This is a part most people skip when starting out in business.
I know that because I skipped it when I was planning for my first four businesses.
And I paid dearly for it.
And chances are that you are skipping it too, that is why I wrote this article.
After coming up with that brilliant business idea, stop for a moment and ask yourself, who am I creating this product/service for? Why would they pay me? And why would they choose me over the existing alternatives?
Answering this question is how you create your UVP, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's dissect the term.
Your UVP is your Unique Value Proposition.
If it sounds like big grammar, allow me to break it down from behind.
So first is Proposition. A simpler word for this is ‘promise’. This is the promise you make to the customer, in other words, the result you intend to achieve for the customer. It should be clear and straightforward. Take for example Domino’s pizza, their promise is ‘Pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free’. It’s clear what their promise is. There are not promising the most delicious pizza neither are there saying it’s going to be affordable either. Their promise is speedy delivery.
The next is the Value. For your promise to be appealing, it has to be valuable to your target audience. Still using Domino’s Pizza, they’ve mapped out their audience as those who want their pizza on the go. Their target audience are those who want a quick dinner, not those who want exquisite continental spicy pizza to eat with that special someone. Their target audience are those who are about the functionality of the pizza- to quench the pangs of hunger fast. Defining their target audience has helped them make a promise that is valuable to them. You must make your promise valuable to your target audience, once there is a disconnect between what your target audience defines as valuable and what your business defines as valuable, then your promise doesn’t work.
The last is Unique. The strength of your UVP depends on how unique your promise is. If you are like everybody’s how do you hope to convince your target audience to buy from you? Domino’s Pizza was late to the pizza party. It came on the scene after the big names like Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Pizza Inn and a host of others. So it picked out an underserved need for those that eat out: convenience. It came at a time when pizza delivery was rare and quick delivery was non-existent. And it has helped them carve out a niche.
Over to you. How can you develop a unique value proposition so strong enough that your target audience chooses you over the competition? By following these steps, or creating a Valuable Unique Promise, in that order.
- Define your target audience, know exactly who you are serving.
- Write out what they find valuable on a value map. On a plain sheet of paper, write everything your target audience will find valuable and map it to why they find it valuable. If in doubt ask a representative of your target audience. This is a crucial step, once there is a mismatch in values, no amount of marketing can help you.
- Choose the ‘value’ or groups of ‘value’ on the value map that match your unique strength. There is something unique about your business, it could be location, experience, diversity, whatever you can come up with that fits the value you hope to serve on the value map, that becomes your uniqueness.
- Go ahead and create a Unique Valuable Proposition in simple terms that your target audience can understand. This is your promise.
Having a strong UVP has helped Domino’s pizza build a valuable pizza brand over the years, they are currently the largest pizza seller worldwide in terms of sales, and it can help you too.
