#blogtwo

WHAT IS A VALUE PROPOSITION CANVAS?

The Value Proposition Canvas is a valuable tool used to gain a deeper understanding of your customers and create a compelling value proposition for your product or service. It begins by identifying the needs of your target customers, which can be both functional and emotional in nature. These are the things your customers actively seek or desire. Simultaneously, it's crucial to grasp their pains or challenges, which are the problems and inconveniences they encounter in their lives. Pains can be related to cost, time, effort, risks, or other hindrances.

With a clear understanding of customer needs and pains, you can then analyze how your product or service can effectively address these issues. This involves highlighting the features, capabilities, and attributes of your offering that directly alleviate customer pains and fulfill their needs. This alignment between what the customers seek and what your product provides is where the value proposition comes into play.

The value proposition is the central element of this framework, serving as a promise to your customers that your product will satisfactorily meet their needs and alleviate their pains. It's a concise and compelling statement that communicates the unique value your product offers to customers. In essence, it answers the question: "Why should a customer choose our product over alternatives?" This value proposition assures potential customers that they will gain value from using your product, ultimately increasing the likelihood of successful product adoption.

VALUE PROPOSITION CRITERIA

IT'S SPECIFIC

A specific value proposition effectively conveys the merits and benefits of your product or service without resorting to vague or generic language. It is tailored to a clearly defined target audience, addressing their specific needs and desires. This level of specificity aids potential customers in gaining a clear understanding of what they can anticipate from your offering.

IT'S PAIN-FOCUSED

A value proposition centered on addressing pain points identifies and tackles the specific issues or difficulties that your intended customers encounter. It showcases how your product or service can ease these pain points or offer solutions. This understanding and empathy for your customers' challenges enable you to establish a deeper connection with them.

IT'S EXCLUSIVE

An exclusive value proposition emphasizes the unique qualities that set your product or service apart from competitors. It effectively conveys the reasons why customers should select your offering over alternatives available in the market. This distinctiveness can arise from various aspects, including features, advantages, quality, or any distinguishing factor that differentiates your offering.

TWO CATEGORIES OF VALUE PROPOSITION CANVAS

CUSTOMER PROFILE

A customer profile is a fundamental component of any business or marketing strategy, with its primary focus on gaining a deep understanding of the customer's perspective. It involves the systematic collection and analysis of pertinent information to construct a detailed and comprehensive portrait of the typical or ideal customer for a product or service. This profile encompasses various dimensions, including demographic details like age, gender, location, income, and occupation, providing the foundation for effective customer segmentation. Furthermore, it delves into psychographic information, exploring lifestyle, values, interests, and behaviors, painting a holistic picture of customer motivations and aspirations.

In addition to demographic and psychographic data, a well-constructed customer profile delves into the specific needs and pain points of the customer. It seeks to uncover the problems customers are attempting to solve and their overarching goals. By identifying these aspects, businesses can position their products or services as effective solutions, creating a stronger connection with the customer.

Understanding the customer's buying behavior is another critical facet of a customer profile. This entails analyzing the processes and factors that influence their purchasing decisions. It helps businesses align their marketing and sales strategies with the preferences and habits of their target audience. Also, customer profiles encompass insights into how customers prefer to communicate with brands and their interactions with competitors, offering a comprehensive view of their engagement preferences and potential gaps in the market.

VALUES PROPOSITION/MAP

The "Value Map" is an integral part of any well-structured business strategy, serving as the connective tissue between a customer profile and the product or service being offered. It plays a vital role in detailing how the offerings align with the characteristics, needs, and preferences of the target audience as identified in the customer profile. This alignment is a strategic imperative, as it helps businesses develop a clear and compelling value proposition that resonates with their customers. By establishing this connection, the value map accomplishes several key objectives.

Firstly, it bridges the gap between customer requirements and the product's attributes, ensuring that the offerings effectively meet the needs, desires, and pain points discerned from the customer profile. Secondly, it enables businesses to tailor their value proposition in a way that speaks directly to the specific attributes most valued by their audience. The value map is not just about addressing customer needs but doing so in a manner that distinguishes the offering from competitors. This involves emphasizing unique selling points, whether they involve distinctive features, superior quality, cost-effectiveness, or any other factors that set the product apart.

