Customer Value Proposition Quotes

If a businesses customers can clearly describe its value proposition, then it has succeeded in its marketing plan.

A Value Proposition creates value for a Customer Segment through a distinct mix of elements catering to that segment’s needs. Values may be quantitative (e.g. price, speed of service) or qualitative (e.g. design, customer experience).

The first test of a strategy is whether your value proposition is different from your rivals. If you are trying to serve the same customers and meet the same needs and sell at the same relative price, then by Porter’s definition, you don’t have a strategy.

Your customers are the judge, jury, and executioner of your value proposition. They will be merciless if you don’t find fit!

The most important attribute of a customer value proposition is its precision: how perfectly it nails the customer job to be done—and nothing else.

Insight into customers’ needs is important, but it’s not enough. The essence of strategy and competitive advantage lies in the activities, in choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities from those of rivals. Each of the companies we’ve just described has done just that, tailoring their value chains to their value propositions.

CS Business models with a multi-sided platform pattern have a distinct structure. They have two or more customer segments, each of which has its own Value Proposition and associated Revenue Stream. Moreover, one Customer Segment cannot exist without the others.

The Value Proposition is the reason why customers turn to one company over another. It solves a customer problem or satisfies a customer need. Each Value Proposition consists of a selected bundle of products and/or services that caters to the requirements of a specific Customer Segment. In this sense, the Value Proposition is an aggregation, or bundle, of benefits that a company offers customers.

That’s the heart of this entire concept. Clients do not buy ‘things’. They buy the experiences that those ‘things’ are able to deliver. And, when so doing, they measure the benefits against the costs. Which leads us directly to consider: what is a value proposition?

Porter defines the value proposition as the answer to three fundamental questions (see figure 4-1): Which customers are you going to serve? Which needs are you going to meet? What relative price will provide acceptable value for customers and acceptable profitability for the company?

Disruptive technologies bring to a market a very different value proposition than had been available previously. Generally, disruptive technologies underperform established products in mainstream markets. But they have other features that a few fringe (and generally new) customers value. Products based on disruptive technologies are typically cheaper, simpler, smaller, and, frequently, more convenient to use. There

A business model describes the flow between key components of the company: •  value proposition, which the company offers (product/service, benefits) •  customer segments, such as users, and payers, or moms or teens •  distribution channels to reach customers and offer them the value proposition •  customer relationships to create demand •  revenue streams generated by the value proposition(s) •  resources needed to make the business model possible •  activities necessary to implement the business model •  partners who participate in the business and their motivations for doing so •  cost structure resulting from the business model The

One way multi-sided platforms solve this problem is by subsidizing a Customer Segment. Though a platform operator incurs costs by serving all customer groups, it often decides to lure one segment to the platform with an inexpensive or free Value Proposition in order to subsequently attract users of the platform’s “other side.” One difficulty multi-sided platform operators face is understanding which side to subsidize and how to price correctly to attract customers.

The Lean Product Process consists of six steps: Determine your target customers Identify underserved customer needs Define your value proposition Specify your minimum viable product (MVP) feature set Create your MVP prototype Test your MVP with customers

It’s an offer you present to the marketplace that cannot be compared to any other product or service available, combining an attractive promotion, an unmatchable value proposition, a premium price, and an unbeatable guarantee with a money model (payment terms) that allows you to get paid to get new customers . . . forever removing the cash constraint on business growth.

Capitalism is rotten at every level, and yet it adds up to something extraordinarily useful for society over time. The paradox of capitalism is that adding a bunch of bad-sounding ideas together creates something incredible that is far more good than bad. Capitalism inspires people to work hard, to take reasonable risks, and to create value for customers. On the whole, capitalism channels selfishness in a direction that benefits civilization, not counting a few fat cats who have figured out how to game the system. You have the same paradox with personal energy. If you look at any individual action that boosts your personal energy, it might look like selfishness. Why are you going skiing when you should be working at the homeless shelter, you selfish bastard! My proposition is that organizing your life to optimize your personal energy will add up to something incredible that is more good than bad.

Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group talked about businesses having soul. He believed soul was what made a business great, or even worth doing at all. “A business without soul is not something I’m interested in working at,” he said. He suggested that the soul of a business grew out of the relationships a company developed as it went along. “Soul can’t exist unless you have active, meaningful dialogue with stakeholders: employees, customers, the community, suppliers, and investors. When you launch a business, your job as the entrepreneur is to say, ‘Here’s a value proposition that I believe in. Here’s where I’m coming from. This is my point of view.’ At first, it’s a monologue. Gradually it becomes a dialogue and then a real conversation.

Banks were once an extremely valuable part of the economy and did a lot of good in advancing civilization. Banks played a pivotal role in financing big projects like roads, bridges, factories, stadiums, etc. Banks were to the economy what the heart is to the human body. But that has ended. Traditional banks have become extra toxic entities in the economy. It’s partially the fault of excessive government regulations that have made everything dysfunctional and it’s partially the fault of greedy bankers putting profits above customers and shareholders above society... But nonetheless, banks today offer very little benefit to their clients. They pay barely anything in interest. They offer barely anything in growth. They move money too slowly. They’re too restrictive. They’re selling the same boring products and services they did a hundred years ago. And they have too much power over peoples accounts. Soon, the many new companies and applications that emerge on the Ethereum infrastructure will eliminate the need for traditional banks and eliminate their value proposition by providing people with superior value. Everything from growth to asset management to lending can be done even better on the Ethereum infrastructure by anyone.

There are truths which are best recognized by mediocre heads, because they are most appropriate for them; there are truths which have charm and seductive power only for mediocre minds: — at this very point we are pushed back onto this perhaps unpleasant proposition, since the time the spirit of respectable but mediocre Englishmen — I cite Darwin, John Stuart Mill, and Herbert Spencer — is successfully gaining pre-eminence in the middle regions of European taste. In fact, who could doubt how useful it is that such spirits rule from time to time? It would be a mistake to think that highly cultivated spirits who fly off to great distances would be particularly skilful at establishing many small, common facts, collecting them, and pushing to a conclusion: — they are, by contrast, as exceptional men, from the very start in no advantageous position vis-à-vis the “rules.” In the final analysis, they have more to do than merely have knowledge — for they have to be something new, to mean something new, to present new values! The gap between knowing something and being able to do something is perhaps greater as well as more mysterious than people think. It’s possible that the man who can act in the grand style, the creating man, will have to be a person who does not know; whereas, on the other hand, for scientific discoveries of the sort Darwin made a certain narrowness, aridity, and conscientious diligence, in short, something English, may not be an unsuitable arrangement. Finally we should not forget that the English with their profoundly average quality have already once brought about a collective depression of the European spirit. What people call “modern ideas” or “the ideas of the eighteenth century” or even “French ideas” — in other words, what the German spirit has risen against with a deep disgust — were English in origin. There’s no doubt of that. The French have been only apes and actors of these ideas, their best soldiers, as well, and at the same time unfortunately their first and most complete victims. For with the damnable Anglomania of “modern ideas” the âme française [French soul] has finally become so thin and emaciated that nowadays we remember almost with disbelief its sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, its profoundly passionate power, its resourceful nobility. But with our teeth we must hang on to the following principle of historical fairness and defend it against the appearance of the moment: European noblesse [nobility] — in feeling, in taste, in customs, in short, the word taken in every higher sense — is the work and invention of France; European nastiness, the plebeian quality of modern ideas, the work of England.

Soul can’t exist unless you have active, meaningful dialogue with stakeholders: employees, customers, the community, suppliers, and investors. When you launch a business, your job as the entrepreneur is to say, ‘Here’s a value proposition that I believe in. Here’s where I’m coming from. This is my point of view.’ At first, it’s a monologue. Gradually it becomes a dialogue and then a real conversation. Like breaking in a baseball glove. You can’t will a baseball glove to be broken in; you have to use it. Well, you have to use a new business, too. You have to break it in. If you move on to the next thing too quickly, it will never develop its soul. Look what happens when a new restaurant opens. Everyone rushes in to see it, and it’s invariably awkward because it hasn’t yet developed soul. That takes time to emerge, and you have to work at it constantly.

