How does a value proposition differ from positioning?
Positioning is where you stand in the market, and the value proposition is the promise that position lets you make. A carpet cleaner positioned for families with young kids and pets can promise a carpet that is dry and safe to crawl on by lunchtime. One decides who you are for. The other tells those people, in a sentence, why to pick you.
The phrase comes from a 1988 McKinsey staff paper by Michael Lanning and Edward Michaels, which described a business as a system for choosing, providing and communicating value. Alexander Osterwalder's Value Proposition Design (2014) later gave owners a worksheet for it, built around the customer's jobs, pains and gains.
Why do some promises get believed and others ignored?
Specifics. A number, a time or a guarantee lands where an adjective slides off, so "dry in two hours" beats "fast". It should describe the customer's result rather than your process, and it should be provable on the spot, with photos, reviews or the guarantee in writing.
It also has to be true. The ACCC's guidance on advertising says businesses must be able to back up the claims they make, so "fastest in Launceston" needs evidence, and "dry in two hours" needs to hold on a wet July morning as well as a dry one.
Which promise wins more bookings for a carpet cleaner? (example figures)
A carpet cleaner in Launceston runs two Google ads side by side for four weeks with $400 behind each. Ad A leads with "Professional carpet cleaning, fully insured". Ad B leads with "Dry in 2 hours. Kids and pets back on it by lunch." The average job is $240.
| Ad A | Ad B | |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | $400 | $400 |
| Clicks | 160 | 210 |
| Bookings | 8 | 15 |
| Revenue at $240 a job | $1,920 | $3,600 |
| Cost per booking | $50 | $26.67 |
Ad B says what the customer gets. Ad A says what every competitor also says. Counts this small can still mislead, so the cleaner keeps the test running a while longer before rewriting the website around it (the entries on A/B tests and statistical significance explain why).
Where should a value proposition appear?
Wherever a customer decides whether to keep reading. That means the headline of your home page, the opening of your Google Business Profile description, the first headline of your search ads, the top of every quote and the voicemail greeting. Plenty of small business websites keep it on the About page, three clicks deep, under the story of how the business started. Move it to the top.
Who puts the promise on your website?
You do, with Cora pointing the way: in CoraVision, your value proposition becomes work in the plan, and Cora teaches you to put it where customers will see it. Each strategy becomes a project with an action plan, and Cora teaches the steps on your own screen. When the step is rewriting your home page headline, Cora sits in pill mode as a small pill over your screen and points at the spot while you type. You make the change yourself.
Questions
Is a value proposition the same as a slogan?
A slogan is short and memorable, and a value proposition is the specific promise behind it. A slogan can carry the promise ("Dry by lunch"), but one with no promise in it ("Passion for clean") is just a pleasant noise.
Can a small business compete on price?
It can, but the lowest price belongs to one business in each market, and holding it takes the lowest costs. Most owner-led businesses do better promising something a bigger competitor cannot easily match, such as speed, the owner on every job, or a guarantee with a name behind it.