Furthermore, the value map lays the groundwork for crafting a persuasive value proposition. This proposition is a concise and compelling statement that communicates the distinct value the product provides to the customer. It assures potential customers that the offering will fulfill their needs and alleviate their pains. Importantly, the value map is not a static document; it's part of an ongoing, iterative process. Businesses continuously refine their offerings to ensure that they remain closely aligned with customer expectations. By actively monitoring customer feedback and staying attuned to market trends, businesses can adapt their value maps to maintain relevance and competitiveness.

HOW TO CREATE A WINNING VALUE PROPOSITION

Step 1: Research Your Audience

In any successful marketing strategy, understanding your target audience is paramount. This involves delving deep into your potential customers' demographics, behaviors, preferences, and pain points. By doing so, you gain insights into what motivates them, what problems they need solutions for, and how your product or service can address these needs. This knowledge is essential for crafting effective marketing messages that resonate with your audience. It also allows you to pinpoint the selling points of your product or service, enabling you to tailor your communication in a way that highlights its unique benefits and value to your target market.

Step 2: Create an Ideal Buyer Persona

Once you've gathered extensive data about your audience, the next step is to distill this information into ideal buyer personas. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer, and it encompasses key traits, behaviors, and preferences. Analyzing the qualitative data collected from your audience research allows you to identify patterns and commonalities among your potential customers. Creating different personas based on these patterns helps you categorize your audience into segments. This segmentation is valuable because it allows you to personalize your marketing efforts, tailoring your messages and offerings to suit the specific needs and desires of each persona. In essence, it makes your marketing more precise and effective.

Step 3: Research Your Competitors

Competitor research is not about undermining your competition, but rather, it's about gaining a comprehensive understanding of the market landscape. By studying your competitors, you can learn from their successes and failures, identify trends, and uncover opportunities for innovation. This step is essential for discovering a unique edge or advantage over the current offerings in the market. It involves analyzing your competitors' products, marketing strategies, pricing, customer feedback, and any gaps or weaknesses in their approach. This information can guide your own innovation and help you position your product or service more effectively.

Step 4: Determine the Primary Benefit of Your Product

The last step is you need to identify the core advantage of your product including the main value it provides to your customers. This primary benefit is the key reason why someone would choose your product over alternatives. It's essential to understand and clearly communicate this benefit in your marketing efforts.

SUMMARY

he Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) is a powerful tool used to gain a deep understanding of customers and create a compelling value proposition for a product or service. It involves identifying customer needs and pains, which can be both functional and emotional. Needs are what customers actively seek, while pains are the problems and inconveniences they encounter. The VPC then guides you to analyze how your product can effectively address these issues by aligning its features with customer needs and pains. The value proposition serves as a promise to customers, assuring them that your product will meet their needs and alleviate their pains.

A winning value proposition should be specific, pain-focused, and exclusive. It should convey the merits and benefits of your product or service in a clear and tailored manner, addressing the specific needs and challenges of your target audience while emphasizing what sets your offering apart from competitors.

The process involves two categories: the Customer Profile and the Value Map. The Customer Profile delves into customer demographics, psychographics, needs, pain points, and buying behavior. The Value Map connects this customer understanding with your product's attributes, ensuring alignment with customer expectations. It also helps create a concise and compelling value proposition.

CONCLUSION

Creating a strong value proposition is essential for any business aiming to succeed in a competitive marketplace. The Value Proposition Canvas provides a structured approach to understanding customer needs and pains, aligning them with your product's features, and crafting a persuasive value proposition. By researching your audience, creating ideal buyer personas, and researching your competitors, you can gather the insights necessary to differentiate your product and communicate its unique value effectively. Ultimately, a well-crafted value proposition not only attracts potential customers but also fosters a deeper connection by addressing their specific needs and challenges, setting the stage for successful product adoption and business growth.

The Louis Vitton show was definitely one of my favorites from the A/W 2019 season of catwalks. They also produce such amazing designs that are original and stunning. This season they took heavy influence from the 1940s decade. The 40s decade of fashion was emphasized around World War II. The style was fashioned around the military uniform and the limitations of fabric. Louie Vitton focused on boxy shoulders, pencil skirts, and military-style jackets and suiting that speaks to the themes of this decade. Shoulder pads and peplum styles were also large parts of the 40s decade and Louie Vitton shows these trends of the 40s all while using patterns, fabric, texture, and silhouettes that bring a modern twist to woman’s wardrobe. 

Hello!  My name is Vidhi Shah - however, I prefer V.  I enjoy all forms of art and creativity.  Ever since I was young I’ve done some some form of visual art.  Recently I’ve submerged myself into world of digital art and photography.

