How to Create a Great Value Proposition: Your Step-by-Step Guide (Part 1)
Hey there! Missed me? Sorry for the wait, but I've been cooking up something truly delicious for you today.
In my last post, I discussed the concept of "brand-product fit"—the importance of matching your brand's identity with the nature of the value you're offering + 4 common approaches to help find this fit. But wait—what about "brand value"? Do you understand what it is & how to craft a unique value proposition for your brand?
— The Value propoWHAAAT?
= The value prah-puh-ZIH-shun 😃
A value proposition (VP) is how a brand tells people why their product is really great & how it can make them feel good & special when they use it.
It’s like telling a friend why your favorite superhero is the best. You might say: “My superhero is the fastest, excites me every time I watch them, & makes me feel brave when I’m playing.”
So technically: Value proposition (VP) = A statement of the functional + emotional + self-expressive benefits provided by a brand to the customer.
Functional Benefits 👉🏼 My superhero is the fastest.
Emotional Benefits 👉🏼 My superhero excites me every time I see them in action.
Self-Expressive Benefits 👉🏼 My superhero inspires me to be brave.
What are these 3 layers? Can you give me examples? & how can I identify them for my product/ service/ business?
That’s what we’ll cover in the sections below. In part 1, we’ll go over the theoretical concepts + some exercises, & in the next part, we’ll provide a practical guide on how to discover your unique brand value & craft your VP statement.
Functional Benefits
Functional benefits are all about what your product does to help a customer in a practical way, making it useful & necessary. They are the basic requirements a brand must meet for people to consider it worth buying.
These benefits can be broad or specific, depending on what the customer needs—for example:
A customer new to gardening might say, "I need a garden hose."
An experienced gardener might say, "I need a hose that reaches my vegetable garden from the backyard spigot."
Someone frustrated with poor-quality hoses might say, "I need a durable garden hose that won't break or twist."
Understanding these needs helps a company design better products, like hoses available in different lengths that don't break or twist.
Examples:
Laser printers: Speed, high resolution, quality output, large paper capacity.
Volvo: Safety features, durability, robust design.
Toyota: Fuel efficiency, reliability, low maintenance costs, value for money.
Coca-Cola: Refreshing taste.
Amazon: Wide variety of products, fast and reliable delivery, secure online payment options.
Google: Fast and accurate search results, personalized recommendations, free online tools and services.
Apple: Sleek design, high-quality hardware and software, user-friendly interface, seamless integration.
Nike: High-performance athletic gear, innovative technologies, durable products, wide range of options.
Crest: Effective cavity prevention, dental health benefits, fresh breath.
Slack: Real-time messaging, seamless team collaboration, integration with other tools.
Functional Benefits vs. Product Features:
People often confuse product features with functional benefits. So let's illustrate the key differences between these two concepts:
Write Your Functional Benefits from Scratch:
Identify all the key features & attributes of your product: Create a comprehensive list of what your product does, how it works, & its unique characteristics.
Translate Features into Benefits. For each feature, ask yourself, "What does this feature do for the customer?" For example, if your product has high battery life, the functional benefit is "long-lasting use without frequent charging." To help you find the right words, I've compiled a handy list for you, organized into 5 key areas:
Be Specific and Tangible: Write your functional benefits in measurable terms. Instead of "fast," say "reduces task time by 50%."
Prioritize Key Functional Benefits: Focus on the top 3-5 functional benefits that are most relevant and important to your customers. Use customer feedback and market research to identify these and narrow down your list—the fewer, the better.
Maintain Consistency: Ensure you write down what you consistently deliver. Reliability builds trust and reinforces your brand's promises.
Write your functional benefits statement using this formula: "When I use [brand], I get ___."
The Power of Functional Benefits
Functional benefits, especially those based on tangible & measurable characteristics like speed, performance, durability, and size, have direct links to customer decisions and user experiences. When a brand is head & shoulders above in a key functional benefit, it can dominate its category.
Crest has led the toothpaste category for decades by claiming it reduces cavities, backed by the endorsement of the American Dental Association. Competitors couldn’t match this claim and had to focus on other aspects like fresh breath and white teeth.
Toyota leads the automotive industry with its reputation for fuel efficiency and durability. These functional benefits strongly appeal to customers looking for reliable and cost-effective vehicles.
And take note of this! Unlocking the power of a functional benefit isn't just about finding what resonates with customers and sets the product apart from competitors or creating a product that delivers on its promises. It also demands effectively and creatively communicating that capability to customers. Some brands have strong functional benefits but fail to communicate them effectively to their customers.
One great example here was the iconic “Think Small” ad—launched by Volkswagen in 1959.
