Why A Strong Value Proposition Matters More Than Ever in Climate
And How to Craft Yours
In a rapidly changing world with a superabundance of information, businesses must have a clear and compelling message to cut through the vast ocean of noise we find ourselves in.
Enter the “value proposition,” a clear message that shows its recipient why they should engage with you.
Developing an effective value proposition is notoriously difficult, but in this edition of Tell the Future, we’ll hand you clear guidance to understand and refine this foundational component of your communications strategy.
Let’s dive in!
What is a Value Proposition?
A value proposition is a clear statement that conveys the unique and compelling benefits you offer your audience. It’s a core business asset that needs to generate a high level of perceived value in their mind.
An effective value proposition shows the person that you “get” them and their world, and that you have something that will uniquely and powerfully benefit them better than any other option.
Every product, service, and even each step in your marketing and sales process has its own value proposition. Beyond gaining customers, every audience you interface with requires its own set of value propositions: investors, strategic partners, media, and all your other stakeholders. It’s also a great idea to have a couple of versions ready for strangers at networking events and dinner parties.
The advantages of a strong set of value propositions cannot be overstated. Whether you’re raising funds, selling to customers, or attracting partners, this is your starting point, and developing it is one of the highest ROI activities you can do in your business.
Get this right, and doors open, money flows, and support becomes available. Miss the mark, and you’ll likely find yourself beating your head against a wall.
Challenges to Communicating Value
There are lots of reasons companies struggle to create an effective value proposition.
First, when you’re so close to the solution, it’s hard to get enough perspective to see your company’s value the way the market does.
That’s why it’s so critical to understand who you’re talking to. Too often, companies focus on what they think the unique and compelling benefits are, without actually finding out from the audience.
“Centering people in your messaging is critical, and I don’t often see that when it comes to climate solutions based in ‘tech’. The companies that do this best understand that ‘people’ is why we're all in this: to preserve and actively regenerate a sustaining place to call home.”
-Audrey Desler, climate-focused designer and strategist
Second, there’s a lack of understanding of what a value proposition should contain and what it needs to accomplish. (We’ll get to that shortly.)
Lastly, beyond the perennial challenges above, we currently live in tumultuous and confusing times (maybe you’ve noticed?). Rapid and profound shifts in markets, technology, and society are taking us who knows where, and businesses have to be incredibly agile — and adapt the value they’re offering to meet the moment.
In climate, with the reboot of an administration that is fully committed to ignoring and suppressing the existence of climate change, and even punishing many of those working on it, communicating value just became even harder than it’s always been.
That also means it’s up to those of us who care to push forward more powerfully than ever. We need to succeed, and developing value propositions that connect with the hearts and minds of your key audiences is essential.
Benefits of a Strong Value Proposition
“Investing the time to refine our value proposition was a game changer for the team — giving them more conviction and clarity around our positioning and story, and knowing that we were all aligned in our focus. It was intrinsically motivating for them as well as boosting their confidence to know what points to emphasize in their external communications.”
–Dan White, CEO Clean Crop Technologies
A few of the key reasons it’s worth your time and energy to carefully develop your value proposition(s):
Strategic Focus
→ Directs energy to what truly matters for your target audience and organization.
Most people think of value propositions as an externally focused message, but it’s also a strategic compass to guide decision-making. It creates a shared understanding among team members, stakeholders, and customers to avoid costly distractions and concentrate resources on high-impact activities that drive progress.
Investment Appeal
→ Attracts investors by clearly showing your market potential and competitive edge.
A compelling value proposition is key to winning over investors, especially for cleantech startups, as it demonstrates a deep understanding of the market and customer needs. Founders can use their value proposition to differentiate themselves from competitors and showcase a clear path to scalability.
Stronger Sales
→ Aligns and optimizes marketing and sales strategies for maximum effectiveness.
A strong and clear value proposition is a powerful sales catalyst, enabling companies to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. You can address customers' pain points and align with their motivations while building trust and credibility — which increases conversions, shortens sales cycles, and supports premium pricing.
So how do you go about crafting a value proposition? Glad you asked…
How to Develop a Value Proposition
If you look around online, you’ll find a lot of takes on what a value proposition is, and ironically, much of the information is pretty vague.
A view I have found helpful comes from MEClabs Institute, a leading marketing research firm and one of the “O.G.s” of conversion optimization.
According to MEClabs founder Flint McGlaughlin, a company’s primary value proposition should answer the question, “If I am your ideal prospect, why should I buy from you rather than any of your competitors?”
Another question a lot of cleantech companies face, and which is applicable beyond selling, is, “Why should I care?”
