You’ve thought of some great ideas that you think can drive growth, but how do you know what really makes a good proposition? Engagement Manager Olie Lobo shares the 4 things that usually make up a good proposition:
1. Meeting strong customer needs
Ensuring your proposition solves a customer need is crucial. Even if you executed a perfect product launch, if it’s not what customers need, it won’t take off. At White Space Strategy we often hear from clients who think they’ve developed an incredible product, but aren’t sure who it’s ‘incredible’ for. Make sure you take the time to understand which customers are your core market, and how these customers experience the problem you’re solving. Then use all that insight to power your proposition development and marketing.
2. Easily buyable
What can you do to make it easier for your customers to buy your proposition? The best propositions make it so simple for you to buy it, that it’s inevitable. This often means basic details like making the purchasing process as quick as possible, but can also include things like whether the product and supplier have the right certifications for a customer procurement process. It’s usually helpful to put yourself in the shoes of a prospective buyer (do you know who that is?), consider the buying process they will need to go through, and identify all the barriers to purchasing they might face. It doesn’t have to be as slick as Amazon’s ‘Buy now’ button, but have you done all you can to remove those barriers?
3. Easy to understand & communicate
You might have the best proposition around, it could be perfect, but if your customer doesn’t understand why they need it – they won’t buy it! However complex your offering is ‘under the hood’, make sure you can concisely explain the benefits. If you’ve been developing the proposition with a more technical team, you may need to think about this with some fresh perspective. If you were explaining this to a friend in the pub, or to a child, could you simplify it enough for them to understand why they need it? Could you explain it in 10 words or fewer? We’ve seen plenty of powerful propositions with explanations so complicated that even internal teams struggle to understand the product. The simple explanation is essential if you want customers to really understand the power of your proposition.
4. Differentiated vs existing offerings
So far, we’ve focused on your proposition being right for the customer, but what’s to stop them buying an equally good proposition from your fierce rival? A good proposition needs to be different to the offerings already in the market, otherwise you end up in a race to the bottom on price. It’s often helpful to spend time reflecting on your strengths as a business vs the competition as you work out how to differentiate your offering. What do customers think about your rival’s offering and how do you elevate your proposition above others in the market? Ideally your proposition would be genuinely unique in the market, and you can use those USPs to help distinguish you from the competition.
If you’re thinking about new propositions, have you clearly defined all the elements above? Or do you think you’ve defined these elements but are unsure what the market thinks of it? If the answer to either question is ‘yes’, then White Space Strategy would be happy to hear from you and discuss how we could support you.