1-3 What - Your Business?

In the previous lesson, we looked at a marketing framework we will use. You'll find that keeping a framework in mind helps you to not get lost in all the options and choices you have when you start planning your campaign. It's also important to keep in mind the bigger picture. After all, marketing is a function within a larger business. So it's good to understand the business you're working for a bit better before delving in. In this lesson, you'll learn the components of a business, write a value proposition, and understand different business models.

• Digital marketers Should Understand The Business They Market And Their Core Components
• A Business's Value Preposition Is A Key Starting Point For Marketers.
• A Company's Business Model Will Affect The Type And Amount Of Marketing That They Can Do.

Articulating The "What," Helps To Understand The Business You're Working. What Is It Exactly That You're Going To Market? Say The Business OR Its Product, Marketing Plan Starts With An Understanding Of The Core Components Of a Business. Like

•  Revenue: “How Do You Make Money?”, 
• Revenue: “What Prices Do You Charge?”, 
• Product&Services: “What Is The Product Or Service Itself?”, 
• P&Service: “How Does It Benefit Customers?”, 
• Customer: “Who(What) Are They Like Consumers Or Businesses Or Both?”, 
• Customer: “Do Your Customers Interact With You Online, Offline Or Both?”. 

The core components we just saw help us to understand what a business does but they are a bit dry.  Usually, businesses like to articulate why they should be attractive to a consumer, what benefits they provide and to whom.  They do that in what they call their value proposition.  A value proposition conveys what you're selling, what the benefit is in using it, who the target customer is for your product or service, and what makes your offering different from competitors.  What makes you unique? It is important for a company to formulate a value proposition. It helps to make sure everyone in the company knows and agrees to what the company is trying to achieve.  But writing the value proposition is not always easy. So let's take a look at a template you could use when formulating your value proposition. Marketing guru, Geoffrey Moore,popularized value propositions in his book, Crossing the Chasm. This is the template fora value proposition. It's a very simple template that can help you crystallize your company's value proposition. I've added the template in the classroom notes, so you have it for your reference. But let's have Geoffrey Moore himself walk us through his value proposition template. >> So my name's Geoffrey Moore,I live in Silicon Valley. I am a business author, I'm a member of a venture capital firm, and I consult and advice technology companies largely. About half of my time is spent with startups and about half of my time is spent with large public companies. When it comes to articulating a value proposition,we have a template that we use in our practice which has got six lines. It's proved over the years to be pretty useful. So the first line is for, and that's just like, who you're talking to. And we'll talk about market segmentation, but we're going to talk to what we call the poster child in your segment, your perfect target customer. And then next line is called who. And that specifies the state that your target customer would be in in wanting your offer. So you have for these people who are in this state of mind. Then the third line is called,our product or our service is. And that's where you categorize your offer generically. It's a little bit like what aisle in the supermarket would I go to to find your product?That sort of thing is in line three. So you're not trying to differentiate in line three,you're just trying to say what you are. And then that and the fourth line is your primary benefit,the thing that basically it speaks a lotto the state that the customer's in. Typically, if the state is a problem state, this is the answer to that problem kind of thing. And then the last two lines help position you against your closest competitor. So unlike and this is where you put your closest competitor.  And what's important here is that you not pick a competitor that's in effective or not valuable to the customer.  You want to pick a legitimate alternative that this customer should probably be thinking about.  But then what you say is,unlike this competitor, our offer and that's the sixth line and you state your primary differentiation there.  And it's not that our offer is better.  It's typically, what you normally do with differentiation is you say, they are good for this, and we are good for that.  It's really worth it to go through the exercise, as it will further guide you in the decisions you take down the line. You will convey your business' value proposition in a number of different ways and in a number of different places,from the copy on your website to the content of your ads. It is a way for a company to articulate to the consumer what they are all about. Here's an example of how Trello tells consumers who they are on their website. It says, Trello is the free,flexible, and visual way to organize anything with anyone. You can see that through this value proposition they make it immediately clear what they do, even if you had never heard of the company before.

Value Preposition :

• What Are You Selling?
• What Are The Benefits Using Your Product Or Service?
• Who Are Your Target Customers For Your Product Or Service?
• What Makes Your Product Unique From Your Competitors?

Value Preposition Schematic :

• For__(Target Customer)
• Who__(Statement Of Need/Opportunity)
• Our__(Product Or Service/Category)
• That__(Statement Of Benefit)
• Unlike__(Closest Competitor)
• Our Offer__(Primary Differentiator)

One last element of the What part of your marketing plan, is understanding where a business is in its life cycle. Is your business a Startup, a Growth company, a Mature company, or maybe in Decline? The type of marketing you do, and the measurements that matter to you will change, depending on what stage your business is in, in the life cycle. For example, with startups you'll want to understand if you actually have a business, or if there is sustainable interest in your business.With a Growth company, you'll keep track of growth over different periods of time,like month-over-month.With a Mature company, you'll be focused on profit, return on investments, and life-time value of a customer. But a company in Decline,you'll be focused on retention, and new growth initiatives.

Business Model :

It's Important To Understand How a Company Derives Value, Because This Helps Marketers Figure Out What They Can Spend On Their Efforts And Why Remember That Making Money Is Not Always Revenue Or Gross Revenue. It Can Also Mean Profit.
Profit = Revenue - Costs Incurred.

What Part Of The Marketing Plan Is Understanding Where a Business Is In Its Life Cycle.

     Sustainable Interest     Growth Over Time          Profit                          Revive Growth