I’m reading Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout.
If you have an Audible account, you should be able to listen to it for free, by the way.
In the book, Trout quoted a definition of a value proposition by an old school advertising professional, Rosser Reeves, from his 1961 book Reality in Advertising.
It stood out, so I thought I’d share his definition:
- Every ad must make a proposition to the consumer—not just words, puffery, or show-window advertising. Every advertisement must say to each reader: “If you buy this product, you will get this specific benefit.”
- The proposition must be one that the competition cannot or does not offer. It must be unique and make the competitors sweat.
- The ad proposition must be strong enough to move the masses.
I love so many parts of this, but particularly the second half of the second point.
“It must be unique and make the competitors sweat.”
How do you make your competitors sweat with your value proposition?
That’s the question worth asking.