Messaging Building your Value Proposition

1
Messaging Building your Value Proposition?

• Clearly articulated
• Should be market specific
• What you are
• Who you are
• What you do
• Who you do it for
• What does it do for the buyer
• What is the value to the buyer

2
Value?

• How much do I get?
• How soon will I see it?
• How sure can I be that you will deliver it

3
Bad Messaging and its Effects

• Message does not cover business needs

Message too technical
Is it clearly articulated? Is it market
specific? What are you? Who are you? What do you
do? Who do you do it for? What does it do for the
buyer? What is the value to the buyer?
Message is inconsistent
Value Proposition not clearly articulated
4
Good Messaging
Your Messages Aligning to meet the needs of your
target audience
5
Message Example

• Trace Group plc, established in 1974,is one of
  the UK's leading providers of IT solutions for
  business. Our solutions combine internally
  developed industry specific software packages
  with a full range of complementary services,
  including custom built software, consultancy,
  training, installation, maintenance, facilities
  management and the provision of skilled
  personnel. Trace is a specialist in business
  software solutions for the financial, insurance,
  reinsurance and property markets and has become
  an acknowledged leader in its chosen fields.

6
Message Example

• ICI creates, develops and markets products that
  make the world look brighter, taste fresher,
  smell sweeter and feel smoother. Paints, foods,
  fragrances, personal care. The kind of products
  you use every day.
• Of course, the ICI Group is a huge international
  business. We employ more than 32,000 people
  worldwide. Our product range is 50,000 strong.
  And in 2005 our sales touched 5.8 bn. But now
  theres an altogether more human face to the
  company.
• The ICI Group comprises the International
  Businesses of National Starch and Chemical
  Company, Quest International, Uniqema, and ICI
  Paints - as well as the Regional Industrial
  Group, made up of businesses which are more
  regional in their scope with principal locations
  in India, Pakistan, and Argentina.

7

Communicating Message
Create a 10 slide powerpoint Once created, it
can be adapted for funding, customers or
partners Adaptable for different
customers Cut to elevator pitch
8
The Market - Segmentation

• Grouping a market (i.e. potential customers) into
  subgroups by a variety of measures.
• Geography
• Industry
• Direct or indirect
• Must be homogeneous within the segment
• Heterogeneous between the segments
• Each segment is
• Measurable and identifiable
• Accessible and actionable
• Large enough to be profitable

9
The Market - Sizing

• Why its important is there enough?
• Will funders buy into a potentially small market?
• How much competition is there?
• Not only today's actual but growth or shrinkage
  factors
• Sources of information
• Web
• News reports etc
• Analysts reports Gartner etc, plus financial
• Competitors sites
• Test Marketing
• Trade Associations
• Anecdotal

10
The Market - Drivers

• Market Drivers are those things which create
  opportunity for companies.
• It is critical to good messaging to understand
  the key drivers and to play to them.
• List out Driver Categories with examples

11
The Market Drivers

• Things and situations that create market
  opportunity
• Legislation or pending legislation
• Court or governmental rulings
• Economics
• Competitive activity
• New working practices
• Lethargy / complacency with current technology
• Disruptive technologies/business practices e.g.
  VOIP, Outsourcing
• Business failures in the segment
• Local -cultural
• These categories are not exhaustive and each
  market/segment will have multiple drivers

12
Market The Audience

• Who do we need to get our messages through to ?
  - culture
• Who are we selling to ?
• Who signs the cheque ?
• Who is the major influence ?

13
Market The Audience

• Who do we need to get our messages through to ?
  - culture
• Who are we selling to ?
• Who signs the cheque ?
• Who is the major influence ?
• What are their needs ? Use drivers to create
  need statements
• Generic for the messages, specific for a sales
  campaign.

14
The Problem We Solve Our Product

• What does our product do ?Why did we create it
  ?What research did we do when we built it
  ?What technology is it built on ?

15
The Problem We Solve Business Needs

• Align to drivers
• Look for financial needs
• Cost savings / ROI / TOC
• Increased business
• Regulatory needs
• New business opportunities

16
The Problem We Solve- Examples

• Must be business related
• Medical device operating time, efficacy
• Reduction of site time for pre-fabricated
  building systems

17
The Problem We Solve - Exercise

• Describe your product
• Give me an examples of the need it fulfils

18
What is a Must Have?

• Solves a major problem
• Unique The so what test
• Big return - ROI
• Creates new business opportunities

19
Competitors

• Who are your competitors?
• Direct - similar product
• Indirect - competing for the same
• Internal
• What are they saying?
• What are their messages?
• Where are we different / better?

20
Creating a Winning Proposition

• Understand your company and its goals
• Make sure that everyone in the company
  understands these
• Do a SWOT analysis
• Play to the drivers / business needs
• Play to your strengths
• Minimise the weaknesses

21
Creating a Winning Proposition

• Define Unique Selling Points (USPs)
• Create the elevator pitch
• Create different messages for different audiences
• - CEO Board
• Technical
• Operational
• Purchasing
• REMEMBER MARKET AUDIENCE CHECKLIST
• Create supporting collateral
• Web site
• Brochures
• White papers etc

22
Pricing as Part of the Proposition

• Value
• Competitive pricing
• Revenue vs. capital
• When and how to discount
• Reference site pricing
• Ease of communication of price and industry
  practise
• Profitability across products

23
Return on Investment as part of messaging

• Return on investment case, simple outline case,
  e.g.
• Theoretical expectations
• If you could induct your staff 25 faster, then
  you would save x man-days per annum at x per
  days
• Anecdotal experience
• One client saw a 10 increase in productivity
  after three months which resulted in an
  additional x man days per annum at x per day
• Product sales sales increased by 25 after 3
  months, creating a net bottom line revenue of x
• Before and After analysis
• Increased revenues
• Reduced staff number
• Better customer service
• Etc.

24
Test Marketing

• Concept of test marketing
• Getting the message and pricing right
• Understanding your buyers and their environment
• Use a process questionnaire
• Objective reporting
• Fine tuning the proposition
• Target market selection
• Priming the market, early adopters
• The importance of NOT selling

25
Messaging Exercise

• Build your own proposition / message
• 30 minutes preparation based on the previous
  exercises
• 10 - 20 min presentation, 5 min feed back
• Outline package
• - Slide 1- Title
• Slide 2 the market/opportunity competition
• Slide 3 the drivers
• Slide 4 todays problems
• Slide 5 the solution - your proposition
• Slide 6 your magic (business model)
• Slide 7 the features
• Slide 8 the benefits Return on Investment
• Slide 9 projections timelines
• Slide 10 about you your team why you are the
  best

26
Elevator Pitch Elements

• Market driver
• What our product does
• Why we made it
• Who we are
• What it does for the buyer

JUST ONE SENTENCE EACH !
27
Summary

• Create a clear, detailed proposition
• Understand your market
• Drivers
• Segmentation
• Be aware of the market environment
• Find the early adopters
• Understand your product - SWOT
• Create a need for your product
• Learn about your competition - Are you
  different/better?
• Use Test Marketing
• WORK HARD TO GET IT RIGHT !

28
Summary

• Value of focus
• Strategic objectives
• Mission communication