These questions should be adapted to all your value propositions (e.g., “Why should I take a call with you?” “Why should I click this button?”)
Remember, every ask or offer you present to anyone to advance your business has some kind of value proposition embedded in it, from cold outreach messaging to website calls-to-action to investor pitches.
Of all the things someone could be doing with their time, attention, or money, why should they do what you want them to do?
The 7 Elements of a Compelling Value Proposition
To come up with that reason, I’ve broken out seven core elements of a solid answer, which you can then use to craft statements for different situations, from marketing and sales materials to dinner party conversations.
(IMPORTANT: You need to have done enough audience research to succeed with this.)
WHO: your audience
PROBLEM: the problem you help them solve
SOLUTION: your solution in a nutshell
ONE: what makes your solution unique
WHY: the beneficial outcomes you help them achieve and/or consequences you help them avoid
EASE: the friction you remove for them to get, use, and benefit from your solution
CRED: why they can believe you (e.g., past results, testimonials)
Let’s look at an example, using a hypothetical company helping manufacturers become more sustainable.
Crafting a Primary Value Proposition Statement
So what do you do with these elements? Ultimately you’ll use them to develop your entire communication strategy, but first thing is to put them together into a narrative format for your internal use.
Use the elements you’ve identified to craft the story of your value, incorporating everything from your table. You may also notice new ideas emerge as you do this.
Focusing on your primary value proposition, remember, the question you’re answering is, “If I am your ideal prospect, why should I buy from you rather than any of your competitors?” So your statement needs to make sense after the word “because.”
Here’s an example, with the above elements identified in [ ].
(Because…) Consumer goods manufacturers [WHO] are increasingly facing fines and losing business if they can’t meet incoming sustainability requirements [PROBLEM]. They’re also struggling with supply chains threats and strained partner relationships — they need better tools to avoid operational breakdowns [PROBLEM].
So we built an AI-driven supply chain management platform with a proprietary data pipeline, rooted in 10 years of field experience with top global companies, and continually updated [SOLUTION]. It cuts the amount of time to get vendor data by up to 75% [WHY]. It also makes sustainability improvements easy to identify, seamless to implement, and best of all, profitable [WHY].
Getting started is effortless, requiring minimal customer involvement and no disruption to existing workflows [EASE]. As one executive put it, “We tried and failed with several solutions. Now we have an elegant, hyper-intelligent system that gives us accurate info in a fraction of the time, improves our vendor and client relationships, and saves us money.” [CRED]
No one else has access to our proprietary data pipeline and evaluation framework, and the AI engines driving results for our customers [ONE]. We make sustainable business intelligence easy, fast, and even enjoyable [WHY]. And you can try it for free [EASE].
Once you’ve crafted your statement, evaluate it on four key criteria (credit again to MECLabs Institute): clarity, appeal, credibility, and exclusivity. Don’t just rate it yourself — get feedback!
Next Steps
Now you have a solid starting point. With this statement as a guide for your company, you can align your team and start developing messaging for your marketing, sales, and other business communications. That’s beyond the scope of this article, but I do want to leave you with a few pointers:
Your primary value proposition is an overarching guide, but to create effective messaging for specific situations, you’ll need to drill down to the personal level. For example, instead of focusing on your value to a company, how do you help person X in role Y within that company — and why should they care?
The gauge of effectiveness is the market’s response. You need to experiment with how you present your message — what you lead with and what you focus on — and track your results.
Language and tone should vary somewhat in different situations. For example, a cold outreach message should have a different tone than a website headline (while still being “on-brand”. Make sure you have a message for everyday conversation, using everyday language. Climate solutions are often too siloed to tech and business fields, despite a growing appetite for solutions from customers who don’t know where to start.
Final Thoughts on Value Propositions
Learn your audience, what motivates them and what repels them — market research is invaluable!
A strong value proposition shows your audience why they should engage with you vs. anything else they could do with their time, attention, or resources.
Value propositions have a central core message that is tailored to each situation — including everyday encounters or untraditional fields.
Remember, your value proposition should be clear and targeted so it’s quickly and easily understood by potential customers, partners, or investors. It’s not about you — it’s about what your company or sustainability initiative can do for the other person.
Once you have your primary value proposition developed, you’ll be in a strong position to develop your brand and your communications strategies.
That said, your value proposition is never “done.” It needs to be tested and refined as you discover what works and adapt to changing market conditions.
How do you feel your value proposition ranks on clarity, appeal, credibility, and exclusivity? Drop a comment!
Editor credit: Kate Bubacz