HOW TO UNDERSTAND YOUR TARGET MARKET BETTER: A QUICK GUIDE TO THE VALUE PROPOSITION CANVAS

As marketers and advertisers, we are the messengers between our brands and their respective target markets. For us to fulfill our role of relaying brands’ messages in the best way possible, we need to craft materials that are strategically-creative. Strategic, so that they can hit the right people, make the right impact, and compel them to act. Creative, so that they captivate our audience and give them an enjoyable experience.

The first step to doing all this is, of course, research. This can take the form of an online search on your target market’s behavior or in-depth focus group discussions.

But what do you do after you gather all your data? How do you turn it into something useful, meaningful, and easily digestible? How do you get to the core of what your market wants (or doesn’t want)?

It all boils down to distilling this raw data into a concise, actionable strategy. This strategy should help you craft strategically-creative materials that will highlight why your brand is relevant to the market.

One way to understand your market better is to make a Value Proposition Canvas. This model was first developed by Dr. Alexander Osterwalder as a means to show how a customer’s needs can be addressed by brands.

In a nutshell, the Value Proposition Canvas Canvas is a way to illustrate the “fit” between a Customer’s Jobs, Pains, and Gains and a Brand’s Product / Service, Pain Relievers, and Gain Creators. Doing this makes it easier to map out the sweet spot between your target market and your brand.

Creating a Value Proposition Canvas

1. First, collate all the information that you need about your target market and your brand’s product or service.

2. Next, go through your research and fill out the CUSTOMER PROFILE side of the canvas. Make each bullet point as concrete as possible.

a. The first part to fill out is your customer’s Jobs. These are the things that your customers need to do, achieve, or solve. These include:

i. Functional jobs such as going to work, teaching a class, or taking care of family;

ii. Social jobs such as maintaining popularity, being seen as smart, or being perceived as a good parent;

iii. Personal or emotional jobs such as feeling financially secure, knowing one’s family is safe, or feeling loved; and

iv. Purchasing jobs that related to purchasing or consuming, which include renewing a subscription, vlogging about a product, or opting in to a service

b. Next, fill out your customer’s Pains. This includes anything that makes it hard for your customers to do their Jobs. They also include risks and other negative outcomes related to the customers’ Jobs. These include:

i. Undesired outcomes, problems, and characteristics such as experiencing software problems, feeling negative emotions, or getting dissatisfied with a restaurant’s service;

ii. Obstacles, such as distance, the lack of time, or a steep price point; and

iii. Risks, which include anything that might go wrong

c. Then, fill out your customer’s Gains. These are desired outcomes or benefits, as well as “extras” that customers would appreciate. Examples of Gains are:

i. Required gains, which include the product or service functioning well;

ii. Expected gains, which are features that a product or service could do without, but make the experience better for the customer;

iii. Desired gains, which are advantages that your target market wants from a product or service; and

iv. Unexpected gains, which are usually innovations that provide an upgrade to the customer’s experience .

This is what a sample Customer Profile for a fictional make-up product would look like

3. Now, it’s time to fill out the VALUE MAP side of the canvas.

a. For the Products and Services part of the canvas, simply state what kind of product or service you offer.

b. Next, list down the Pain Relievers of your brand. These are the concrete features that help reduce your target market’s pains. These can include helping them save time or money, eliminating risks, making them feel secure, or making your product easier to use. Pain Relievers can stem from your UVP or Unique Value Proposition.

c. Then, list down your brand’s Gain Creators. Gains are the ways through which you can give your target market’s required, expected, desired, or unexpected gains. Examples of these are savings, a better social status, feeling great about oneself, or an upgraded user experience. Just like the Pain Relievers, these can come from your UVP.

This is what a sample Value Map looks like.

As you might have noticed, your brand may not be able to address all the customer’s pains or deliver a long list of gains. But this is what makes the Value Proposition Canvas important — you get to see what features you can highlight when it comes to crafting your strategy.

4. Now that you’ve completed both sides of the Value Proposition Canvas, step back and take a look at the whole picture.

Do your brand’s pain relievers target any major pains? Can you provide your customers with any essential gains? If so, this is the FIT that you are looking for. This is how your brand becomes relevant to your target market.

5. When you’ve found the FIT for your Value Proposition Canvas, you can use it to start creating your marketing strategy or the Big Idea for your advertising materials.

Taking the example of our customer profile and value map, our FIT will stem from the ease with which the products are used throughout the whole experience. Focus on this value to highlight why the brand is relevant to its intended market. At the same time, you can minimize mentioning the price point, or use influencers to talk about how your products are worth every peso.

By following the Value Proposition Canvas, you can come up with materials, strategies, or even future products that will best serve your target market.

Vitalstrats Creative Solutions (VCS) is a creative agency based in Quezon City, Philippines. VCS specializes in content marketing, advertising, and video production. We use strategic creativity to help our clients grow their brands.

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Processes and systems help us in producing strategically-creative materials in the most efficient manner. By exploring ways to maximize the data that we have and turning it into a concrete plan of action, we are able to find the best possible solutions for our clients.

Are you going to try making a Value Proposition Canvas for your next project? Or have you tried this method before? Let us know what you think of this strategy in the comments below!

Source:
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2014). Value Proposition Design