Value propositions are one of the most important elements of every advertising campaign, product page on your website and interaction you have with your target audience. This is where you forget about the features and specs of what you’re selling and focus on the emotional connection you want people to have with your product or services.
This is where you tell people how you’re going to change their lives for the better, regardless of how much impact you’re really going to have. This is how fast food retailers dress up their brands as an exciting treat when their products have nothing beneficial to offer people whatsoever.
Value propositions are that powerful and here are nine that work every time.
#1: You won’t find a better price anywhere else
Price matters when it comes to consumer choices and there’s no getting away from this. Sites like GoCompare, MoneySupermarket and Skyscanner exist precisely because people want to get the best price on their purchases and this is their entire selling point.
You don’t even need to click through to the Skyscanner website to see the brand’s value proposition. It’s all about getting the best price for flights to your next holiday destination.
#2: You won’t find a better product anywhere else
Price is always important with any buying decision but assuming it’s always the priority is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in marketing. There’s a large chunk of consumers who want to pay for the best cars, best smartphones, most luxurious hotel and the finest wine.
Apple’s iPhone X raised the bar – at least in terms of smartphone price (Source: Apple)
In some cases, consumers want the best product; in others, they want to be seen with the best product. In some cases, the most expensive product in any particular category is automatically seen as the best product. It’s up to you how you choose to build your message around this.
#3: We’re going to save you money
It doesn’t matter whether you’re targeting consumers or business owners, everyone loves to save money. Groupon has become a multi-billion company playing off this human desire, despite the fact people don’t actually save money at all – a wonderful exploit of consumer logical fallacy.
Of course, some products have a genuine argument that they’ll save buyers money in the long run. Productivity tools save businesses money on wages, recruitment agencies save them money in the hiring and firing process and energy efficient boilers save homeowners money on their heating bills.
The truth is it doesn’t matter how genuine your value proposition is, as long as people buy into it. And Groupon is the perfect example of how this can work.
#4: We’re going to save you time
In business, saving time is as good as saving money and you shouldn’t underestimate the value in saving consumers time either. After all, with today’s busy lifestyle, freeing up an extra hour in someone’s day is a big deal.
According to Global Data, the majority of people who buy time-saving products do so because they want to reduce stress and simplify their lives (36%). This is closely followed by those who want more time to themselves for bobbies and relaxing (25%).
This is becoming increasingly important as people struggle to find a work-life balance in modern life.
#5: We’re going to make your life easier
Life is hard, right? Well, compared to those living in conflict, famine or contagious disease, we haven’t got anything to complain about. Yet the repetitive, day-to-day grind still manages to wear us down and we love anything that makes our first-world problems that bit easier.
The RAVPower Ace 6700mAh Power Bank packs all kinds of phone charging power into a teeny package.
What’s that? Portable charger so I never have to face the horror of my phone battery dying while I’m trying to grab a selfie with my hipster latte?
#6: We’re going to make you sexier
This has got to be one of the most successful value propositions over the last half-century, not to mention pretty cringe-worthy at times. Not all use cases are as unsophisticated as the Lynx Effect campaigns that ran until 2014. The promise of making people sexier sells everything from lingerie to beauty products, sports cars and luxury watches.
Just about anything on the consumer market will push this value proposition at some point – and it works every time.
7: We’re going to make you more successful
This is the premise behind every B2B product, article posted on sites like Entrepreneur.com and a bunch of consumer products, too. Everybody wants to be more successful, enjoy a more lucrative life and work their way up the corporate/social ladder. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the director of a company, contracted staff or a freelancer – everyone wants 2018 to be a more successful year than the previous one.
#8: We’re going to make you happier
Few value propositions are used as extensively as the promise of delivering happiness. We see this in every ad for soft drinks, new smartphone release and those bizarre ads where people are partying like crazy over a packet of crisps.
It’s a far cry from the reality of eating a “for sharing” bag of Doritos to yourself while you binge-watch your latest fix on Netflix. Yet the lure of good times, fun and things we can post about on social media keeps us buying into the pursuit of happiness.
Funnily enough, Coca-Cola’s creative boss says happiness is overused in advertising. I’m not going to disagree with that but you have to chuckle when Coca-Cola has been one of the biggest contributors of bombarding people with the happiness value proposition.
Once again, if it’s overused, it’s overused because it works.
#9: This is an experience you’ll never forget
The final value proposition in our list is one that’s become more prominent in recent years. One of the best industries to take example from is the travel industry where people are progressively shunning the convenience of all-inclusive holiday packages in favour of unique travel experiences.
More now than ever people are craving those once-in-a-lifetime experiences they’ll never forget.
This is the entire selling point of Airbnb: to book unique homes and experiences all over the world. This fits in perfectly with the narcissistic rise of social media consumers who want to be seen as unique, free-thinking individuals.
This value proposition isn’t limited to the travel industry either. First kisses, graduations, wedding days, children being born and priceless moments with those closest to you are all experiences that will never be forgotten.
Mastercard’s Priceless advertising campaigns captured this perfectly during the ’90s and we’re starting to see products like Google Home take a similar approach with devices that aim to become a part of the family experience.
The power of value propositions
The important thing with value propositions is to capture the desire of your target audience. This is how brands successfully turn a product as useless as a fizzy drink into something people struggle to walk past as they go to pay for their petrol. It’s how an airline turns the prospect of a 12-hour long haul flight into an exotic escape from the daily grind.
No matter what you’re selling, one of the value propositions we’ve looked at in this article will work, as long as you can craft a convincing message around it. Focus on the emotional response you’re trying to generate from people and the image you want them to have in mind when they think about your brand.
