7 Days to a Better Steemit Blog - Day 2: Value Proposition
Welcome to Day 2!
Last time we talked about how to identify and define the target audience of your blog. Make sure to check out that post if you haven't already!
What is your Value Proposition?
A value proposition refers to the content you have to offer to your target audience. It is often formed as a written statement that specifically defines the value you offer in a way that makes your target audience think something like, "Wow! This blog must be for me!"
Another way to think about this is a job you may currently have, or have had, in your life. Depending on the state of the economy where you live - a job might seem like something that is easily attainable and doesn't require much thought in order to be hired. On the other hand, you might engage in a very competitive process in which you need to stand out from other potential hires. You might be giving extra care and attention to communicating the value you have to offer the organization or individual who will be paying you. This value is often demonstrated on a résumé or during an interview.
Even though the content you create on your blog is free, no one (unless you have a unique arrangement,) is paying you a salary to write, it is still important to both define for yourself - and communicate to your target audience - what unique value you have to offer. The result, while might not be a salary, will be a growing audience.
What does a Value Proposition look like?
For our purposes, a value proposition will be a clearly defined and narrowly written statement. Yesterday I wrote that, at one time, the target audience of my YouTube channel was for students in college. Here are some iterations of value propositions I went through during that time (notice how they get more and more defined as I experimented with what I was doing.)
- Enhance your cognition, master the art of studying.
- This YouTube channel is all about how to increase your focus and productivity in school.
- The YouTube channel that offers lessons on how to master the art of studying in college, in order to Ace those exams.
Here are some more examples of value propositions from an article on ConversionXL. Also, the company Strategyzer, has some awesome free tools for creating value props.
If you really, really want to dig in on this (and I recommend it because, in my opinion, having a well defined and easily understood value proposition for your target audience is even better than SEO) I highly recommend the following book:
Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want
Like Defining your Target Audience, Defining your Value Proposition is a Process
As I said on Day 1, you might not know exactly who you want to reach right away, and that's fine. You might also not want to narrow down your content right away, and that's fine too. I'm writing this series on Steemit because I want to try something new, I don't necessarily have plans for this to be a marketing blog. The point is to think about it and actually write some value props down.
Resources
Article: Useful Value Proposition Examples
Article: Value Propositions That Work
Tool: The Value Proposition Canvas
Book: Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want
Do This Interactive Exercise Now!
Comment below with a rough statement of what the value proposition for YOUR blog is, or what it could be!
See you tomorrow for Day 3 of this series!
Steve Cronin
Ok, first draft of my value proposition....
"Are you not entertained?"
It will get better, hopefully, as I continue refining.
Thanks @stevecronin !
I love your blog and I want to share two thoughts with you...
First I’m not sure if I’m your target (you talked about yt channel target but did you talk about this blog target?) but anyways I feel half student, half teacher and I find this blog very helpful. Thanks for that ;)
The second is a tool I use in my “coach” session about “process” and it’s based over interesting ted talk by Tom Wujec called “Build a tower, build a team” about “Spaghetti tower challenge”. I don’t want to make spoilers to nobody so worth a look ;)
https://ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tedspread
Cheers!