In October, I attended the Smart Buildings Show 2022 in London’s ExCel. The event featured interesting and informative seminars as well as a wide array of exhibitors, including well-known brands and emerging new technology businesses. In addition to showcasing some of the most exciting technological developments within the sector, the show served to highlight the growth that the smart buildings market has experienced in recent years. This rapid expansion means that it is now crucial for each brand to find a way to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace and the key to this is the development of a strong differentiated value proposition (DVP).
 
 
What is a differentiated value proposition
 
Value propositions have long been an important concept in marketing. Often taking the form of a snappy statement, a value proposition conveys the benefits and solutions that your business provides to its customers.
 
Differentiated value propositions (DVP) highlight what it is that makes your business a more attractive option than your competitors. What you do, that’s better than anyone else!
 
Your technology may be cutting-edge and your customer service may be exemplary, however, if your business fails to communicate why potential customers should choose you over another brand, you may find that your growth falters.
 
As such, a well-defined DVP is essential, particularly within sectors that are experiencing significant growth. In the case of smart buildings, a strong differentiated value proposition could help your business cut through the noise of an increasingly busy marketplace and stand out, even among well-known brands.
 
 
How to develop your differentiated value proposition

1. Get to know your customer  

An in-depth knowledge of your customer is a crucial component of every marketing strategy and will enable you to develop a DVP that speaks directly to your target market. Understanding your customers’ specific pain points means that you can address them within your DVP and ensure that your brand resonates with their individual needs.
 
What is your customer most concerned about? What is it that they’re looking for? By drilling down into your customers’ problems, you can create a statement that highlights exactly how you can solve them, and that differentiates you from the rest of the sector.

2. Research the competition

If your business is going to stand out from its competitors, then you need to know what you’re up against. From technological developments and pricing plans to hardware warrantees, understanding what other businesses are offering will help you to identify how your company is unique, or how you can differentiate your brand from the existing offerings.
 
A competitive analysis of other businesses within your space may also help you to uncover opportunities that will enable your business to grow and evolve. 


3. Build your statement  

As well as highlighting the value your business offers and the reasons to choose it over a competitor, your DVP must be authentic and reflect the ethos and capabilities of your brand.
 
A business’s DVP may be one specific aspect that makes the brand stand out from the crowd, or it could be the sum of many parts. For example, your business’s differentiated value may lie in the fact that you offer both an extended guarantee on hardware and 24-hour support. While these two services may be offered individually by other suppliers, when they are combined they create a powerful DVP: “unrivalled customer care”. 

4. Demonstrate your points of difference  

For your proposition to be impactful, you must be able to demonstrate it in a real-world setting. For example, if your DVP focuses on the user-friendliness of the interface, you should be able to support your statement with evidence. This may involve collating case studies and sharing them with potential customers, creating video content that showcases your amazing user experience or including customer reviews on your website.

5. Bring in the experts  

Once you have a strong differentiated value proposition in place, it’s essential that you communicate it clearly to your target audience. Your DVP will form a central component of your marketing strategy and be present in everything from your customer newsletters to your investment applications.
 
 
Our communications experts would be delighted to support you with developing and sharing your business’s DVP. Contact our team today to learn more about how 3-Eight Communications could help you to give your brand a boost in a busy marketplace.

A company's website may be considered the business's shop window, and its layout and content play a key role in how customers, potential customers and stakeholders perceive the brand. From the homepage layout to the clarity of the content, a well-structured site that is both up-to-date and informative offers visitors a positive first impression of the business. However, suppose a site offers a poor user experience with outdated blog posts, clunky navigation and long load times. In that case, it may have the opposite effect and result in visitors leaving the site without engaging with the brand.
 
Here we look at some of the ways you can keep your company's website fresh and updated to create the best digital destination for your brand.
 
 
Build a blog
 
Regular, high-quality content can be an important differentiator and can help you to highlight what makes you stand out from your competitors. There are lots of benefits to hosting a blog on your company's website,  and regularly publishing content can help you to connect with your audience. By delivering authoritative, relevant content that addresses pain points and educates visitors about the solutions that your brand offers, it's possible to establish your business as a market leader. The blog can also be important to your brand's SEO strategy. Well-constructed blog content optimised for specific target keywords can help improve a website's rankings, which, in turn, drives more traffic to the site. Compelling, accurate content can also help generate backlinks that are important to the site's overall authority and help spread the word about your brand.
 
To keep a blog fresh, it must be regularly updated, and a content calendar can help you to keep on top of this. Start by deciding how frequently you can feasibly publish new content, then develop a plan around the topics you want to write about. Some of your blog ideas may be time-sensitive, for example, a post about a new product launch, while others may be evergreen. Evergreen content can be an excellent source of web traffic, so you may wish to include time in your calendar to revisit these posts, so they are always up to date. When creating a content calendar, try to be honest about how much time you can dedicate to this aspect of your business to ensure that you can execute your strategy effectively.
 
Leverage video and graphics
Graphic technology has come a long way and is constantly evolving to offer a faster, more innovative and immersive user experience. As such, graphics and videos that rely on old plug-ins will instantly make your site feel dated and could even impact your site's functionality.
 
Regularly reviewing and updating the graphic and video content on your website will not only impact the aesthetics of the site, but it can also help drive traffic to the page. Videos can also encourage visitors to spend longer on your site, meaning that they are engaging with your brand for longer. This increased dwell time may also positively impact the website's ranking making it easier for potential customers to find you online.
 
Videos and visual content such as infographics can also help to make complex concepts much easier to understand. In some cases, a short video may explain a product or service more effectively than a blog post of several thousand words. This allows visitors to engage quickly, which can be particularly helpful if most of your visitors view your site on a mobile device.

Review and refresh
 
If your business has been established for many years and your website hasn't changed since you first launched, it may be time to consider a digital refresh. From new product launches to updated brand values, consider whether your site aligns with your business and look at how you might be able to make some improvements.
 
Out-of-date content, inaccurate information and counterintuitive navigation can lead to a disjointed or frustrating browsing experience that may result in visitors bouncing from your site. By regularly reviewing your website using user experience tools such as hotjar, you can ensure that your site is accessible, performs well on various devices and loads quickly.
 
 
Bring in the experts
Whether you want to overhaul your web content or add to your existing strategy, a communications expert could transform how site visitors interact with your brand.
 
Contact our team today to learn more about how the qualified professionals at 3-Eight Communications could help you refresh your website and reconnect with your customers. We'd be delighted to discuss your unique requirements and support you in building the site your brand deserves. Please contact us on [email protected]