For Tata Motors to fulfill the requirements of its customer value proposition and profit formula for the Nano, it had to reconceive how a car is designed, manufactured, and distributed. Tata built a small team of fairly young engineers who would not, like the company’s more-experienced designers, be influenced and constrained in their thinking by the automaker’s existing profit formulas. This team dramatically minimized the number of parts in the vehicle, resulting in a significant cost saving.

Customers may forge even stronger digital relationships with trusted suppliers. The value proposition may be so strong the consumer would feel comfortable limiting choices to whatever their trusted suppliers choose to make available.

A poor selling process means that the correct decision makers never hear the value proposition. The people who do—usually the procurement team—may well claim not to care about value, only price.

One way to generate a precise customer value proposition is to think about the four most common barriers keeping people from getting particular jobs done: insufficient wealth, access, skill, or time.

Personally, I have learned the hard way that spending most of the time with prospective clients talking about their potential problems is way better than trying to promote myself with accolades about the value of my product or service. Granted, this aforementioned passage is a condensed version of my value proposition for QBS. But it delivers the message. Times are tough in sales, and QBS has ways to solve that. That message resonates with sales management. In the same way, as prospective customers relate to the verbal pictures you paint about challenges they currently face, they will naturally look to you as someone who can help address those issues.

The concept of selling solutions isn’t wrong. It’s based on a valid recognition of the enormous unmet needs most customers have. But very few companies have figured out how to implement the concept profitably. Most failed attempts to deliver solutions have suffered from one of two common flaws. First, many are uncompelling or undifferentiated in the customer’s eyes. Sometimes the word solution is simply code for a consultative selling process or an attempt to pitch some kind of service agreement along with the product. Sometimes the solution is more significant, but undifferentiated. Take outsourcing as an example. Many companies have moved to take over and run some customer function, such as the mail room or call center, and then struggled to make money. The reason: In most cases, this is simply a cost-of-capital or -labor play, based on the notion that the contractor can run the operation more cheaply than the client firm. The function’s role in enhancing the customer’s business scarcely changes. Not surprisingly, this purely cost-based value proposition leads to rapid downward pricing pressure and service commoditization. The other major problem with many attempts to create solutions is their complexity. Once a company has developed a compelling solutions offering, reaching and serving the customer often requires the creation of a highly skilled delivery force that is hard to scale up. The result is a small, marginally profitable operation that clings to relevance on the periphery of the business.

In the case of Trunk Club, they led with a simple polarizing message related to how their target customers generally feel about shopping. By saying “men want to dress well, but they hate to shop,” they intentionally called out shopping as the enemy of their service. And if you are a man who hates to shop, you will rapidly align with their message without much thought. The beauty of this approach is that it has the opposite effect for clients who are a poor fit for your solution. For example, if you’re a man who loves to shop, you may be immediately turned off by Trunk Club’s value proposition. While being excited about customers not liking your solution may seem counterintuitive, it’s actually a good thing! Bad-fit customers who buy your product are more likely to become dissatisfied and hurt your brand. They may also provide errant feedback that can quickly derail your product or company roadmap if you decide to follow it. In short, polarizing messages can serve double duty by keeping the good-fit customers in and helping the bad ones self-select out. In the case of Trunk Club, this approach worked: they were acquired by US luxury retailer Nordstrom in 2014 for $350 million.

At its heart, ecosystem strategy is about partner alignment. Customer insight and great execution are the necessary but no longer sufficient drivers of success. As delivering your value propositions has become more dependent on collaboration, finding ways to align your partners has moved to center stage. In industries, working with partners meant mastering supply chains and distribution channels—everyone understood their role and position. In ecosystems, the challenge is aligning critical partners whose vision of who-does-what may vary dramatically from your own.