I love the colours blue, purple, and pink (like the sky, during those beautiful sunsets). I’ve been vegetarian my whole life, and I’d say I’m on the path of being a tree-hugger - I care about the environment a lot.   I love wolves, horses, and lions.  I’m a leo and my last name means ‘king’ which I find extremely cool.  I love to dance (not well but I have too much fun to care), going to concerts and festivals, riding my bicycle and boarding, and the number seven. I’ve watched more TV shows than I’d like to admit, but I highly recommend watching How I Met Your Mother. 

I would like to live in ten different places in the world and experience different cultures, but end up living in Toronto long-term.  I’d also love to travel the whole world throughout my life, starting with New Zealand, Amsterdam, and Bali.  Let’s say it was the last day on Earth, I would probably blast my favourite music and grab my family and friends to do something that has our adrenaline pumping (Sky diving? Cliff jumping?).

1 in 3 college aged women are date raped (CDC, 2012). I have three roommates, does that mean that one of us will be date raped while in college? Protection from sexual assault is an issue that college campuses across the nation struggle to solve. Seminars on rape culture and bystander intervention are common approaches that college campuses take to tackle this issue. But are these methods actually effective? How can women protect themselves from sexual assault? This question rings through my mind especially as a young woman in my twenties, I find myself at parties or bars every single weekend. How the hell would I know if someone slipped something into my drink? When I wake up and cannot recall the night? These questions resonate with four male college students from North Carolina, who created Undercover Colors Nail Polish. This innovative product can detect if drugs such as ketamine, ecstasy, and other 'roofies' are present in drinks. With a simple stir of a finger, the color changing technology will change colors if the drink has been contaminated with the date rape drugs mentioned above.

This beauty product differentiates (Babin, Harris 2016) itself from any other product through their ease of usage and discreteness. Other products on the market, such as drug test kits, are timely, non-discrete and complex to use. Undercover Colors is transforming the dialogue around sexual assault. On their Facebook page they released this as a portion of their mission statement “we hope to make potential perpetrators afraid to spike a drink because there’s now a risk that they can get caught. In effect, we want to shift the fear from the victims to the perpetrators” (Undercover Colors, 2014).

The company’s “word-of-mouth” advertisement (Babin, Harris, 168) is highly effective at spreading their goals and motivations for creating this product. This product is highly relevant to all women who are at risk for sexual assault, which makes women, as a whole, brand ambassadors (Babin, Harris 168). Ever since the company announced their research into this nail polish innovation, multiple blogs, Twitter posts and Facebook comments have been raving about the future of this product. The usage of social media allows users to give personal commentary of the product, which shapes the brand that centralizes on a narrative of women empowerment (Babin, Harris 2016). Undercover Colors specifically capitalized on buzz marketing and viral marketing (Babin, Harris 169). Buzz marketing is when the brands efforts are centralized on existing customers to share information pertaining to the product. Viral marketing is when customers use online technologies to facilitate WOM advertisement (Babin, Harris 169). The buzz and viral marketing technique duo is an essential facet of how Undercover Colors is receiving funding for research to get their product on the market, without it this product would have been non-existent.

Dateline ABC reported on this brand and raves about how this innovation to the beauty market will revolutionize the social structures surrounding sexual assault. (See Post Below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9A2aVC-d1s). In months to come, the nail polish will be released and we will see if it truly makes a push to lessen the numbers of sexual assault on women.  

References:

Babin, B. J., & Harris, E. G. (2016). CB7 (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

ICTs stand for information and communication technologies and are defined, for the purposes, as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information.” These technologies include computers, the Internet, broad casting technologies (radio and television), and telephony.

ICTs are a potentially powerful tool for extending educational opportunities, both formal and non-for mal, to previously under served constituencies—scattered and rural populations, groups traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or social reasons such as ethnic minorities, girls and women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, as well as all others who for reasons of cost or because of time constraints are unable to enroll on campus.

•  Anytime, anywhere

.  One defining feature of ICTs is their ability to transcend time and space. ICTs make possible asynchronous learning, or learning characterized by a time lag between the delivery of instruction and its reception by learners. Online course materials, for example, may be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ICT-based educational delivery (e.g., educational programming broadcast over radio or television) also dispenses with the need for all learners and the instructor to be in one physical location. Additionally, certain types of ICTs, such as teleconferencing technologies, enable instruction to be received simultaneously by multiple, geographically dispersed learners (i.e., synchronous learning).

