The term “Value-added” describes the enhancement a company gives its product or service before offering the product to customers. As marketers and business owners, we need to look for ways to add value to the lives of our prospects and customers inside of just pushing product on them.
We live in a world where we are constantly being marketed to. Almost everywhere you look advertising can be found. I assume the thought process is the more we see a brand, logo or product, the more likely it is we will then want to try it. But what if all of this mass marketing and advertising is just as waste? What if we focused more on adding value to people instead of pushing products that many don’t need or want?
So many people are clinging to the hope that something they create will go viral. It is as if reaching the “viral” state declares to the world that they have “made it.” But what very few ever realize is that a majority of the viral content reflects the results of a one hit wonder instead of establishing long term success. In order to truly grow in a way that creates sustainable results, your focus has to shift from creating viral marketing to creating value added solutions for your audience.
“Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster.” – David Ogilvy
What if, instead of chasing trends we started chasing needs? Trends come and go but needs are constant. No matter your industry, when you stop and focus on the needs of your audience and create value added solutions for them, you set yourself up for success. As creatives, business owners and entrepreneurs we have to get to a point where we realize that what we offer is not for everyone, but it is for someone. Marketing isn’t the golden ticket to success. If your product sucks, your marketing will just help people realize that faster. If you truly want to make a difference and create value added solutions that attract your audience, you need to do these 3 things.
- Target & Segment your audience: Do you know who your audience is? Do you know what their lives are like and challenges they face each day? By creating buyer personas, you can begin to truly understand exactly who you are creating solutions for.
- Understand their Pain Points: What keeps your audience up at night? Does your product solve that problem? Creating value added solutions is about relieving the pain and creating a better life for your audience.
- Solve before your Sell: Would you be willing to give up a small fraction of profits early in the journey in order to create long term success on the back end? Like I said before, people are overwhelmed with marketing every day and most of it gets ignored. By solving your audience’s problems first, you then create a natural pathway to closing deals later.
Knowing your audience is so important if you want to make a lasting impact in your industry. The problem is many business owners are not sure where to start. We use buyer personas in every inbound marketing campaign we run to understand exactly who we are marketing to. But buyer personas are useful in every area of the business, especially when creating products and solutions. To help you get started, we created a buyer persona template. This template will walk you through each step of the process and help you better understand your audience.
Isn’t it time you started creating value added solutions for your audience?
