Group items tagged

Strategy. The company decides which business it wants to be in and how it will compete, creating a “unique and valuable position involving a distinctive set of activities.” It’s another way of saying, I think, here is what we can do better than anyone else and how we can defend our position in a competitive marketplace. Business Model. I like the authors’ description of the business model as the “logic of the company.” This is how the firm organizes and operates, how it delivers value to customers, and how it captures value for stakeholders. It must align with company goals. Tactics. Tactics are the steps used to compete in the marketplace, and they are defined largely by the business model. If your business model is built around direct sales, your tactics won’t involve incentives to retailers, for example.

Segment-based. In the epiphany and awareness stages, with minimal client information, the value proposition is defined to address the needs of a specific market segment. The segment-based value proposition is not designed to sell. The purpose of the statement is to get potential buyers to take action to learn more. That action can be going to your Website, picking up the phone to call you, attending a Webinar, or reading a white paper. Role-based. Moving from the awareness to interest stages, the value propositions become more targeted to subsegments and specific roles within organizations, such as CIOs, sales management, or business unit leaders. Such individuals often have different perceptions of value based on their roles and responsibilities. Role-based value propositions resonate when they address the specific business needs of the people or personas the company is trying to reach. They require a deeper level of understanding of the like-minded groups of people the company is communicating with, including their needs, desires, motivations, expectations, goals, fears, skills, and biases. Client-specific. These value propositions are designed to move prospects from interest to confidence or buy mode. The client-specific value proposition addresses the particular needs of actual, not archetypal, clients. However, knowing the client goes beyond defining the decision influencers’ and makers’ titles and roles. It also means knowing the client’s educational background, personal pursuits, association memberships, business goals and how they are measured, the client’s definition of success, and, of course, the client’s pain points.