What should a cold call sound like?* Reach prospect: Hi, is [First Name] in? Introduction:** Hi [First Name], this is [Name] at [Company], how are you doing? Permission: I called to see if what we do for [Problem] can benefit your team. Did I catch you with two minutes? Value proposition: We help [Buyer persona] who [Problem] by [Solution]. In fact, [Customer success story]. Question + leading statement: I’ve seen a lot of [Buyer persona] who are dealing with [specific facet of problem]. How are you addressing that today? Qualify for interest + fit: [This is the part you cannot script - you have to know what makes a qualified buyer and really listen to their answers.] Ask for the appointment: Well, you’ve been kind to give me a few minutes today and it sounds like there’s reason to continue the conversation. Do you have time this coming [Day] or [Day] that we can get into more detail and determine if there’s a mutual fit? *This structure demonstrates how a call can go if the prospect has no objections. It’s best to also script effective responses to common objections. **There is an entire school of thought around using uncommon conversation starters to take the prospect out of his or her standard reaction to cold calls. This strategy is smart and merits testing once you’re ready to focus on improving your call effectiveness.

minimum viable ecosystem (MVE) means something else. It is not targeted at exploring consumer demand. Rather, it is targeted at aligning the partners that you need to build your value architecture and to deliver your value proposition (which, to be sure, itself must be selected on the basis of deep customer insight). The MVE is less about prototyping and more about attracting and aligning. It provides the foundation that you can use to attract an initial subset of partners, which serves to attract the second subset, then the third, and so on.

Jeff would reject what he saw as copycat thinking, emphasizing again and again that whatever music product we built, it had to offer a truly unique value proposition for the customer. He would frequently describe the two fundamental approaches that each company must choose between when developing new products and services. We could be a fast follower—that is, make a close copy of successful products that other companies had built—or we could invent a new product on behalf of our customers. He said that either approach is valid, but he wanted Amazon to be a company that invents.

In insurance, for example, USAA has been a stellar performer with a value proposition aimed at low-risk customers. Here’s what is essential: finding a unique way to serve your chosen segment profitably.

Starting with just eleven beds and three doctors, Aravind has become the world’s largest provider of eye care in the world, performing about 300,000 surgeries a year, at least two-thirds of them for free. Aravind has an extraordinary value proposition. Correction: it has two value propositions. One is aimed at affluent customers who want the best eye care money can buy. These customers want to be seen by state-of-the-art doctors in state-of-the-art facilities, and they are willing to pay the going market rate for such advanced medical care. That’s one value proposition. The second is for those who can’t afford to pay and who would otherwise become blind. Aravind offers them sight, and the independence that goes with it. The medical care is identical to that provided to the paying patients—same doctors, same operating rooms. The hotel function (room and board) is vastly stripped down. But the price is stripped down even further, all the way to zero.

It’s an offer you present to the marketplace that cannot be compared to any other product or service available, combining an attractive promotion, an unmatchable value proposition, a premium price, and an unbeatable guarantee with a money model (payment terms) that allows you to get paid to get new customers . . . forever removing the cash constraint on business growth. In other words, it allows you to sell in a “category of one,” or, to apply another great phrase, to “sell in a vacuum.

The diamond-and-square framework provides the answers. The framework’s diamond breaks down the startup’s opportunity—that is, the “horse”—into four constituent parts: its customer value proposition, technology and operations, marketing, and profit formula. The diamond is framed by a square whose corners denote the venture’s key resource providers: its founders (that is, the “jockeys”), other team members, outside investors, and strategic partners.

An early-stage startup has three important choices to make regarding its customer value proposition—choices that will have a big impact on its odds for success:

Iteration should stop only when you’re confident you have formulated a compelling customer value proposition—also known as a positioning statement—that includes answers to all of the blanks listed below: For [INSERT: target customer segments] dissatisfied with [INSERT: existing solution] due to [INSERT: unmet needs], [INSERT: venture name] offers a [INSERT: product category] that provides [INSERT: key benefits of your defensible, differentiated solution].

Of the four opportunity elements, an early-stage startup’s customer value proposition is without question the most important. To survive, a new venture absolutely must offer a sustainably differentiated solution for strong, unmet customer needs. This point bears repeating: Needs must be strong. If an unknown startup’s product doesn’t address an acute pain point, customers aren’t likely to buy it. Likewise, differentiation is crucial: If the venture’s offering is not superior in meaningful ways to existing solutions, again, no one will buy it. Finally, sustaining this differentiation is important. Without barriers to imitation, the venture is vulnerable to copycats.

