Producing effective sales marketing materials whether it’s a brochure, website landing page, or conversion email starts with creating or rather understanding how to develop good value propositions and go-to copy.
I’ve created dozens of sales pitches and presentations throughout the years as well as helped companies and teams create or redefine their value propositions. In fact, developing a project or company’s value proposition is one of my favorite tasks in marketing. Performing this step well makes all your other marketing promotions and activities that much better.
I often hear “I’m just not a good writer.” Well yes, writing well (particularly copy writing) is super important but there is actually a logic and process to creating powerful value propositions which can improve the depth and meaning of your messages. And don’t forget, it’s easier to polish your copy later once you have the good building blocks and ideas which you want to convey already set.
The short version of this process goes something like this:
1) List out your target audiences and their needs. This step should include thinking about all the customer segments who you currently serve, hope to reach in the future, as well as customers you don’t serve. Getting clear on your audience and understanding what their needs are per each segment is a good first step.
2) Think about the unique qualities of your product or service. And when I say “think about” what I really mean is list out an exhaustive list of what your product or service does, its’ features, what it does better than a competitor… basically what makes your product or service worth learning about.
3) Put it all together by connecting your solutions to your segments. Ok, so there’s actually many steps between steps 2 and 3 I go over with marketers when I do this exercise in person such mapping out different qualities and attributes of your product or service with appropriate audience segments. But basically, you want to answer the needs of the target audience with the features and solutions you listed about your product or service.
Sounds pretty simple right? The trick in writing good value propositions is exercising style and finesse. A common roadblock you may find is you have so many segments you want to reach as well so many awesome features you want to convey.
I recommend writing out the connecting sentences of the target audience needs to the features of your product and services one by one. Thereafter, you can combine sentences and edit down your final copy. You’ll also get a better sense on how to re-order phrases, go from broad to specific examples, and combine certain sentences.
This is a worthwhile exercise because in the end, you should find yourself with something like a long-form copy (500+ words great for presentations and brochures), shorter-form copy (200 words great for website landing pages), and short-form copy (50 words great for text-links).
Still not sure on this process or need help getting started? Not a problem! Feel free to give me a ring or email!
Ben
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