Creating Value Propositions

In B2B marketing we tend to spend a lot of time creating value propositions for our products and services, but then what? How are they used? What purpose do they serve? Who's responsible for ensuring the organization adopts them? How do we know if they resonate with our target audience?

Creating a value proposition isn't just an exercise meant to collect dust when completed. It's what gives the business a pulse: A consistent drumming heartbeat that should be the lifeblood of the product's very purpose for existence. 

The challenges many B2B marketers face is that:

1. we tend to focus too much on the product's capabilities vs. the customer's experience with the product and organization; and
2. we haven't been given a new set of tools to compete in the rapidly changing landscape of today's marketing.

Change is the new modus operandi

Most B2B companies have relied on (or possibly still rely on) mass communication and large sales organizations to sell their products and services. But in today's digital-crazed business environment, the old method isn't agile enough to satisfy the way customers want to engage with a brand. 

Customers want a B2B buying experience similar to what they have in their personal, consumer-oriented life.

The customer's needs will evolve and change over time as they are developing a relationship with your organization. Accepting this truth, your value propositions can no longer be a 'one and done' static process. You'll need to have several that appeal to specific customer challenges, persona types, and buyer maturity that you can test and measure systematically.

Creating value propositions is a fluid process that will be the heartbeat of your commercialization strategies throughout the product's lifecycle. 

Case Study (Part 1): Re-calibrating the Value Proposition

In this case study of a manufactured goods market, we'll take you on a journey through the eyes of the customer to demonstrate how the client's experience perfectly captures what happens when mature products have no discernible differentiation.

Template: A Valuable Value Proposition

To help you get started, we've created an 8-step guide with an instructional overview of how you can transform your value propositions to deliver greater value to the organization.

Case Study (Part 2): Solution to Re-calibrating the Value Proposition

This is the solution to the case study of the manufactured goods market that describes in detail how the organization can change their value propositions and subsequent marketing effort to deliver value to their target customers.