What does your business do, and why should anyone care?

An entrepreneur wrote me recently to ask about a concept for marketing his business-services company.

Upon perusing his website I discovered that it does a poor job of communicating the business's fundamental value proposition. The home page explains why people should hire that business, without explaining precisely what the company does.

This isn't a rare problem: it's often difficult for marketers to put themselves in their prospect's shoes in order to understand how little the customer knows of their business, their industry or their specific solution.

So my response to the entrepreneur was simple: Before investing in ambitious new marketing techniques, get your story straight.

"I would urge you to get smarter and more focussed about your value proposition: how you save money for organizations and how you can help them earn more. After browsing your website, I could not see any specifics about the problems you solve and the unique way you do it.

I think you have to be a little bolder, first about what you say, and then about asking for orders. And I think that once you get your problem/solution value statement worked out, asking for the orders will get a lot easier."

Rick