Value Proposition

A value proposition is the clear, high-level statement that answers your customer’s question:

“Out of all the options available, why should I choose you?”

If you don’t answer that question with clarity and confidence, customers default to the easiest alternative: they go with the biggest brand, the cheapest option, or the status quo (doing nothing.) That’s why your value proposition isn’t a “nice-to-have.” It’s often the deciding factor between winning or losing in your category.

Why this matters

• It tilts decisions in your favor. A strong value prop makes customers feel: “This is built for me. This solves my problem in a way others don’t. This is worth the cost and the switch.”
• It creates differentiation. Categories are crowded. Without a distinct promise, you’re just another option in a sea of sameness.
• It prevents the race to the bottom. If your only “why us” is price or generic benefits like “easy to use,” you’ve handed the market over to whoever is cheapest.

What makes a good value proposition

Your value proposition isn’t a slogan. It isn’t a feature list. It’s the reason you deserve to exist in your market.

For it to work, it must be:

• Different from competitors (if they can say it too, it’s not yours).
• Relevant to your personas (it has to matter to the people you want to reach).
• Credible (you have to actually be able to deliver on it).

When those three come together, you carve out mental real estate that you and only you own. And when buyers are ready to act, you’re the default choice.

Examples

• Dropbox early on: “Your files, anywhere.” While others said “secure, fast, reliable,” Dropbox made the portable access benefit crystal clear (and won.)
• Asana: “Clarity.” Not just task management, but the promise of seeing exactly who’s doing what, by when.
• ClickUp: “One app to replace them all.” Their differentiation wasn’t better boards or timelines; it was consolidation.

Each of these could have said “manage projects” or “store files.” But that would have been table stakes. Instead, they chose a specific claim to stake in the customer’s mind.

Common mistakes

• Confusing benefits with differentiators. “Save time” is a benefit. Why you save time in a way others don’t is the differentiator.
• Overly broad statements. “Helping businesses succeed” could describe thousands of companies.
• Competing on table stakes. If your pitch is speed, affordability, or security, you’re fighting on minimum requirements, not points of distinction.

Developing value props‌

Step 1‌

To identify your product or service value props, create a 3-column chart.

Here’s the process:

1. List all the bad (non-desirable) alternative solutions people resort to when they don't have you. And describe what makes each one bad. For example, if they don't have your fast car, they have to get to work in a slow car. What makes that bad is how much more time you waste in traffic. Or less time spent with your family.
2. With each bad alternative, write one value prop that highlights how your product offers a better solution to improve on that bad alternative. For example, your fast car gets you to work quickly. The value prop wording should encapsulate the main high-level idea. Don't worry too much about the details yet (we'll dive into that later). For example, the value prop could be "fastest consumer car ", and not "X horsepower".
3. Finally, list a lucrative customer persona in a third column: identify the persona that cares most about this particular value prop. And bullet point the top two reasons why they care about it.

Here’s an example of value props for our fictional B2B SaaS brand, Flowline:

And another example for fictional consumer protein bar:

‌(You can use a tool like Notion or Google Sheets for your chart.)

You may walk away with a bunch of value props at first. This is good. It’s always easier to subtract than to add. Once you feel you’ve exhausted your options, you’ll want to reduce your list of value props in column two to those that are most appealing to your top personas.‌

The leftover value props will be the focus of your ads.

Ideally, you'll walk away with 3-5 value props to build ad copy from.

Step 2‌: Identify the problems your value props solve

Now that you've identified your value props, it's time to refine them so that they serve as a foundation for your ad copy. To do this for our clients, we use a spreadsheet to flesh them out.

Continuing from our first example:

And from our second:

First, it’s important to remember that you want to use the language your audience would use. This is where customer surveys become invaluable.

Second, skip the jargon (exception: if you’re in a super-niche market, it’s sometimes OK to use industry jargon).

When you fill out this spreadsheet, do it as though you were speaking directly to your audience.

Begin by listing out the value props you’ve identified in the left-hand column. Then, fill out the following columns:

Problem

Get super specific about the moment your target audience has urgently experienced the problem. This should be written in past tense.

This is especially important if you're a B2B product. Most often, the problem involves wasting substantial time or money.

Flowline example (B2B):

• “I spent all Monday pinging teammates in Slack to approve one task, and it still sat for three days.”

FuelBar example (B2C):

• “I grabbed a ‘healthy’ protein bar and threw it away after one bite because it tasted chalky.”

Implications

Drill into the bad things that happen if someone hits that problem. What happens after? What can’t they do? Who looks bad if it fails?

We call this “twisting the knife.”

Flowline example:

• Missed deadlines lead to emergency meetings, overtime, and lost trust with your manager.

FuelBar example:

• You avoid protein bars altogether, which means you either skip fueling or grab candy — derailing your nutrition goals.

Solution

How your product solves the problem.

Flowline example:

• Flowline auto-routes approvals, sends reminders, and keeps everything visible in one place.

FuelBar example:

• FuelBar uses fine-milled protein and whole-food ingredients to deliver 20g of protein without the chalky taste.

Benefits

Flip the implications of the problem around and talk about the great things that naturally come from the solution.

Flowline example:

• Projects keep moving without babysitting; deadlines are met without stress; managers see you as reliable.

FuelBar example:

• Healthy eating becomes effortless; you stay full for hours without cravings; you actually look forward to the bar.

This is what you offer that competitors don’t (or not as well). It should be sticky, differentiating, and direct.

Input your value props in your Story System here.