Now on to the title of the blog post. The following are my notes from Amy’s presentation.
Mission vs Value Statement – two different things!
Mission – describes the things you do to fulfil your vision. A quick example, if the vision is to cure cancer, your mission would be the things you do to help people live with cancer. A vision of an organization is something to strive for and not necessarily achievable.
Value Proposition – the benefits your stakeholders (members, industry, donors) gain by supporting your organization.
Value propositions will change to meet the needs of your members. Your mission will not.
Three qualities of a value proposition:
- Focus on the end result – why you exist, relevant to current pain points and what you’re delivering to your members.
- Don’t be vague – focus on how you are helping your members that you can measure and that you can communicate to your members.
- More than a catchy slogan – describe why people join your organization.
Do you define/redefine your value proposition as needed? What do you do very well (think your top benefit), who is your ideal audience and what problems are you solving for them?
Remember, you can’t be all things to all people. Focus, focus, focus on your core audience. Sounds like a version of the Hedgehog Theory. For a blog post on that concept can be found HERE.
Do you define your features vs benefits of membership? We confuse the two. An educational training program is a feature of membership, the knowledge you gain from that session to solve a future problem is a member benefit.
She asked the question, “do you know what your members value?” You should know. Ask, ask, ask through surveys, focus groups or during your virtual meetings.
How are you sharing your value proposition?
- Website – a great place to rotate/tweak your value proposition.
- Email – newsletters, recruitment campaigns, engagement campaigns and automation (auto email responses if they visited a certain page on your website).
- Board and Membership Committee – make sure your volunteers have that value proposition elevator speech.
- Social Media – the use of platforms where your members hang out is a great way to communicate your value proposition, through the use of banners, ads, testimonials, or content marketing.
- Media – do you have talking points for your chairman? If they are interviewed, they should be able to describe your value proposition to any question the media might ask. They should be able to prioritize the one thing you want the audience to take away.
For a great ASAE article on value propositions go HERE.
At the end of the day, stay focused on your messaging when talking about your value proposition!
