Last Updated: 1 month ago by BrodNeil
Note: Before anything else, if you haven’t read our section on Internet marketing, please do so. Another thing, if you do not have an existing product or service, kindly jump to Identify Your Target Audience. Afterward, you can come back to Lesson 1.
In this first lesson, let us define what a unique value proposition is. I couldn’t say it better than Peep Laja, who is a conversion expert.
Yet, here is how I explain it:
It is a one-of-a-kind assertion (or plan of action) that solves or meets your customers’ specific needs (or your target audience’s specific concerns). Its value is in solving and meeting those specific needs.
Unless of course, if your unique value proposition is one solution to all problems — like one pill, cure all diseases.
Let’s read the definitions:
- Unique – It is one of a kind, or unlike anything else.
- Value – It is the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
- Proposition – It is a statement or an assertion or a suggested scheme or a plan of action, especially in a business context, that expresses a judgment or opinion.
The unique value proposition is also known as a unique selling proposition.
You might ask: How unique is unique?
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that too.
Remember the APE? Let us stick to that.
Therefore, unique can simply mean that which can set you apart from others like your competitors.
It does not have to be really unique as unique. Besides, what is that? Everything is interconnected.
At this time, start from what you think is the most appropriate, practical, and effective.
We don’t have to be perfect, as well as we don’t even have to be efficient in the beginning. We just have to be effective. Then as we progress, we can be efficient. The key is to find the balance between being effective and being efficient.
Being effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing things right.
As for your products and services — how you present and offer them, how you accomplish and deliver them, and how you relate and deal with your clients or customers — these make you or your business unique.
The question to Help You Find Your Unique Value Proposition
Now that we have basically defined what a unique value proposition is, let us make one for your business:
- Get a pen and paper, or do it on your computer. I usually use Google docs (you need a Google account for this). Confused? Just go ahead with the pen and paper. 🙂
- Start answering these questions as honest as possible:
- What is my product or service?
- Can it solve or meet my customer’s needs and expectations?
- How is it different from my competitors’ products and services?
- How do I present and offer it to my customer?
- How do I accomplish and deliver it to my customer?
- How do I relate and deal with my customer?
- What makes that connection unique or worthwhile?
- Am I offering my product or service to the right target audience or target customers? (We’ll have more on this in Lesson 2: Identify Your Target Audience.
- If you have some questions or doubts in mind, write them as well — for we may get answers as we go along.