Note:  As part of this series, I offer market examples to illustrate each concept.  Some are fairly extensive, so I’ve chosen to exceed the four-minute mark in favor of quality (hopefully).  After all, they reinforce my points, and I like credibility.

 

 

Welcome, friends, to Part 3 of this three-part series on brand development.  Part 1 started with the mission, vision, and values that sit at the heart of a business, making them central to its brand.  Part 2 covered seven different marketing components that help shape how the masses perceive a brand.  There’s room for flexibility among all of these, and some may even be left off the table depending on the nature of the company.

 

Not so with the sales side, regardless of what wares you’re selling.  Successful brand integration here requires critical thinking in four areas with clear structures:  value proposition, unique selling proposition, positioning, elevator pitch.

 

There’s going to be crossover with language you’re using for other elements, as there should be for consistency.  But, more than any mantra or manifesto, these four things have the greatest influence on your sales messaging.  What you come up with can be either a boost or a boon to your business development.

 

 

Value Proposition

 

The key word here is value.  Your value prop has less to do with your product/service than it does with the promise of value that your product/service brings to others.

 

The truth is, people really don’t care about your solution itself.  They care about what it will do for them.  So, if you concentrate on all of your nifty features rather than the results they actually deliver, you’re missing the boat.

 

Your VP should therefore be your primary, overarching benefit.  Don’t worry if it’s not entirely unique.  There are only so many ways to spin, say, an affordable airline.  That said, the language you use should be your own.

 

By the way, this is an exercise in restraint.  VPs should be succinct—say what you need to say and say no more.  This is much more powerful than rambling Wikipedia-length entries that try to cram in every ounce of “value” you can think of.

 

Value Proposition Examples

 

• Trello: Trello is the ultimate project management tool that lets you move work forward from anywhere.
• LG: LG Electronics feature innovative, smart technology and designs to suit your home and your style.
• Dollar Shave Club: The Dollar Shave Club helps people by offering quality blades and other products delivered to your door at lower costs than big brands in retail shops.

 

 

Unique Selling Proposition

 

Value props can be similar from one company to another, particularly in crowded industries (e.g., LG isn’t the only one offering cool smart tech for your home).  This requires going a level deeper to truly differentiate your brand.

 

That’s where your unique selling proposition comes in.  It answers the next natural question: “Why should we buy from you?”  If there are 30 other plumbers in the phone book who can fix my faucet, why should I stop calling around right now?

 

Of course, differentiation must be of significance to convey a strong competitive advantage.  This can be something you offer that no one else does, or even can.

 

Alternatively, it could be a feature or benefit that others may also have but aren’t actively promoting.  Being first to market with a compelling angle makes it difficult for others to follow in the same vein.  Do you see many M&Ms rivals out there making similar claims:  “Ours ALSO melts in your mouth, not in your hand!”  No, you do not.

 

Unique selling Proposition Examples

 

• M&Ms: Candy shell keeps the chocolate from melting in your hand.
• WooCommerce: Most customizable eCommerce platform for online business.
• Domino’s: Guaranteed 30-minute delivery or the pizza’s free.

 

 

Positioning

 

If your VP is benefit-based and your USP is competitor-based, then your positioning statement is customer-based.  You are, quite simply, positioning yourself in the minds of your audience.  It’s how you want the market to think about your business by way of your most important attributes.

 

In some ways, your positioning is essentially your branding goal.

 

Brand Positioning Examples

 

• GEICO: Insurance savings and ease of getting a quote.
• American Express: Premium credit card offering exclusive benefits and access.
• Zappos: Customer service and purchase peace of mind for shoes and other goods.

 

 

Elevator Pitch

 

Ahh, the ole elevator pitch.  Something so seemingly simple, yet so massively important.  And that’s just as true whether you’re a stage-one startup seeking cash or a mature enterprise expanding your product line.  Or heck, even an ambitious freelancer.

 

An elevator pitch is a short, memorable description of your business.  Your objective is not to close the deal, which is completely unrealistic in only a few seconds.  Rather, the goal is to pique interest for further conversation.  Get ‘em on the hook.

 

Elevator pitches can include language from your mission/vision, value prop, and USP.  But, it is not any one of those things alone, nor is it a lazy amalgamation of them.  Whatever you borrow from to help articulate your business, the final product should contain the following info to some degree:

 

• What you’re solving for
• How you do it
• Whom you do it for
• Why it’s valuable
• Size of the opportunity

 

To accomplish this, you need more than a single sentence.  That’s why it’s called an “elevator pitch” and not an “elevator phrase.”  I say this because some people like point to Steve Jobs’s line to Pepsi president John Sculley as one of the greatest of all time.  “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”

 

Compelling as that is, it’s not an elevator pitch in and of itself.  If that’s all Jobs said to Sculley, it wouldn’t be very convincing without any context behind what Apple was or what promise it held.  It was the culmination of his full pitch in the form of a challenge, an effective tactic that captured the attention of—and ultimately brought to Apple—an initially-reluctant Sculley.

 

Elevator pitches encapsulate why a potential prospect (or investor) should give you more of their time.  Putting aside whatever they may have heard about the company already, it’s their first impression interacting directly with you.  That makes your salespeople your foremost brand ambassadors.  And that makes the bait on their hook an inextricable part of your brand itself.

 

 

There’s a lot to chew on here.  We’ve just scratched the surface of the 13 core (or core-ish) elements in this series, and these are just part of a broader branding toolkit.  But, you may be surprised how much further ahead you are than many other companies out there if you put the work in behind even just a handful of these.

 

Oh, and if you need an extra hand, I know a guy.

 

 

That guy is me, by the way (ahem).  Whether you’re thinking about your brand architecture as a whole or simply ticking things off one at a time, let me know if you want to bounce some ideas around.