Once the prospective audience and its problems are defined in broad strokes, we need an overview of the product we are marketing with what is traditionally called a “value proposition.” A well-focused value proposition is extremely important.

 What Is a Value Proposition?

Basically a value proposition is a succinct statement of what a product is and its chief benefits. Remember that a sales guide and the value proposition are normally written by marketing professionals and not by copywriters. The copywriter’s job is to take the facts and ideas provided by marketing and make them fresh and interesting to prospective customers.

 Overview and Value Proposition Sample Text

And now back to our bathroom facilities product example:

The SecureFlush® Solution for Distributed Facilities is a comprehensive suite of performance and availability monitors that can be used to detect, analyze, forecast, and resolve problems that threaten critical bathroom services.

• Facilities staff can find and fix problems quickly and effectively with a customizable view of real-time conditions across many sites.
• Facilities staff can prevent costly breakdowns by using historical reporting to identify trends and take early action.
• Facilities staff can save money by utilizing online tools in the SecureFlush suite designed for the efficient management of widely distributed locations.

Discussion: Overview and Value Proposition

What I have done here is give you the basics of a value proposition. Because you will be repeating the ideas and facts in the value proposition constantly and reframing them in different words in a wide variety of situations, you must make sure you understand everything.

In this case, the opening sentence is the product definition, followed by three “selling points” – the product is comprehensive and allows the customer to find and fix immediate problems, prevent costly breakdowns, and save money by using online tools.