Everyone looking to make a purchase is searching for value. In the era of digital marketing, this seems to be what everything hinges on.
As an Account Growth Specialist at TrainingPeaks, these are some recurring questions I receive in regard to creating value:
- What is value?
- How do I create value?
- How do I know what is valuable to my people?
- To a business, is providing value actually valuable?
- Should it be free, or should people pay for value?
Creating value used to be about getting more for less. Not anymore.
Many sellers miss the opportunity to identify what is valuable or what their customers think is valuable. They simply don’t show their customers — or potential customers — exactly what they can help with.
Why is that?
Understanding the Customer Journey
Before we take a deep dive into what you can do to provide your audience and customers what they need, you first have to understand the customer journey.
As someone offering a good or service, you must realize that every consumer is on a journey—THEIR journey.
If there is one piece of advice I can give you, it’s that you are not the hero on this journey. Your customer is. You need to understand what they’re going through.
Every customer strives to get from point A to point B in their journey, and this purchase decision will help them get there.
It doesn’t matter if they are buying a new lawnmower:
“My lawn is long and nasty (A), and I want it to look nice (B).”
Or, if they’re looking to purchase online training and coaching:
“I fell off in 2020 due to gym restrictions and race cancellations, and I am out of shape (A). But I have a race planned in August 2022 and want to be as close to peak performance as possible (B).”
This journey is emotional. People make purchases based on emotion or on an emotional response to something they see. It’s your job to connect what you do with how you can help them specifically.
And you need to be specific.
If people see the throughline, they’ll be charged up with emotion and pull out that credit card.
The Power of Knowledge Brokering
Value is 100% about knowledge brokering, especially in today’s digital world.
Value equals the information you can provide to consumers to help them get from A to B. It’s anything that will help people find progress in their journey.
The journey might be finished once the customer reaches point B, or it may not be complete until they reach point Z. Either way, if you’re helping them progress from one point to another, you’re providing them value.
In the fitness world, this may look something like a one-minute video explaining three tips to improve power output. It may be in the form of nutrition guidance or how to effectively rest and recover.
Ultimately, you should leverage your strengths and the specific knowledge you’ve garnered and provide that info to your audience.
Understanding what journey your customers or potential customers are on is absolutely essential to creating value.
You need to first figure out:
- Where your target customers are on their journey.
- What they’re struggling with.
- Where your athletes want to be.
The best way to get this information is to ask them. Understanding your ideal customer cannot be overlooked. In fact, you should continually examine who is buying your product(s), why, when, and what they think about it.
Then write it down. We call this creating a value proposition. To learn more, check out our How to Be a Successful Endurance Coach guide.
Putting Value Prop into Practice Through Social
The No. 1 data point we look at when a new coach is seeking to grow their online business is traffic.
For those who are not familiar with traffic, it is the number of people who visit a specific page — your website or product details page, in this case.
The questions you should ask yourself are:
- How can we get as many eyes on the offering(s) as possible?
- How can we help customers find what we’re offering?
If you don’t have enough people seeing the offering, then nothing after this sentence will even matter. Traffic is the first lever to pull, always.
Once you’ve got the necessary traffic flowing to your offering, you need to make sure that the value is hitting home with the potential buyer. Instagram, for example, has prioritized certain engagement tools within the app to help you with this.
When using Instagram, ask yourself: Is my content valuable enough for someone to save it or share it? This is a good lens to use no matter what medium you are producing content through (email, Twitter, blog, etc.).
If people save your content to look through it again, they find it valuable. They’ll want to reference that information to help them progress.
The more you can get people to engage using saves and shares on Instagram, the more prioritized the content will be, therefore showing up on more people’s feeds. Instagram calls these impressions, or how many times someone saw your post.
More saves and shares equals more eyes on the content, resulting in more interest from your target audience. This can lead to more followers and more opportunities to help people on their journey through your content and, ultimately, your products.
Remember, Facebook and Instagram are businesses, so the more time people spend there, the better for them and their stakeholders. That’s why they love engaging, valuable content.
Don’t Forget About Your Loyal Customers
Remember that you already have people who are your loyal followers. They stick with you through thick and thin. Don’t forget about them, as they are your best promoters.
Once they make the purchase decision, you now have to double down and ensure that what you promised meets their expectations and then some.
Let these folks feel the love.
Value doesn’t change just because someone bought your offering. You’re still helping them get from point A to point B. Share fresh content that the world hasn’t seen yet, reach out personally, or leverage messaging tools to share your extensive knowledge with your paying customers.
Most importantly, be consistent. Let your customers know that you are there and will do whatever it takes to help them along the way.
Inevitably, some won’t be a fit for your product. If someone chooses to leave or not go through with a purchase, use it as an opportunity to find out why and point them in the right direction.
Set a follow-up on your calendar and reach out to them in 90 days to make sure they are getting what they need. This is another way to create value.
Figure out where your audience is, meet them there, and then help them get to the next part of their journey.
Answers to FAQs About Value
Remember those common questions I get about value? Here are the quick answers.
What is value?
Value is providing information (knowledge) to your audience that will help them progress on their journey.
How do I create value?
Share with your audience what you know and be specific. You undoubtedly have something they want or need or something that helped you along the way. You’ll want them to save or share it through Instagram. This is a good filter whether you’re using Instagram or not. Is it valuable enough to save or give to a friend?
How do I know what is valuable to my people?
You have to ask them! They came to you for a reason. Lean into what you’re good at and set expectations for how you’ll help them specifically.
To a business, is providing value actually valuable?
Yes! It’s the most efficient and effective way to grow your online audience, create warm leads and ultimately increase sales.
Should it be free, or should people pay for value?
Both! Provide value to those who fit your ideal customer (not paying you yet). And absolutely don’t forget to provide value to those who are paying you. They are your No. 1 fans and best promoters.