An entrepreneur doesn’t really make decisions about her profit formula. Rather, the choices she makes about the other three elements of the venture’s opportunity—its Customer Value Proposition, Technology & Operations, and Marketing—dictate revenue and costs. These decisions collectively determine who the venture will serve and in what numbers, how it will price its product, how it will attract new customers, whether it will employ a “high-touch” service approach and incur commensurate costs, and so forth.

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Once you’ve taken the time to develop a comprehensive list of differentiators, you will want to use them quickly and efficiently to support the value propositions you offer.

If you're a company, my advice is to remember that you can't have it both ways. You can't treat your customers like family one moment and then treat them impersonally-or, even worse, as a nuisance or a competitor-a moment later when this becomes more convenient or profitable. This is not how social relationships work. If you want a social relationship, go for it, but remember that you have to maintain it under all circumstances. On the other hand, if you think you may have to play tough from time to time-charging extra for additional services or rapping knuckles swiftly to keep the consumers in line-you might not want to waste money in the first place on making your company the fuzzy feel-good choice. In that case, stick to a simple value proposition: state what you give and what you expect in return. Since you're not setting up any social norms or expectations, you also can't violate any-after all, it's just business.

If you need further help redefining your value proposition, we recommend you read the first few chapters of Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim

We select our target customer segments, we design our value propositions to best serve these customer segments, we choose which type of relationships we will have with our customers and we choose which channels we will use to find, win, make, keep and grow our happy customers. We call this part of the business model the “Front Office.” Our front office activities will generate customers and revenue. In the “Back Office” of our business model we need to employ certain key resources that can execute certain key activities delivering our value propositions to our customers. The back office often builds relationships with key partners5 and the back office generates cost.

These 11 questions best elicit true business objectives: 1. What is the ideal outcome you’d like to experience? 2. What results are you trying to accomplish? 3. What better product/service/customer/employee condition are you seeking? 4. Why are you seeking to do this (work/project/engagement)? 5. How would the operation be different as a result of this work? 6. Why are you considering this project (to improve what)? 7. How would image/repute/credibility be improved? 8. What harm (e.g., stress, dysfunction, turf wars) would be alleviated? 9. How much would you gain on the competition as a result? 10. How would your value proposition be improved? 11. How would you most easily justify this investment? A few of these questions honestly

As much as possible, connect your offer to the direct benefits customers will receive. Like the Alaska coupon books, a compelling offer pays for itself by making a clear value proposition. What people want and what they say they want are not always the same thing; your job is to figure out the difference. When developing an offer, think carefully about the objections and then respond to them in advance. Provide a nudge to customers by getting them to make a decision. The difference between a good offer and a great offer is urgency (also known as timeliness): Why should people act now? Offer reassurance and acknowledgment immediately after someone buys something or hires you. Then find a small but meaningful way to go above and beyond their expectations.

Never Put These Ten Words in Your Pitch Deck Take a close look at your standard pitch deck, the “about us” section on your corporate home page, or your PR material. Highlight every instance of the words “leading,” “unique,” “solution,” or “innovative.” In particular, go find all instances of the phrase “We work to understand our customers’ unique needs and then build custom solutions to meet those needs.” Then hit the delete key. Because every time you use one of those buzzwords, you are telling your customers, “We are exactly the same as everyone else.” Ironically, the more we try to play up our differences, the more things sound the same. Public relations expert Adam Sherk recently analyzed the terms used in company communications, and the results are devastating. Here are the top ten: By definition, there can be only one leader in any industry—and 161,000 companies each think they’re it. More than 75,000 companies think they’re the “best” or the “top”; 30,400 think they’re “unique.” “Solution” also makes an appearance at number seven—so if you think that calling your offering a “solution” differentiates you, think again. If everyone’s saying they offer the “leading solution,” what’s the customer to think? We can tell you what their response will be: “Great—give me 10 percent off.” We don’t mean to be unsympathetic here. You’ll find it’s hard to avoid these terms—heck, we call our own consulting arm “SEC Solutions”! In all of our time at the Council, we have never once met a member who doesn’t think her company’s value proposition beats the socks off the competitors’. And it’s understandable. After all, why would we want to work for a company whose product is second-rate—especially when our job is to sell that product? But what the utter sameness of language here tells us is that, ironically, a strategy of more precisely describing our products’ advantages over the competition’s is destined to have the exact opposite effect—we simply end up sounding like everyone else.

