Great business ideas are a dime a dozen. Plenty of entrepreneurs have ideas, but only some can articulate why their business is the winning solution and why clients should choose you over your competitors. The last thing you would want to be is easily imitable or passed over. Enter: the value proposition.

Think of a value proposition as the brand version of “Why Should I Work With You?” It’s the one-liner that uniquely answers what your company’s main benefit is. It is also usually paired with a longer sub-headline explainer. This statement is the connecting bridge between your customers’ needs and the product/service being provided. It’s the tagline you want proudly emblazoned onto your website and marketing materials. It’s the pitch you’re excited to give at conventions.

A strong proposition is key to attracting prospects, but conversely, having a weak proposition can deter investments and consumer demand. Here are the steps and pre-work to help you develop your company’s unique and memorable value proposition.

How well do you know the benefits of your product? Do you know its main draw, customer experience, and most valuable features? If not, there’s some pre-work to be done in order to get “minimum viable clarity” on what it is that makes your product valuable.

One handy tool to gain this clarity is to fill out the value proposition canvas designed by Peter J Thomson. This template is used to help prompt more profound thought into customer experiences and help you start to define your proposition. Aim to answer these questions when filling in the canvas, and really try to put yourself in the customer’s mindset and shoes.

What are the benefits of using the product?

What are the unique features of said product?

Are there clear substitutions for your product? Can a competitor overtake you?

How does your product work?

What are the emotional and rational drivers of purchasing your product?

What are the risks of switching to your product?

What do people currently do/use instead?

What hidden needs does the product fulfill?

In answering the above questions, you may find it helpful to interview customers or conduct surveys. Ask family, friends, mentors, and colleagues for their valuable input as customers. Pick up on any thought patterns, phrases, or insights that appear and make note of the commonalities.

Create a competitive audit of your competition and peers’ value propositions.

What are they doing that’s above and beyond? What’s striking a chord, and what’s something to critique? Is their language clear and actionable? Log this all down and fill out the canvas accordingly.

After you have gathered the above necessary information and filled out the canvas, it’s time to start drafting. Try to keep the proposition to two to five sentences (depending on the business context). The traits of a good value proposition are the following:

Specific and unique to your business, one that is not easily replicable.

Free of word fluff, marketing jargon, and filler language

Clearly explains how your business can offer a solution to a problem or niche

Once you have a few drafts, the next step is to edit for clarity until you have the clearest possible final version. Consider using visuals and step-by-steps to illustrate your point.

At its core, a great proposition is clear and easy to understand. It should encapsulate what your business is all about and be able to attract new purchases of your product or service. Show different options to your friends, family, and colleagues, and have them help you decide which proposition is the sharpest and most true to your business.

If you have writer’s block, I highly suggest looking at the value propositions of businesses you admire. Here are a few great propositions for inspiration.

Take a look at this example from Zocdoc, an online marketplace for connecting patients to qualified healthcare professionals. Their sell is that they help anyone find and book in-network local doctors with their insurance. It’s a simple yet effective service-competitive advantage formula setup.

They further break this down into visual cues: “Let’s get you a doc who gets you” and the associated steps to use their product. This makes it simple, effective, and intuitive for first-time users to get initiated into Zocdoc’s platform. Zocdoc successfully illustrated its value, benefits, and service in just a few steps.

Take a look at another example, this time for the food brand Omsom. Their flagship product is rip-and-pour sauce packets designed to replicate popular Asian dishes. The packets contain all the pantry ingredients for creating delicious home-cooked meals right in your kitchen.

Proposition-wise, their product is meant to serve as a cooking shortcut for the time-consuming and often daunting process of creating Asian dishes. For the culinary curious, this is an easy-to-approach solution, and the colorful visual steps on the website help direct customers to the cart.

Their proposition also has an effective “Get X by Y minutes” setup which is another smart way to demonstrate how your service will solve a problem within a specific timeframe.

Finally, take a look at the brand Blueland. Their proposition “Going eco has never been easier” speaks to the everyday consumers’ struggles to find green products free of single-use plastic. So they position themselves as a revolutionary new solution to tackle this.

Right below the proposition is a nice visual step-by-step production demonstration. The language is clear, to the point, and answers how are the solution to eliminating single-use plastic.

For more inspiration, think of the everyday products and services you enjoy. Recall how you were first drawn to them, what problems they solved for you, and whether their proposition was accurate. Once you get a feel for suitable language, different formula setups, and statement efficacy, take that inspiration and use it to map out your own proposition.

Lastly, as your business, customers, and market evolve, you may find it necessary to revisit and revise your value proposition. Even after this initial exercise is over, continue to listen to customers’ needs in real-time and make sure to stay responsive.

Writing a value proposition can be daunting, but with the correct pre-work and information, it can become straightforward. To summarize:

Know your audience and their needs, fears, benefits, and experiences.

Examine your competitors’ propositions

Write and edit, edit, edit, for clarity.

Take inspiration from your everyday life.

Revisit and revise your proposition as necessary.