•  Access to remote learning resources

.  Teachers and learners no longer have to rely solely on printed books and other materials in physical media housed in libraries (and available in limited quantities) for their educational needs. With the Internet and the World Wide Web, a wealth of learning materials in almost every subject and in a variety of media can now be accessed from anywhere at anytime of the day and by an unlimited number of people. This is particularly significant for many schools in developing countries, and even some in developed countries, that have limited and outdated library resources. ICTs also facilitate access to resource persons, mentors, experts, researchers, professionals, business leaders, and peers—all over the world.

·        

ICTs help prepare individuals for the workplace.

One of the most commonly cited reasons for using ICTs in the classroom has been to better prepare the current generation of students for a workplace where ICTs, particularly computers, the Internet and related technologies, are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Technological literacy, or the ability to use ICTs effectively and efficiently, is thus seen as representing a competitive edge in an increasingly globalizing job market.

Benefits/Advantages  of ICT in Education

Here are some of the benefits which ICT brings to education according to recent research findings.

General benefits

·         Greater efficiency throughout the school.·         Communication channels are increased through email, discussion groups and chat rooms·         Regular use of ICT across different curriculum subjects can have a beneficial motivational influence on students’ learning.

Benefits for teachers

·         ICT facilitates sharing of resources, expertise and advice·         Greater flexibility in when and where tasks are carried out·         Gains in ICT literacy skills, confidence and enthusiasm.·         Easier planning and preparation of lessons and designing materials·         Access to up-to-date pupil and school data, any time and anywhere.·         Enhancement of professional image projected to colleagues.·         Students are generally more ‘on task’ and express more positive feelings when they use computers than when they are given other tasks to do.·         Computer use during lessons motivated students to continue using learning outside school hours.

Benefits for students

·         Higher quality lessons through greater collaboration between teachers in planning and preparing resources .·         More focused teaching, tailored to students’ strengths and weaknesses, through better analysis of attainment data·         Improved pastoral care and behaviour management through better tracking of students·         Gains in understanding and analytical skills, including improvements in reading·         Comprehension.·         Development of writing skills (including spelling, grammar, punctuation, editing and re-drafting), also fluency, originality and elaboration.·         Encouragement of independent and active learning, and self-responsibility for learning.·         Flexibility of ‘anytime, anywhere’ access (Jacobsen and Kremer, 2000)·         Development of higher level learning styles.·         Students who used educational technology in school felt more successful in school, were more motivated to learn and have increased self-confidence and self-esteem·         Students found learning in a technology-enhanced setting more stimulating and student-centred than in a traditional classroom·         Broadband technology supports the reliable and uninterrupted downloading of web-hosted educational multimedia resources·         Opportunities to address their work to an external audience·         Opportunities to collaborate on assignments with people outside or inside school

Benefits for parents

·         Easier communication with teachers·         Higher quality student reports – more legible, more detailed, better presented·         Greater access to more accurate attendance and attainment information·         Increased involvement in education for parents and, in some cases, improved self-esteem·         Increased knowledge of children’s learning and capabilities, owing to increase in learning activity being situated in the home·         Parents are more likely to be engaged in the school community·         You will see that ICT can have a positive impact across a very wide range of aspects of school life.

ICT and Raising Standards

Recent research also points to ICT as a significant contributory factor in the raising of standards of achievement in schools.

Schools judged by the school inspectors to have very good ICT resources achieved better results than schools with poor ICT.

Schools that made good use of ICT within a subject tended to have better achievement in that subject than other schools.

Socio-economic circumstances and prior performance of pupils were not found to be critical.

Secondary schools with very good ICT resources achieved, on average, better results in English, Mathematics and Science than those with poor ICT resources.

A range of research indicates the potential of ICT to support improvements in aspects ofliteracy, numeracy and science.

Improved writing skills: grammar, presentation, spelling, word recognition and volume of work .

Age-gains in mental calculations and enhanced number skills, for example the use of decimals .

Better data handling skills and increased ability to read, interpret and sketch graphs Improvements in conceptual understanding of Mathematics (particularly problem solving) and Science (particularly through use of simulations)

The use of ICTs help improve the quality of education

ICTs can enhance the quality of education in several ways: by increasing learner motivation and engagement by facilitating the acquisition of basic skills, and by enhancing teacher training. ICTs are also transformational tools which, when used appropriately, can promote the shift to a learner-centered environment.