American car advertising was dominated by themes of power, luxury, and size. Ads portrayed cars as status symbols, appealing to the desire for larger, more powerful vehicles. Volkswagen's "Think Small" campaign, created by Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), embraced the Beetle's compact size and usefulness. This positioned Volkswagen as a countercultural choice in a market filled with muscle cars and family sedans.
The "Think Small" ads used a minimalist aesthetic, featuring a small image of the Beetle against a vast expanse of white space. This stark contrast emphasized the car's smallness humorously and engagingly. The clever copy, including the tagline "Think Small," was straightforward, assuming consumers were intelligent enough to appreciate a smaller vehicle's value.
The campaign resonated with those valuing usefulness over ostentation. As American consumers began embracing modest lifestyles post-war, the "Think Small" message aligned with changing attitudes. It suggested that owning a Volkswagen Beetle was about embracing simplicity and authenticity.
The result? Well, the campaign changed Volkswagen’s fortunes in the U.S., increasing Beetle sales from 50,000 in 1955 to over 500,000 by 1969!!
It wasn't just a sales success—"Think Small" is credited with initiating the "Creative Revolution" in advertising. This movement shifted the focus from just selling products to creating meaningful consumer connections. The campaign proved that advertising could be clever, witty, and reflective of societal values. It set new standards for clarity and simplicity, influencing so many campaigns.
Limitations:
While functional benefits have superpowers, they also come with limitations:
Credibility issues: Customers might doubt a brand's functional advantage due to competing claims, and they may not find the benefit a persuasive reason to choose the brand. Fun fact: The average person is exposed to 3,000 branded messages daily, notices only 80, reacts to 10, and remembers 57% negatively! [Source: BrainWave Connection, UK, 2004 / Nielsen Data 2006.]
Easy to copy: When a functional benefit sets your product apart, other companies will quickly copy it.
Assumes a rational decision-maker: Customers make emotional decisions based on factors such as brand image, likability, authenticity, social status, and personal values, not just rational ones like price, quality, and features.
Can reduce strategic flexibility and brand extensions: A strong focus on functional benefits can confine the brand, especially when adapting to changing markets or exploring new products without those same benefits. For instance, a high-quality shoe brand may struggle to successfully launch a clothing line.
To break free from these limitations, it’s crucial to add 2 other key ingredients to your recipe!
Emotional Benefits:
When a customer feels positive about purchasing or using your brand, that brand is providing an emotional benefit. The strongest brand identities often include emotional benefits, which add richness and depth to the experience of owning and using the brand. Most functional benefits will have a corresponding feeling or set of feelings.
Examples:
I feel Safe in a Volvo.
I feel Energetic & vibrant when drinking Coke.
I feel Important at Nordstrom.
I feel Healthy & Refreshed when drinking Evian.
I feel Empowered & Motivated to achieve personal goals when wearing Nike.
I feel Sophisticated & Rxclusive with Hermès.
I feel Comforted & Happy in McDonald’s.
I feel Adventurous when booking with Airbnb.
I feel Cozy & Relaxed at Starbucks.
Why do emotional benefits matter?
Simply put, customers are humans, and humans are driven by emotions.
When brands associate themselves with certain emotions (like happiness, adventure, excitement, serenity, ….etc) and integrate them into customer experiences and brand communication, they make customers feel part of something meaningful. Whether it’s the desire to feel happy, loved, or secure, these emotional connections resonate deeply.
It's as if the brand is saying, “I understand you, I see you, and I’m here for you.” This unique connection can't be easily copied. It’s the magic that makes the best brands stand out, transforming the relationship from just customer and product to true friends!
Harvard Business Review reports that emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied customers.
A study by Motista found that customers with an emotional connection to a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value.
A study by the University of Michigan found that consumers are more likely to make a purchase when an ad appeals to their emotions, with emotional appeals outperforming rational appeals by a ratio of 2-to-1.
According to a study by Gallup, customers who are fully engaged (emotionally and rationally) represent a 23% premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth over the average customer.
A study by Millward Brown revealed that brands with strong emotional connections can command a premium price and maintain higher margins.
McKinsey & Company found that emotionally satisfied customers are 3x more likely to recommend a product.
The Temkin Group reported that customers who have had positive emotional experiences with a brand are 6x more likely to buy, 12x more likely to recommend the company, and 5x more likely to forgive a mistake.
Forrester Research highlighted that brands with a focus on emotional connections outperform the stock market by 206%.
Write Your Emotional Benefits from Scratch:
Find Emotional Triggers: Think about how your product makes customers feel. Use surveys, focus groups, and customer interviews to gather insights into what emotions drive your customers’ purchasing decisions.
Think Like Your Customer: Understand their problems, desires, and emotions. For instance, a fitness app might make users feel "accomplished" and "motivated."