One of the first tests of your value proposition should be, is it emotionally compelling? Do customers’ heart rates go up after they hear it? Do they lean forward to hear more?

Second, does your value proposition make or reinforce an economic case? Does it have economic impact? Does it sound like your product gives a corporate customer a competitive advantage or improves some critical area in their company? If it’s a consumer product, does it save a consumer time or money, or change their prestige or identity?

However, in most tech organizations, marketing has evolved to be more about owning the brand and customer acquisition, while product owns the value proposition and development.

The only people in any enterprise who ever describe anyone except the people who buy the enterprise’s products and services as “customers” are IT personnel. The only people in the enterprise who ever talk about “aligning with the business” are IT personnel. (Maybe the head of sales has talked about aligning her function with a new strategy or a new value proposition, or the head of manufacturing has talked about aligning with new key performance indicators—but aligning with the business?) That view can’t be good for IT. It is a legacy of the

which one—fad or trend—you are dealing with before you start. It would be much better if you could start with a fad, exploit it for all it was worth, and then turn it into a trend. That may seem like a miracle, but that is in essence what high-tech marketing is all about. Every truly innovative high-tech product starts out as a fad—something with no known market value or purpose but with “great properties” that generate a lot of enthusiasm within an “in crowd” of early adopters. That’s the early market. Then comes a period during which the rest of the world watches to see if anything can be made of this; that is the chasm. If in fact something does come out of it—if a value proposition is discovered that can be predictably delivered to a targetable set of customers at a reasonable price—then a new mainstream market segment forms, typically with a rapidity that allows its initial leaders to

The rep seemed to have done everything right. He’d taught the customer about an unseen opportunity that only the company’s solution could address. He’d helped them execute a successful proof of concept that won over the technical users in the organization. He’d managed to convince a skeptical buying committee—proving the ROI of the solution and defending the company’s unique differentiators and value proposition. His buyer told him that they were ready to move forward. But then, suddenly, the deal went cold.

The biggest advantage to innovating incumbents is their ability to leverage their existing position with customers to gain knowledge and build traction for their new value propositions. Incumbents that isolate their new initiatives from the main business undermine their ability to leverage this power.

Reinforcing the importance of this opportunity, Immelt added: “The Industrial Internet is a win-win for GE and our customers. Our offerings will increase GE’s services margins and boost organic industrial growth, with the potential to drive as much as $20 billion in annual savings across our industries.” There is a word missing in these statements that marks the difference between a great value proposition and a successful ecosystem: partners. This absence is what separates a service business that relies on value-added resellers to move merchandise, and an ecosystem that aligns partners to create new value in a structured way.

At the bare minimum, this plan should cover the following aspects that are fundamental to the success of any business: value propositions, key resources, key activities, key partners, cost structure, targeted customer segments, customer relationships, channels, and revenue streams.

Create a unique strategic position for the business Focus on who your customers are, the attractiveness of your offer to them (known as the value proposition), and how you can connect the two as efficiently as possible.

We argue that performance is sustained not by offering customers the perfect choice but by offering them the easy one. So even if a value proposition is what first attracted them, it is not necessarily what keeps them coming.

StoryBrand Culture Honors the Story of Its Team Members When you leverage the StoryBrand Framework externally, for marketing, it transforms the customer value proposition. When you leverage it internally, for engagement, it transforms the employee value proposition. All engagement rises and falls on the employee value proposition. Increasing compensation is one way you might add value to employees, but that’s just the beginning. You can also raise value by improving the employee experience: advancement opportunities, recognition, meaningful work, camaraderie, and flexibility. All those things add value too.

The better your insights, the more you can improve your value propositions in a way that is relevant for customers;

The experiential offering, or experiential value proposition (EVP), is the what of the service, and can be broken down into two main parts: what you want to offer and what your customers perceive as being offered.

