FINDING YOUR UVP: STEP 1
In my last blog post, I gave an overview of the 3 steps to defining your unique value proposition. Now, I’m back to dive deeper into your unique value proposition (UVP) to give you the tips and tricks you need to be able to hone your go-to-market messaging for your brand.
Answer just one question:
“Is your brand a Swiss army knife, or is your brand a razor blade?”
When it comes to how you define the unique value your brand offers your customers, the answer matters big time and it’s often where brands get tripped-up.
Let’s dig in.
THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE TRAP
Many of our clients get stuck in the Swiss Army Knife Trap — they want to slice, dice, cut and do all of the things that a Swiss army knife can do with one product that fits in your pocket. You buy a Swiss army knife because it can do all those things, but you know that it does all of those things in a kind of mediocre way. I mean, how tiny is that little pair of scissors? The Swiss army knife is not going to be able to cut through a giant piece of cardboard for you, but you know that. It can come in handy, and it’s a utility, but at the end of the day it can help you in a pinch and does a bunch of utility tasks well.
RAZOR-SHARP VALUE
On the other hand, the razor blade does one thing really well — cut.
Would you rather your brand be known for doing one thing really well or a bunch of things mediocre? If you try to talk in Swiss army knife terminology to your customers, you’re going to get stuck listing off all the features and functions that your brand offers. That leads to getting stuck in the Feature Trap. And, it leads customers to talk about price instead of value.
Instead, you want to keep your brand in the Value Zone. Even if your brand can do a whole bunch of things well, ask yourself this: “What is the one thing that we can do better than all of our competitors that our customers need badly AND solves the pain for them?”
That is your razor blade moment. Go and find it! In the meantime, I’ll be busy writing up our next piece on defining your value proposition.
Giddy up!