I’ve been involved with a program of projects where we’ve taken horizontal messages and value propositions of products and solutions and made them relevant to specific vertical markets. I’ve completed projects like this over a long time, but most recently, the differences between the two approaches really struck me.
As we worked with the horizontal messages, it was clear that the client had aligned their value propositions and messages along the lines of product-centric capabilities. Sure, these capabilities do solve customer problems, and market research was done to validate the new capabilities, but the communication started with the capabilities rather than the burning issues that customers face.
When working with the vertical teams, it was apparent that the customer pain points are paramount, and that it is more important to link the product or solution capabilities to the pain points, to really communicate that the company understands the business and has a vested interest in solving the issues customers face every day. A great example of this is SAP, where they have the industries that their solutions cover clearly articulated and targeted with specific messages.
Some questions you might want to consider when crafting your value propositions, messages and marketing collateral, regardless of whether your approach is horizontal or vertical:
- How much time and effort have you put into understanding your customers issues and what their primary pain points are?
- Have you mapped those pain points to your product/service features and benefits and crafted messages that relate to both?
- What’s the first message that comes across in your materials - the customer need or your solution?
- How much of your customer-facing presentation is spent talking about your customers environment, issues and needs, and how much is touting the product or service?
It’s well known that enterprise customers want their suppliers to understand them and to come versed in their business. What better way to demonstrate this than to acknowledge their issues up front and spark a conversation that will lead you to showcase your solution in the right context?
