Two Simple Templates to Write Your Value Proposition

Simple Clarity is the foundation of your brand. It’s the ability to describe your value proposition and what makes your business unique in 10 words or less.

Simple Clarity is so important that it is the first principle of my book, Sticky Branding. It’s often described as your elevator pitch or unique selling proposition. Regardless of what you call it, your value proposition has to be clear to be effective.‍

In this article I will give you two templates to write your value proposition.For a value proposition to be effective it should have three things:

• Short: Ideally 10 words or less.
• Descriptive: Clear explanation of what the brand offers.
• Memorable: Easy to find and easy to refer.

Simple Clarity follows the same principles. Here are two templates to write a compelling value proposition.

Template 1: You Are, You Do, You Serve

I start with three questions when writing a value proposition:

• [Category] You are: What is your company’s industry or category?
• [Service] You do: What does your company do? More importantly, what does it do better than everyone else?
• [Market] You serve: Who does your company serve?

Simple Clarity distills you are, you do, you serve into a statement about your brand.

For example, Patriot Software is a prolific advertiser in the United States. In its ads the brand repeatedly states, “Patriot Software is accounting and payroll software for companies with 1 to 100 employees.”

It’s not a particularly colorful or catchy statement, but it’s blunt. It’s a label in your mind. You know exactly what Patriot Software does and for whom. If you fit their target market, you will pay attention. If not, you can tune them out.

Template 2: Category + Passion

If your brand has a unique approach or is well differentiated you can be even bolder.

emplate 2: Combine your category (what you do) with your passion (what makes your company unique). Cardinal Couriers, for instance, has an incredible and unique value proposition: they deliver packages before 8am the next day.

Cardinal competes against giants like FedEx and UPS, but what they do better than everyone else is next day delivery. Their website and marketing collateral all proudly proclaim, “Pre 8am Package Delivery.”

If you break it up you can see the template, Courier + Pre 8am Package Delivery.It’s simple. It’s bold. It’s easy to understand and share.

Simple Clarity Makes Your Brand Sticky

When you make your value proposition clear you make your brand more findable, referable, memorable and desirable. You make your brand sticky!

Nothing moves the sales needle more than achieving clarity in your brand messaging. Try the value proposition templates on your brand. Which one makes your business the most easy to understand?

Need Help With Your Brand Messaging?

If you’d like to discover how Sticky Branding can help you, let’s chat. Here’s a link to my calendar.