Defining a value proposition for IT service companies

IT service companies know their supported technologies, security, cloud computing, data storage best practices, and sometimes virtualization. Yet many do not yet know and appreciate the importance of defining a value proposition that positions their brand in the marketplace.

Value proposition design should guide marketing efforts. This singular, concise statement quickly captures the clear, compelling value of your service or product. Done well, a strong value proposition will:

1. Clearly define your uniqueness in the marketplace
2. Differentiate you from competitors
3. Compel a visitor to convert because of your clear-stated benefits
4. Attract the right IT sales leads (not random, low-quality leads)
5. Improve the results that stem from your marketing efforts

Simply stated, defining your value proposition helps to compel potential customers to buy your product and service and feel secure in their decision.

Additionally, value propositions unify how your company stakeholders and sales teams talk about your enterprise. This alone is an advantage, as it brings everyone together in communicating the same message about your IT service and thereby reduces confusion, misunderstandings, and misaligned expectations.

Why Should IT Services Companies  Define Value Propositions?

Defining a value proposition as an IT service provider forces you to do these as well:

Truly address your target markets.

To succinctly convey your service’s value, you must consider the challenges your customers face, envision their future directions, and examine where you fit in their industry landscape. 

Create buyer personas.

Any inbound marketer knows developing buyer personas can help better address leads and generate quality leads. But this step can be overlooked. Start by creating your ideal buyer personas. You’ll also see benefits in your business blogging, workflow triggers, and nurturing of leads through the sales funnel.

Related Article: Ideal Customer Profiles vs. Buyer Personas: Defining B2B Buyers

Emphasize benefits rather than features.

Explaining what your service does is not addressing its value. When designing your value proposition, detail how your service will generate greater revenues, reduce costs and expenses, bring competitive advantage or greater convenience, and offer better results.

For instance, Hubspot’s “Grow Your Business” is a simple, attractive promise, while Scribd’s “Read Like You Own Every Book in the World” is clearly benefit-focused.

Research your competitors.

Of course, you research your competitors on an ongoing basis. Nevertheless, defining a strong value proposition for your IT service demands a deep investigation of what your competitors are doing and what you have that no one else offers.

Your value proposition should determine how those distinguishing factors offer advantages to your target customers.

Better lead quality.

By defining a value proposition, you will have a better chance at driving leads that are more relevant, ready, and in need of your service offering. Value propositions allow your marketing efforts to target the right people with the right content.

Better IT sales leads make sales teams more successful and help to improve sales conversion rates and deal sizes.

31% of B2B marketers say sales lead quality is the most important metric used. — B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: North America

One last tip:

Test your value proposition with your target audience.

Be sure your message resonates with the right people. Keep in mind that people have difficulty articulating what they want. Even more problematic is they tend to act differently than they say they will.

So, establish testing metrics to measure your value proposition’s success. Then, be willing to make changes to capture the problems you address, benefits you offer, or values your service adds.

Related article:  5 Demand Generation Best Practices for IT Service Companies

References:

1. Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (2007). Value Proposition. https://www.entrepreneurship.org/resource-center/value-proposition.aspx

2. Thomas, J. (2015, October 20). 25 Companies Who Absolutely Nailed Their Unique Value Proposition. https://www.lean-labs.com/blog/25-companies-who-absoluteluy-nailed-their-unique-value-proposition

3. B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: North America (2015, Sept. 15). https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2016_B2B_Report_Final.pdf