Tessa R Blog #4: Marketing and Sales- It's all about the Value Prop

Last week and this week in class, our discussions have focused around marketing and sales. Often over-looked or undervalued for social ventures, and owned by the "for-profit" domain, marketing and sales is really the driver for any and all enterprises. Without sales or trade of some kind, a venture can not continue to operate. For businesses selling physical products or services in traditional asset sale scenarios, marketing and sales have well established chains of supply and implementation. But social ventures have the ability to change the game and invent entirely new business models that hinge on innovative value exchanges.

But this can not be done if a venture does not fully understand the essence of their value proposition- what it is that customers or users value in your offering. This translates directly into the customer's willingness to pay for your offering, and thus drives your market standing. Key to a strong value proposition is an "unfair advantage"- something that you offer that no one else can. This unique offering is at the heart of your pricing strategy. But for social ventures, articulating this exact advantage can be difficult. Moreover, it may be different depending on the user or buyer in question.

I've been very lucky to have been selected for ThrillMill's 3rd Entrepreneurship Class and we have recently been working in our seminars to develop our business models. We have been using templates similar to those shown in our SII course that model the different segments of a business model. However,last week we were given a template with a slight modification that helps to outline a company's exact "unfair advantage".

The gray bar along the top of the canvas allows the company to examine its unique offerings in every segment of their business model. When looking at key partnerships an exclusive relationship may enable offering a unique product or service package unavailable anywhere else in the market. For example, Uber's recent investment in CMU to develop autonomous taxi cabs will surely give it an unfair advantage in the autonomous car market in 10 years time. Through this process a company may find it has many unique advantages that appeal to a range of users and buyers. Articulating this knowledge helps companies better understand their value propositions and establish stronger market positions.

While developing a full business model canvas may be a bit premature for some of the early-stage ventures we have in class, thinking through these items early on can help develop more robust solutions. I encourage my classmates to work through a first draft of their business model using this "unfair advantage bar" along the top to begin thinking about the different facets of their business that may be able to be leveraged for increased value. How can you use connections you have on campus (other students, professors/advisers/campus resources) to develop unique offerings in your business model? How can you develop your business to be unlike any other companies operating in your industry? These ideas do not have to be concrete, and in fact should be flexible, but beginning this ideation process now will save lots of pain and stress later on.