From time to time, team members will share their views stimulated by content from an industry thought leader. Here, our CEO, Lisa Maier, discusses the recent Target Marketing article, “How to Use Process-Level Value Proposition (and Why It’s Essential to Customer Lifetime Value)” by Daniel Burstein with Marketing Sherpa.
This article points out the obvious, but isn’t it true that what is in front of our faces is what we often miss? I had not heard of the Marketing Sherpa work on the Four Essential Levels of Value Propositions, which are 1) Your primary value proposition, 2) your prospect-level value proposition, 3) your product-level value proposition, and 4) the subject of this piece, your process-level value proposition.
Yet as soon as I saw this article, I knew it was an important point. It is not just the company, it is not just the product, it is not just the (awesome if done by DirectiveGroup!) marketing or story, it is very much how you connect to your prospects and customers on all levels … and that happens at your processes.
This article is an entirely winning piece that causes you to think about your processes and how they touch your customers … either engagingly and appropriately, or like being hit over the head with a club. It is at this level where customers start calling your product or service an ‘intuitive’ fit… or not.
Burstein then gives a number of illustrative examples with full explanations that make total sense:
- Signs on the back of trucks – how do they tell you to stay back?
- How to guide vs dictate when developing your copy.
- How to use assembly instructions as a marketing opportunity.
- How to word directions from the customer point of view.
- How to show instead of just telling and giving customer-specific evidence.
Bottom line, you have a wealth of opportunities to become the ‘just right’ company for your customers. And developing an expression of your value proposition at the process level will set you apart from the pack. Check it out!
