I have GREAT news…

The buyer of your new product or service is EXTREMELY predictable.  They only care about one thing:

What’s in it for me?

I’m about to show you two simple exercises that answer this question for your prospective customer in a single, crystal clear sentence.  This sentence is the foundation of your marketing and the reason your business, product or brand deserves to exist.  You can use it in your…

• Company tagline
• Elevator pitch
• Ads
• Headlines (on sales pages, blog posts, presentations, etc)
• Product descriptions

… and virtually any other marketing communications you’ll create to launch your new business, product or brand.

I’ve used these two exercises to launch every business I own including:

SPOILER ALERT:  Once you’ve completed these first two exercises, I’ll show you how to access a free 3-part class on launching a new business.

Exercise 1 – Determine the “Before and After”

You’ve likely heard some variation of this before:

“People don’t buy features, they buy benefits.”

The story goes that people don’t go to the hardware store to buy a drill.  They go to the hardware store to buy a hole.

In fact, they don’t even want the hole — they want, for example, the feeling of satisfaction and happiness of seeing a family portrait hanging on the wall.  They need the drill and the hole to get that outcome.

What is the outcome your prospects are searching for?

Picture your prospective buyer in their ‘Before’ state.  They have yet to experience your product or service.  They are unsatisfied.  Discontent.  Perhaps even angry, frightened or frustrated.  What is causing this unhappiness?

Now, picture them with your product or service — what has changed in their ‘After’ state?  What outcome or benefit have they received as a result of doing business with you?

Ask yourself these questions about your customer’s ‘After’ state:

• What do they have? – “I used to have a leaky roof (‘Before’ state) but now I have a dependable, leak proof roof.” (‘After’ state)
• How do they feel? – “I used to be worried about the future of my family if I were to die (‘Before’ state), but now that I have life insurance, I have peace of mind.” (‘After’ state)
• How is their average day different? – “I used to drive to work every morning in my boring old car (‘Before’ state), now I’m excited to drive to work in my fancy new car.” (‘After’ state)
• How has their status changed? – “I used to be a good father to my children (‘Before’ state), but now I am “Super Dad” because I bought the whole family tickets to Disney.” (‘After’ state)

It’s important that you determine your customer’s ideal ‘After’ state because…

Good marketing (and copywriting) simply articulates the move from the ‘Before state’ to the ‘After’ state.

Once you know your customer’s ideal ‘After’ state, you simply need to be able to describe it in your marketing.  To do that, you’ll need…

Exercise 2 – Create a Statement of Value (SOV)

If you want to describe the value your business or product or brand brings to the market — and you should because it’s all your prospects care about — you need to complete this sentence:

_____________ enables _____________ to experience _____________.

Here’s how to fill in the blanks on this Statement of Value (SOV)…

• The first blank should contain the name of your product or service.  Alternatively, go broader by inserting your brand or product name.
• The second blank should describe your customer.
• The third blank should describe the customer’s desired ‘After’ state.

Let’s look at some example Statements of Value…

• Weight Watchers enables overweight people to experience a simple, proven system for losing weight and feeling confident about themselves.
• Lego enables children of all ages to experience the joy and challenge of building something that is uniquely theirs.

These first two examples are Statements of Value for brands or companies and fairly generic customers.  Let’s look at an example of a single product targeting a more specific customer…

Company: State Farm
Product: Homeowners Insurance
Customer: Home owners in areas prone to natural disaster
Statement of Value: State Farm homeowners insurance enables home owners in areas prone to natural disaster to experience peace of mind that their home and finances are secure.

Once State Farm is clear on the value they bring to this specific customer for this product, they simply need to articulate it in their marketing.  Notice how this Facebook ad from State Farm remains congruent with the Statement of Value.  Notice how it speaks to the customer’s ideal ‘After’ state.  Notice how it speaks directly to the “What’s in it for me?” the prospect cares about.

Before you create a new business, product or brand — you need clarity on the value you bring to market.

Take some time now to fill in the blanks on your Statement of Value.

If you feel like these two exercises were helpful, you are a great fit for the free How To Failure-Proof Any Business or Product Launch mini-class I put together for those that are launching a new business, product or brand.

This training is packed with information and 100% Free.

Perhaps the most important lesson in this new mini-class is the creation of your Value Journey using the Value Journey Worksheet you’ll fill out during this short class.

(RELATED: Your Digital Marketing Strategy Template (AKA The Customer Value Journey))

The Value Journey looks like this:

I hope you received a lot of value from this article and I hope you’ll join me in the How To Failure-Proof Any Business or Product Launch mini-class to learn more about the best practices of launching a new business, product or brand.