Use Real Examples: Look at customers 5-star reviews to see how they talk about their feelings when using your product. Identify common themes in their emotions.
If you need help finding the right words, here is a list of common emotions customers might feel with different products, categorized into six key groups. Write your emotional benefits statement like this: "When I use [brand], I feel ___."
Link Functional to Emotional: Ensure each emotional benefit you write naturally originates from the functional benefits you previously identified, not two unrelated concepts. For example, a fast delivery service (functional) might make customers feel relieved and satisfied (emotional). In contrast, a high-resolution camera (functional) wouldn’t logically evoke feelings of calm and relaxation (emotional), but excitement and creativity. Align both worlds to enhance the overall brand experience and communication consistency.
Less is more: Focus on a few powerful emotional benefits instead of a long list of weak ones. Strive for 1-3 well-defined emotional benefits that resonate strongly with your audience.
Great! You’ve now mapped out the functional & emotional benefits of your brand. That’s a solid 8 out of 10. But to really hit it out of the park and turn your brand into something your customers can’t live without, we need to look at the final layer .. the self-expressive benefits!
Self-Expressive Benefits
You wear many hats in life—spouse, parent, writer, athlete—and each role comes with its own self-image and desire to express it.
So, tell me .. how do you want people to see and talk about you? Wealthy? Smart? Nihilist?
Buying and using brands is a way to express who we are! .. and this is where a brand can offer a self-expressive benefit, helping people showcase their identity and lifestyle. It makes them think, “Who do I want to be, and how can this brand help me become that?”
This connection boosts their satisfaction & loyalty to your brand and turn it into a lovemark!
Examples:
I’m Sophisticated by using Ralph Lauren perfume.
I’m Confident & Adventurous by wearing a Rolex watch.
I’m Creative & Non-corporate by using Apple products.
I’m Reliable by driving a Toyota car.
I’m Luxurious by carrying a Luis Vuitton bag.
I’m Aspirational by wearing Nike sneakers.
Self-Expressive Benefits vs Emotional Benefits:
Before you get confused, let’s lay out the main differences between the emotional & self-expressive benefits as follows:
The Power of Self-Expressive Benefits:
As mentioned before, self-expressive benefits drive consumer behavior by fulfilling fundamental needs for self-expression and identity. They transform brands into symbols of a person’s self-concept.
If your product or brand helps consumers express their identity, values, or self-image, they are more likely to form a strong emotional bond and become loyal advocates. As Charles Revson said: “In the factory, we make cosmetics; in the drugstore, we sell hope.”
Self-expressive benefits boost purchase intent for luxury products by 16.4%.[Source: “The luxury of being oneself: The influence of self-expressive value on luxury consumption,” Journal of Advertising Research, 2014]
They have been found to increase brand love by 19.2%. [Source: “Brand love: Development and validation of a practical scale,” Journal of Marketing Research, 2012]
They enhance brand loyalty by 9.8%, compared to 6.5% for functional benefits. [Source: “Self-construal, reference groups, and brand meaning,” Journal of Consumer Research, 2005]
Write Your Self-Expressive Benefits from Scratch:
Understand Your Audience: Look into the social and personal values of your target customers. Think about their goals and key identity makers.
Express Individuality: Figure out how your product helps customers show their uniqueness. Does it highlight their style or make them stand out? What style does it represent?
Enhance Social Standing: Consider how your product can improve the customer’s social status. Does it make them feel more wealthy, more successful, or more creative?
Symbolize Accomplishments: Think about how your product can represent personal achievements. Does it make them feel proud?
Align with Values: Identify the important causes or values to your customers that your product supports. Does it connect with their social or environmental values?
Cultural Connection: Consider the cultural or social groups your customers identify with.
Refine Your Benefits: After brainstorming ideas, narrow them down to clearly articulate the self-expressive benefits. Use the formula: "When I use [brand], I am ___." The following list can make your life easier:
Sum it up
Now we’ve covered about 70% of the mission to craft your brand value proposition.
Identifying the benefits your customers will get, feel, and express when using your product is a crucial step to build a unique brand. Next, I’ll share a systematic approach to connect these pieces and develop your brand’s value proposition (VP) statement.
This statement isn’t just for your pitch decks or website headlines; it’s the cornerstone for all your actions and communications, both now and in the future. It will help you create a connection with your audience, shape their purchasing decisions, set you apart in the marketplace, and not only attract new customers but also build long-term loyalty.
As a fun exercise, try identifying the benefits for a well-known brand or your own product. Share your insights in the comments, send me a message on Substack, or email them to me for a free review (just use the subject line: "The Brand Soup - Assignment"). This practice will help cement what we've discussed today and prepare you for the next part.
Catch you in the next soup!