Model – Discovering your Differentiating Value

The “Unique Value Proposition” (UVP) has been a foundational principle in marketing for decades. Essentially, it is a short statement about the value you provide a consumer that differentiates yourself from your competitors. Unfortunately, value propositions often become a gobbledygook of pleasant platitudes and ambiguous promises about the company’s products (e.g. We provide a wide range of consumers with cutting-edge solutions that exceed expectations through unconventional and innovative ways).

The following exercise is designed to take the UVP one step further and thus deserves a new term. Your “Differentiating Value” is the intersection of “What makes you unique” with “What people care about.”

It’s great that you provide excellent service and your products are of high quality. However, if your competitors deliver similar levels, then those support points don’t qualify for your Differentiating Value. Behavioral Economics shows that people primarily make decisions based on differences in frames of reference. In other words, “how are you different than other options?” The differences are what you need to communicate because it helps people select you.

But just being different isn’t enough. You also have to identify what your potential customers care about for your product category. What do they care about when determining the solution that your offering will provide? What matters to you and your industry cohorts may not truly matter to your customer. The hard part is they may not even know what matters to them. Their actions often don’t match their stated preferences. People say they feel saving for their retirement is important, but few max out their annual allowed 401K contributions. Americans want more fuel-efficient cars, yet the top 2 selling cars in 2013 were the Ford F-Series and the Chevrolet Silverado. The only way you can identify what people actually care about is by observing behavior.

Discovering your Differentiating Value is not a simple exercise that can be done in the confines of the marketing department with fluffy ideals and industry jargon. But it can be the core to your business strategy and can take company from being an also-ran to an industry leader. Be honest.