If you’ve started exploring the field of digital marketing and what that could mean for you, you’ve probably come across the term ‘value proposition’ and that’s because it plays a major role within the sphere of digital marketing. Value proposition, or value prop as it’s more commonly known, should be the center of basically any marketing strategy. It answers the question, “Why would a customer want or need to buy this product or service?”
As you can probably imagine, this is an absolutely essential question to answer before you dive too deep into your marketing strategy. If you don’t know the why behind your product or service, how can you expect your customers to buy it?
Value props bring the following advantages to your marketing strategy:
They help guide your product development: depending on your area of focus, deciding exactly what to offer or include in your product or service can be a challenge. But when you have a clear understanding of your end goal, you’ll be better able to create the ideal product.
They help you maintain a strong focus: large projects or even those just starting out can sometimes get sidetracked or lose focus; a strong value proposition will help you maintain a reliable focus point to ensure all actions are leading to success.
They help generate confidence: once your value proposition is clearly defined, you’ll be in a position to stand by your product and your mission statement.
They help you be more effective: with a solid reasoning behind your strategy, you’ll be setting yourself up for success throughout the entire marketing campaign.
Creating Your Value Proposition
Now that you understand why creating a value proposition for all products and services is so important, let’s dive into the steps you can take to construct a value prop that accurately reflects your company’s goals.
Define your target audience
To create a product or service that people want, you’ll need to know who exactly you’re trying to attract. Therefore, you’ll need to define your target audience and potential buyer personas to help you lay out their needs, wants, pain points, and struggles.
Check out the competition
The last thing you want is to put all the work into developing your product or service and find out there’s another company out there that offers the exact same thing. To avoid this, make sure you check out the competition early on in your research stage, taking note of their target audiences, how they reach customers, and what exactly they’re offering.
This is also a good time to note any gaps in the market that you want to offer. For example, if you see that the competition’s services are geared toward a specific demographic, consider if you can expand that window to reach even more potential customers.
See what you can do differently
With a clear understanding of what’s already being offered by the competition and the people you want to reach, it’s time to dive deep into your product or service. Creating clear answers to these questions will help you solidify your value proposition:
What is unique about your product or service?
How does it differ from the competition?
Do you reach wider audiences than the competition?
Why is your product or service the best?
What benefits will introducing your product or service bring?
Evaluating the Value Proposition’s Effectiveness
The value proposition process doesn’t end once you’ve created and launched your product; in fact, the value prop should be continually adapted and referred to over time to guarantee it’s as effective as possible.
Use metrics to track progress
Considering the value proposition serves to ensure you’re meeting the needs and wants of your customers, reviewing key metrics periodically can help keep you and your product on track. These metrics are a good place to start:
Website traffic
Conversion rates
Customer satisfaction
Customer retention
Business goals
Listen to your customers
Ultimately, your product is only as successful as the customers think it is and if no one is buying it, you’ll have to switch gears. And on top of that, keeping up to date with changing and evolving needs is also essential to guaranteeing your product or service will maintain its effectiveness over time. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups are great ways to connect with your customers and better understand their needs.
Keep track of the competition
Knowing what your competitors are doing and offering is just as important as understanding the needs of your customers. Stay up to date with their new offerings, customer bases, and ways of communicating with their audiences to learn about new ways you can engage with the community.
Understanding and crafting a strong value proposition is key to success in digital marketing. With a clearly defined value prop, you’re equipped to not only guide your product development and focus your marketing efforts but also to build genuine confidence in your brand’s offerings.
Ironhack’s Digital Marketing Bootcamp provides the tools and strategies you need to develop impactful marketing campaigns centered around a well-crafted value proposition. By joining Ironhack, you'll gain practical skills and real-world insights that will empower you to create and refine value-driven marketing strategies in any field.
About the Author: Juliette Carreiro is a skilled content creator with over five years of experience in SEO, content ideation, and digital marketing strategy. She has spent more than two years at Ironhack, where she developed in-depth articles on topics ranging from career growth in tech to the future impact of AI. With expertise across tech, hospitality, and education industries, Juliette has helped brands like Ironhack engage their audiences with impactful storytelling and data-driven insights.
