon, Consultant
A value proposition statement is the core message that you will use to communicate your specific value to your clients on a consistent basis. This statement needs to be integrated throughout your company so that it is infused in the culture of all you do. Once the statement is created and you are happy with it, it must go on your email signature line, your Web site, your business cards, and in all of your marketing and promotional materials.
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Why is the development of your value proposition important? The answer is easy. Your value proposition can equip you with the following benefits to your business:
How a value proposition can create a strong differential between you and your competitors: Clients like to know they are working with professionals. If you are able to tell your client with confidence what you can do for them simply in two sentences, you look like a specialized expert who knows what they are doing and in turn, they can trust you to do it. Case studies, testimonials and a professional-looking brand all support the value proposition and competitive differentiation you need. Before launching a full-blown online presence on the vast and endless Web, you need to know where to target so you spend your efforts wisely. By developing specific content, programs and case studies for targeted segments, you will be much more effective in driving quality leads into your business from the Web. Let’s talk about how a value proposition will allow you to gain market share in your targeted segments. It is possible for a company to have multiple value propositions for different target markets they serve, and it’s critically important that you know who your best clients are to effectively craft a value proposition. The number one reason companies fail to grow is that they waste resources by spreading themselves too thin. If you have one or two key clients that make you the highest profit margins, then it is time to create a case study from them, interview them to serve their needs even better, and start customizing programs so that you can cookie cutter those programs to attract and serve similar clients. If you spend your time doing that and focus on providing quality work to a niche market, you will grow and be better in the long run. Just be sure that the market you are specializing in has future potential and isn’t in a downward spiral. (e.g. newspaper industry). If you remain serving everyone, even the bottom 10 percent of your client base that drains you and your staff of time and resources, your company will remain stagnant. To begin the development process of your value proposition it will help to see a great one. Here is an example of one of the best value propositions I have seen that belongs to a sales consultant: “Our clients grow their business, large or small, typically by a minimum of 30–50 percent over the previous year. They accomplish this without working 80-hour weeks and sacrificing their personal lives.” After reading this value proposition it leaves me curious, and wanting to know more. That is the power of this statement. It is clear what they can do for me and I want to know how immediately.
A good example for a vehicle wrapping company would be: The questions below will help guide you in the creation of your own unique and powerful value proposition statement:
Now you can craft your value proposition with the following template:
Company Culture
Traditional touch points
Non-traditional touch points
The value proposition/customer promise you developed in the last section will be used as a baseline for the development of a consistent client experience throughout all of these touch points in your business. Every interaction a potential client has with your business either proves or disproves that customer promise in their minds. When I speak of your “company culture” I am speaking to an ongoing exchange of communications and interactions your clients, vendors and employees experience and engage in on a daily basis. As the owner of your firm, you are leading the daily construction of this culture.
List four adjectives describing what your company culture feels like to you:
List four adjectives that you would like to hear a customer describe your company with during a conversation:
If the two lists above are different, you may want to consider creating a company culture statement, which sets the values of a company and creates an outline for your vision of what you envision the company to be.
How does all of this matter to your online marketing presence?
Once you know your company culture, the style, content and brand has to reflect that culture. Look over your Web site, brochures, salespeople and other touch points listed above and ask yourself: “Are we communicating our culture?” I also recommend asking your staff, and other trusted friends once you have come up with a solid culture statement.
Conversations That Will Grow Your Business
Look over the simple questionnaire below and use it as a guide when you call. You don’t have to use all the questions, just relevant ones.
The top questions help you improve your services and craft specialized solutions to their specific industry problems. From there, you craft packages and targeted content. The last few questions help you find more of them as well as assist you in knowing where the deployment of that content is online within the groups, forums and communities they frequent. You also should consider becoming an article writer in the journals and magazines they read. As a recognized industry expert , it boosts their trust in your company.
Barbra Bannon is a leading industry expert on alternative brand promotions, and is an online marketing maven, a social entrepreneur, philosopher, writer and idea addict. She owns and operates Cranky Creative Group, an alternative brand promotions company that can brand any surface with graphics, such as vehicles, elevators and walls. bbannon@crankycreative.com
This article appeared in the SGIA Journal, September / October 2011 Issue and is reprinted with permission. Copyright 2011 Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (www.sgia.org). All Rights Reserved.
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