A related tactic is asking them to play your value back to you.54 This works especially well when the customer has been reticent to give feedback. I was nervous to do this when this was first taught to me. What if the customer couldn’t do so? What if I didn’t like what I heard? But that’s the point. You want to know if you landed your value proposition or what parts of the pitch didn’t stick, something like, “You’ve clearly seen a lot and are very advanced in your thinking. I’m curious, what value do you see, if any, in what we’re doing?

There’s no long-term loyalty. Customers will trade loyalty for convenience, for value, or for status. Which means that every company must constantly reevaluate its business and monetization model and value proposition.

Put value creation over profits For you to be successful, you need to let value creation guide you at every step along the way. By this we mean value creation not only for customers but also for all ecosystem partners. Value creation comes in many forms—for instance, making it easier for your partners to work with you is a form of value creation. As is making it easier for your partners to offer propositions to your customers.

Start with the customer and end with the customer In the ecosystem economy, customers and their needs should be the highest of all priorities. Ecosystem businesses should be designed around the value propositions you are making to your customers.

When you are considering where you may have a differentiated advantage, what ultimately drives your thinking should be cross-sectoral opportunities. In narrowing down your options in search of the strongest ecosystem-based proposition, you will naturally gravitate toward those propositions that create value by crossing sector borders to cooperatively fulfill customer needs. We believe that building an ecosystem backbone will create a protective moat around your propositions and help you to deliver value for all the key stakeholders involved.

A Complement to Choice I don’t claim that consumer choice is never conscious, or that the quality of a value proposition is irrelevant. To the contrary: people have to have a reason to buy a product in the first place. And sometimes a new technology or a new regulation enables a company to demand consideration of a product—by radically lowering the price, offering new features, or providing a wholly new solution to a customer need. Robust where-to-play and how-to-win choices, therefore, are still essential to strategy. Without a value proposition superior to those of competitors that are attempting to appeal to the same customers, a company has nothing to build on.

How to win?” strategies can be translated to what value proposition you offer to your customers.

Goldberg and Fab’s management team conducted cohort analysis and had a handle on deteriorating LTV/ CAC trends, but they did not act quickly enough on this data. In October 2013, three months after raising the VC round that made Fab a unicorn, Goldberg wrote in a memo to his team, “We spent $ 200 million and we haven’t proven out our business model… we haven’t proven that we know exactly what our customers want to buy.” He added a litany of his own mistakes as CEO, including: I guided us to go too fast. I didn’t insist on homing in on our target customer. I spent too much on marketing before we got the consumer value proposition right. I didn’t build enough discipline around costs and business metrics into our culture. I allowed us to over-invest in Europe. I didn’t see the need to course correct fast enough.

Your operations strategy outlines how you will deliver your products or services. It includes your production processes, supply chain management, and customer service. Your operations strategy should be aligned with your business objectives and value proposition

It is hard to exaggerate what the company went through. It changed its strategy from selling products to providing customers with solutions. It changed its value proposition from offering beauty to improving return on investment (ROI). It changed its culture from top down to wide open. It changed the way it maintained quality from using audits to having process-based mechanisms. It changed its marketing philosophy from promoting what it made to creating what customers wanted. It changed its technology from a system built around an outmoded mainframe to one based on a state-of-the-art network.

Knowing your dream buyer changes everything – your product and service offering, your marketing strategy, value proposition, pricing, tone of your copy, what channels you advertise on, and more.

Disruptive technologies bring to a market a very different value proposition than had been available previously. Generally, disruptive technologies underperform established products in mainstream markets. But they have other features that a few fringe (and generally new) customers value. Products based on disruptive technologies are typically cheaper, simpler, smaller, and, frequently, more convenient to use.

YOUR THREE UNIQUES Other common marketing terms for this are “differentiators” and “value proposition.” Plainly put, these are what make you different, what make you stand out, and what you’re competing with. If you line yourself up against 10 of your competitors, you might all share one of these uniques. Some of you may even share two, but no one else should have the three you do. You need to settle on three qualities that will truly make your company unique to the ideal customer.

Neuroscientists have shown that the old brain receives images much quicker than other stimuli, which is why value propositions need to paint word pictures of the problems you can solve for potential clients.

