Your brand proposition

Your brand proposition is your first step in winning new business. It’s a statement that tells your audience what they will get from you. It’s not a description of the services you provide, necessarily, but a description of the benefit customers will experience.
 

Why you need a strong brand proposition

In a noisy business environment your brand proposition is the opportunity to influence the attitude and opinion that people have about your business. It’s your opportunity to influence their behaviour.

A survey in 2018 found that, in one minute on the internet, there are 481,000 tweets, 3.7 million Google searches, 187 million emails sent and $862,823 spent. Research estimates that the average adult is exposed to between 1,000 and 3,000 marketing messages every day, online, in the street and at home. How do you stand out amongst all that activity? What’s going to make someone stop and look at your business? A brand proposition that is clear and consistent is the first step.
 

How to create your brand proposition

What you include in your brand proposition will vary for each business. But it should capture what makes you different. That could be your purpose, your history, your values, your location, your expertise, your audience… anything that you feel will help you to stand out and attract customers to you.

Your brand proposition can be used in print, in person and online. Depending on when and where you’re using it, the exact words you use may vary. But what’s important is maintaining the core message at the heart of it. The reason for this is that the consistency of your brand proposition will help to build trust with your customers.

In this article I’ve identified three elements that will give you a solid foundation for your brand proposition: Your purpose, your values and your audience.
 

Your purpose

Your purpose is the motivation that drives you. It’s often a description of the impact you want to make. A clear purpose can provide a powerful reference point for a business.

For this reason your purpose should be short. A short statement is easier to communicate and easier to remember. Here are some examples of businesses that have defined a clear purpose.

Nike
To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.

Rolls Royce Aerospace
Our aim is to provide the finest, most technologically advanced power systems.

Amazon
Our vision is to be earth’s most customer centric company.

When it comes to defining your business and your goals, there are a wide range of statements to choose from… Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Positioning Statement. Each has their role. But for a lot of businesses, particularly businesses with limited marketing experience or resource, multiple statements can be a burden, rather than a benefit. Therefore a single, simple statement can provide the focus you need.

 

Your values

Your values are a set of words, words that describe the way you behave as a business. They are often used as a marketing tool, to make a business sound more attractive to potential customers. But your values are really an internal tool. Their role is to provide guidance to everyone in your business as to how they should behave.

These are some examples of business that have defined their values.

Adidas
Performance, Passion, Integrity, Diversity.

Innocent
Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Generous, Commercial, Natural.

BMW
Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Growth.

A clear set of values will provide a practical framework to help maintain consistency within your business, as you grow. As a business becomes larger, and more diverse, a set of values provide a reference point. They should help to influence decision making, from the factory floor to the boardroom. Everyone within your business should understand how your values relate to their role, and how they should influence their behaviour.
 

Your audience

Considering your audience is essential, as you develop your brand proposition. In the struggle to stand out, it can be tempting for a business to chase every opportunity for new business. But it’s a much better use of your resources to begin by identifying your ‘ideal customer’.

Your ‘ideal customer’ is the customer that brings the greatest benefit to your business. What makes them ‘ideal’ will vary form business to business. It could be the amount a customer spends. You may identify a cost threshold that maximises your profitability. Another factor could be a customer’s location. You know that it is more cost-effective for you to do business with customers close to you. Or it could be a customer’s decision-making process. You recognise that businesses with a management structure that can make decisions quickly shortens your sales process.

What’s important when you review your audience, is that you identify the criteria that are relevant to your business. Don’t make assumptions. You need to identify the criteria that describe your ‘ideal customer’. Then you need to develop a brand proposition that will appeal to them.
 

The next step

In a competitive environment you need to use every opportunity to differentiate your business from your competitors. You need to give customers a reason to choose you. Your brand proposition will do that. It will help you to build trust with your customers, in print, in person and online.

 


Get in touch
If you would like advice on shaping your brand proposition, drop us an email. It would be great to hear from you!


 
 
Photo by mauro mora on Unsplash