Essential Components of Value-Added Marketing

For brands, value is a concept that might sound straightforward at first. But when you consider it more closely, it can become overwhelming. You may feel your understanding of what “value” is — as it pertains to your business’ customers — begins to unravel. That’s because providing value to customers includes not just delivering quality products and services, but also cultivating a well-rounded, meaningful brand experience.?

How does value actually function in marketing? What does delivering value in a practical way look like? Let’s break down value-added marketing part by part so we can see what it does and why it matters.??

Delivers What Your Customers Care About

First things first, let’s get one thing straight: Your marketing approach shouldn’t be for everyone. It should be relevant and engaging to the specific customers you’re working to connect with. Value is about responding to customers’ passions, viewpoints, and desires. It’s important to know your audience — you should be able to describe their personality like you would for a close friend.?

Value doesn’t mean the same thing to every person. It’s your brand’s job to figure out what your particular audience values and how to help create experiences that are meaningful for them.

Showing you are listening to specific audience segments helps build meaningful connections and encourages customer loyalty. What have your customers been talking about? What are their pain points? Demonstrate your brand listens by providing solutions and content that answer your audience’s needs.

Makes People’s Lives Easier

Your brand must hone in on your audience’s unique needs and preferences. But, do you know something everyone loves? When things are easy — frictionless, even. Make convenience a focus throughout your marketing to create a smooth experience for your customers. This is important in everything you offer — your products and services but also the customer experience.

In your marketing strategy, the spotlight should be on your customers, with value playing the supporting role. Yes, you’re offering a product or service, but it should be more than that. Look at your offerings as not just items, but solutions to a problem. In your value-added marketing strategy focus on whatever those solutions are: ease of use, saving money, saving time, and so on.?

The user experience surrounding your brand should be easy too, from the functions of your website to new offerings, and more. New features and marketing initiatives can actually detract from value if they’re overly complicated and/or disconnected from their audience’s needs. But, often, these features are touch points with potential customers before they convert, so it’s important to demonstrate you understand them, you’re there to help, and you alone are uniquely positioned to do so.

For example…

Let’s say a smoothie shop scraps its standard menu to focus on a build-your-own smoothie experience. The shop does this because they assume that people generally like to have more options and custom-build things to their preferences. It turns out to be a complete failure, though. They lose their most loyal customers — young professionals on the go who liked the ease of ordering their favorite smoothie and getting on with their busy day.

The customers valued having a few clear options and choosing a smoothie recipe designed by the experts. Now, they have to take extra time to pick all the ingredients themselves, which many of the customers don’t feel confident about. The shop didn’t read its audience. Its effort to deliver something new ended up making customers’ lives harder.

So, now what? The shop decides to right the initial wrong by offering both simplified custom smoothie options and a menu of signature smoothies. They launch a mobile app that makes the lives of their busy customers easier. Customers can submit orders ahead of time and pick up their smoothies ready-made.?

To top off their value blend, the shop also leverages marketing initiatives that deliver value to their audience. They create an email marketing series that provides discounts and interesting recipes for customers to try on their next visit. Customers now feel heard, and start coming back. They enjoy the new options the app offers and the email marketing value-adds.?

Offers New and Exciting Opportunities

The thing is, people do want unique, interesting new offerings. They just need to be the right sort of thing for your audience. Your brand’s marketing initiatives add value if you successfully interpret your customers’ wants and needs.?

Capturing your audience’s interest may involve offering a new way to address their common problems, or putting a fresh spin on something they know and love. Compelling design and graphics can help spark initial interest, but valuable content and experiences are what keeps them reading, exploring your brand’s offerings, and coming back for more.

Your particular service or product realm should help guide your marketing approach, but always remember who your audience is when you develop your value-add strategies. Think about what your brand offers that makes you unique from other brands in your field and what problems your customers are trying to solve. Use that to set the stage for your value proposition.

Establishes Reputability and Trust with Your Audience

One of the best ways to bring value to your marketing strategy is through informative and engaging content. By creating valuable content and customer experiences, your brand shows depth and understanding of your industry. You establish yourself as an expert in your realm, which fosters a sense of trust with your customers. They’ll be more invested in your brand because you don’t just peddle “stuff” — you also know your stuff and you understand your customers.

So, what might that look like? You may write blogs relevant to your target audience’s lifestyle, which could be a mix of entertaining and informative. Perhaps you put together videos that demonstrate how best to care for your product, e.g., a bicycle company making a how-to video about adding air to bike tires. A dairy product company may include recipes on their site, and tips for the best wine and cheese pairings to impress your friends.

Whatever your brand offers, the most valuable content is driven by what your audience is looking for. Ask yourself how you can improve their experience and provide solutions in your particular niche. If you successfully establish yourself as an authority on your offerings — fountain pens, sustainable produce, custom pet portraits, or whatever your thing is — your audience is much more likely to buy into your brand. Not only that, but the trust you build can help build a strong brand community that’s enthusiastic about the unique value your brand offers.

Bring on the Value!

Once you understand the basics of value-added marketing, it’s a matter of applying the core concepts to your brand. As mentioned, your approach depends on your audience. If you’re unsure where to start or want help dialing in on your audience’s needs, we can help you with that. At sōsh we’re kind of like a squad of relationship counselors — we love helping brands form meaningful connections with customers to foster healthy long-term relationships. Connect with us if you want to bring your value-add strategy to the next level.

About Us

Founded in 1999, sōsh is a Milwaukee-based creative marketing and advertising agency specializing in data-driven strategies for small to large brands. Sōsh focuses on a wide range of disciplines such as creative services, social media, digital marketing, web design, advertising, and our trademark events. Sōsh creates meaningful connections between brands and their audience and does so through strategic communication, captivating creative, and thoughtful engagement. We are a collection of strategists - creatives dedicated to adding value to both our clients' brands and their consumers’ lives.