If you google content marketing right now, you will find at least ten articles that discuss why content marketing is the only ace in the hole your marketing strategy needs.
The only problem? While emphasizing relevance, engagement, and call to action, value has become a tokenistic marketing jargon that we discuss regularly but rarely implement.
As such, value-based marketing, in simple terms, is a consumer-first marketing concept that aims to build long-lasting relationships with the respective target audiences.
It repackages the fundamental notion of understanding a potential customer's needs and wants in personal selling before offering problem-solving, relevant products or services.
However, before we start discussing optimal processes of effective implementation, let's break down the word value in a business backdrop.
Value is a qualitative measure of the utility a product, service, commodity, information, or any other offering provides to a user. As such, value in a business environment can be classified into four segments: economic, social, functional, and psychological.
1. Economic value refers to the perceived monetary value of any commodity, service, or knowledge. Therefore, it includes all things pricing, such as MRP, discounts, offers, etc.
2. Conversely, social value refers to the value an article may provide through its ownership or by association in a social sphere. The best example is the social value people associate with Apple as a brand.
3. Functional value, on the contrary, refers to the utility any object, service, or knowledge provides to the user. In simple terms, the problem a device solves or service caters to is its functional value. For example, a smartwatch keeps track of time, fitness, communication, healthcare, and more.
4. Lastly, psychological value refers to the positive emotions a commodity generates within its users. For example, house alarms provide a sense of security.
Hence, value-based marketing aims to leverage the most relevant of the above categories to highlight the exclusive and general benefits.
However, the question remains, why should you care about value marketing, and how would you even begin?
In layman's terms, consumers today are more often than not, aware of their needs and requirements but don't understand the value or exact benefits a possible solution holds.
For example, as a restaurant owner, you might understand a need for lower-costing raw materials but lack the know-how or tools to calculate the desirable rate or an acceptable flexibility ratio in the former.
As such, value marketing takes advantage of this opportunity to communicate the exclusive quantifiable and qualitative benefits to the consumer.
A skeleton structure for implementing value marketing is provided under:
1. Research your target audience:
Take a deep dive into the problems your target audience is facing answering questions of when, how, and why?
2. Brainstorm how your product solves the above problem(s):
Brainstorm any and all benefits your product provides that positively impact the problem statement drafted above.
3. Classify the benefits:
Classify the relevant benefits in the above-explained categories to better evaluate the value you are delivering to your consumers, alongside identifying the critical weak points in your proposition.
4. Create value-centric content:
Highlight the value proposition drafted above through engaging educational and entertainment-based omnichannel content pieces.
Plethora IT is a leading digital marketing and social media agency based in Thailand with an in-house team that understands and delivers value-additive, actionable, and tangible digital marketing campaigns. Our motto is to help you conceptualize, strategize, execute and revamp your digital game plan. Breathe life into your imagination with us.
Still, struggling with value marketing? Reach out to us today!