The Unique Value Proposition is a vital area of your promotion

However, many staff within government agencies and not-for-profits don’t have a clear description of their own Unique Value Proposition.

You’re good at your jobs – really good! (I know this from working with you or your peers right across Australia).

But, to be blunt, you’re sometimes not fully across the marketing or promotion aspects of your role. And the reality is, everyone needs to be a marketer within their organization – however that’s a rant for another day!

The key thing to understand is that people need to be able to connect with you and trust you.  It’s up to you to give them the reasons to do so.

And tell them through developing your Unique Value Proposition (UVP).

What does this have to do with you?

Plenty!

I don’t expect you to go off and develop a UVP for the whole of your organisation, no doubt your ‘comms’ people are all over that.

Pretty much anyone I know currently working within government or the not for profit sector is involved in a project. And many are looking for ways to increase participation in their projects.

The problem is that your clients have a lot on their plate.  There is a lot of competition for their time.  You and your project need to stand out from the crowd.

Now, more than ever, you need to provide a host of irresistible reasons for your clients to do business with you. This is where your ‘Unique Value Proposition’ is your friend in your time of need.

Developing a Unique Value Proposition for your project will help you to get greater engagement with your target audience and build a stronger profile.

Getting clear on your Unique Value Proposition

Essentially, you need to clearly articulate what’s different about you and why people should work with you.

For my business, the UVP is reasonably simple.  It’s based on clients having less time and willingness to commit to extended facilitated or decision making processes.  Hence the UVP is:

“As an independent facilitator, I work with teams within your organisation to help them agree on and commit to decisions that stick.”

The team at QuickSprout believes that your UVP should explain:

• How your project solves problems
• The specific benefits that clients can expect
• Why clients should do business with you

Importantly a UVP is not a slogan.

The four steps to developing your Unique Value Proposition

Ready to have a go yourself? Great! Close the door, turn off the phones and email and complete these four steps to get your UVP developed within 29 minutes…your time starts now!

Step 1.  Identify your target client

Please don’t say “everyone” – that will make me cry!

An ideal client has a BIG problem that you can solve. This may be because they:

• Would rather spend their time doing something else
• Don’t have the expertise to solve the problem
• Are frustrated with their previous attempts
• Are looking for someone new or independent to help them

Think of your ideal customer as a person who is willing to:

• Work collaboratively with you
• Give you honest feedback
• Be an advocate
• Have flexibility in working with you

Step 2.  Understand concerns

To make an emotional connection with your ideal customer, you need to understand their concerns. This is 400% vital if you’re going to have any chance of getting them to listen to your message or involved in your project.

Put simply you need to walk in their shoes for a day.

Concerns may include:

• Financial security
• Getting everything done with limited time or resources
• Be exposed to risk
• Conflict within their teams

Step 3.  Identify the problems/concerns that you can help with

List how your project could address any of the client concerns that you identified in Step 2. Then list the benefits and value that your project provides to your ideal client.

Step 4.  Describe your Unique Value Proposition

A simple formula I’ve found to do this is:

What your project helps people to do + how it does this

Examples

Here are a range of Unique Value Propositions from government, business and Not for Profits that I reckon are pretty good…

• The Salvation Army helps provide hope, opportunity and freedom to all Australians without discrimination.
• GKIC is THE global community of entrepreneurs providing cutting edge, market tested business and marketing mentorship, ideas, solutions, products and support in order to maximize the success of our members.
• BCG improves the prosperity of Australia’s broadacre farmers through applied science-based research, and extension.
• We work with the New South Wales community to care for and protect our environment and heritage.

 Resources

Here’s an easy to follow Infograph for you to download to help in developing a UVP for your project.

Help is here

Want help? Email me your draft UVP and schedule a call for some feedback.