Christensen outlines: Disruptive technologies bring to a market a very different value proposition than had been available previously. Generally, disruptive technologies underperform established products in mainstream markets. But they have other features that a few fringe (and generally new) customers value. Products based on disruptive technologies are typically cheaper, simpler, smaller, and, frequently, more convenient to use. Disruptive technologies like cryptoassets initially gain traction because they’re “cheaper, simpler, smaller.” This early traction occurs on the fringe, not in the mainstream, which allows incumbents like Mr. Dimon to dismiss them. But cheaper, simpler, smaller things rarely stay on the fringe, and the shift to mainstream can be swift, catching the incumbents off guard.

Instead of specializing in speedometers or steering wheels, software supply chain companies deliver reusable chunks of code that developers bring together to make finished applications. These are Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Each API supplier provides only a piece of the solution. Amazon Web Services delivers the data center. Twilio provides communications. Stripe and PayPal enable payments. Modern apps integrate dozens of these small components into a unique value proposition for the customer. This shift to component software is the next big leap in the evolution of the software industry.

great positioning is more than just articulating your assumptions around your target market and value proposition

The Header. The very top of your website, in which you use very few words to let people know what you offer.         •  The Stakes. The section of the website in which you explain what you are saving customers from.         •  The Value Proposition. The section of a website in which you add value to your product or service by listing its benefits.

Leverage Magazine Exposure to Amplify Your Brand's Reach In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, establishing a strong and credible presence is vital for businesses looking to stand out. While online platforms dominate modern advertising strategies, traditional mediums like magazines continue to hold a special place in connecting with target audiences on a deeper level. For brands seeking to elevate their visibility and credibility, Socnity Media's magazine exposure services offer the perfect blend of tradition and innovation, bridging the gap between offline influence and online growth. As a leading digital marketing agency, Socnity Media understands the importance of creating an omnichannel presence for businesses. Magazine exposure is not just about getting featured; it's about aligning your brand with respected publications that resonate with your target market. Whether you’re an emerging startup or an established enterprise, being featured in industry-leading magazines can open doors to new opportunities, build trust among customers, and set you apart in a crowded marketplace. Why Magazine Exposure Matters in a Digital Era Magazines remain a trusted source of information for readers seeking in-depth insights, trends, and expert opinions. Unlike fleeting online ads, magazine features often carry a sense of permanence and authority that leaves a lasting impression. By leveraging Socnity Media’s expertise as a digital marketing agency, your brand can secure placements in renowned publications that highlight your story, achievements, and unique value proposition. Magazine exposure also complements your digital marketing efforts, creating a well-rounded strategy that taps into both traditional and digital audiences. A well-crafted magazine article not only drives offline engagement but also boosts online visibility when shared across your website, social media platforms, and email campaigns. This synergy amplifies your reach, driving more traffic and engagement for your brand. How Socnity Media Helps You Shine At Socnity Media, we specialize in creating tailored strategies that align with your business goals. Our magazine exposure services are designed to position your brand as an industry leader by identifying the right publications and crafting compelling narratives. As a trusted digital marketing agency, we take a strategic approach to ensure that every magazine feature enhances your brand’s credibility and connects with your audience. With a combination of creative storytelling, targeted placements, and expert media relations, Socnity Media helps your brand leverage the power of magazine exposure to its fullest potential. Whether you’re looking to showcase a product launch, share an inspiring success story, or build long-term recognition, our team ensures your magazine features drive real results. Conclusion Magazine exposure is a powerful tool for businesses aiming to enhance their reputation and expand their reach. When combined with the expertise of a reliable digital marketing agency like Socnity Media, your brand can unlock new levels of visibility and authority in your industry. By securing strategic placements in respected publications, we help you tell your story in a way that resonates and inspires, ensuring your brand stays top of mind for your audience. Ready to take your marketing strategy to the next level? Discover how Socnity Media’s magazine exposure services can transform your brand.

The Web is an infant technology. If you want to be successful in the short-to-medium term, you can only do things that offer incredibly strong value propositions to customers relative to the value of doing things in more traditional ways.