Motivating to learn

. ICTs such as videos, television and multimedia computer software that combine text, sound, and colorful, moving images can be used to provide challenging and authentic content that will engage the student in the learning process. Interactive radio likewise makes use of sound effects, songs, dramatizations, comic skits, and other performance conventions to compel the students to listen and become involved in the lessons being delivered. More so than any other type of ICT, networked computers with Internet connectivity can increase learner motivation as it combines the media richness and interactivity of other ICTs with the opportunity to connect with real people and to participate in real world events.

Facilitating the acquisition of basic skills

. The transmission of basic skills and concepts that are the foundation of higher order thinking skills and creativity can be facilitated by ICTs through drill and practice. Educational television programs such as Sesame Street use repetition and reinforcement to teach the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes and other basic concepts. Most of the early uses of computers were for computer-based learning (also called computer-assisted instruction) that focused on mastery of skills and content through repetition and reinforcement.

Enhancing teacher training

. ICTs have also been used to improve access to and the quality of teacher training. For example, At Indira Gandhi National Open University, satellite-based one-way video- and two-way audio-conferencing was held in 1996, supplemented by print-materials and recorded video, to train 910 primaryschool teachers and facilitators from 20 district training institutes in Karnataka State. The teachers interacted with remote lecturers by telephone and fax

Examples of ICT-based activities

What kind of classroom activities are suited to the use of ICT? The following is a brief guide to some of the most common uses of ICT in teaching and learning.

Finding out

Students can use ICT to find out information and to gain new knowledge in several ways. They may find information on the Internet or by using an ICT-based encyclopedia such as Microsoft Encarta. They may find information by extracting it from a document prepared by the teacher and made available to them via ICT, such as document created using Microsoft Word or a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow. They may find out information by communicating with people elsewhere using email, such as students in a different school or even in a different country.

Processing knowledge

Students can use ICT as part of a creative process where they have to consider more carefully the information which they have about a given subject. They may need to carry out calculations (eg. by using Microsoft Excel), or to check grammar and spelling in a piece of writing (perhaps using Microsoft Word), or they may need to re-sequence a series of events (for example by re-ordering a series of Microsoft PowerPoint slides).

Sharing knowledge

Students can use ICT to present their work in a highly professional format. They can create documents and slideshows to demonstrate what they have learned, and then share this with other students, with their teacher, and even via email with people all around the world.

Computers and the Internet use for teaching and learning

There are three general approaches to the instructional use of computers and the Internet, namely:1)  Learning about computers and the Internet, in which technological literacy is the end goal;2) Learning with computers and the Internet, in which the technology facilitates learning across the curriculum; and3) Learning through computers and the Internet, integrating technological skills development with curriculum applications.

Learn about computers and the Internet

Learning about computers and the Internet focuses on developing technological literacy. It typically includes:•        Fundamentals: basic terms, concepts and operations•        Use of the keyboard and mouse•        Use of productivity tools such as word processing, spreadsheets, data base and graphics programs•        Use of research and collaboration tools such as search engines and email•        Basic skills in using programming and authoring applications such as Logo or HyperStudio•        Developing an awareness of the social impact of technological change.

Learning with computers and the Internet

Learning with the technology means focusing on how the technology can be the means to learning ends across the curriculum. It includes:•Presentation, demonstration, and the manipulation of data using productivity tools•Use of curriculum-specific applications types such as educational games, drill and practice, simulations, tutorials, virtual laboratories, visualizations and graphical representations of abstract concepts, musical composition, and expert systems•Use of information and resources on CD-ROM or online such as encyclopedia, interactive mapsand atlases, electronic journals and other references.Technological literacy is required for learning with technologies to be possible, implying a two-step process in which students learn about the technologies before they can actually use them to learn.

Learning through computers and the Internet mean

Learning through computers and the Internet combines learning about them with learning with them. It involves learning the technological skills “just-in-time” or when the learner needs to learn them as he or she engages in a curriculum-related activity.

Computers and the Internet used in distance education

Many higher educational institutions offering distance education courses have started to leverage the Internet to improve their programme’s reach and quality.

          One of the major barriers for the cause of ICT not reaching its full potential in the foundation stage is teacher’s attitude. According to Hara (2004), within the early years education attitudes towards ICT can vary considerably. Some see it as a potential tool to aid learning whereas others seem to disagree with the use of technology in early year settings. Blatchford and Whitebread (2003:16), suggests that the use of ICT in the foundation stage is “unhealthy and hinders learning”. Other early years educators who are opposed to offering ICT experiences within the educational settings take a less extreme view than this and suggest that ICT is fine, but there are other more vital experiences that young children will benefit from, (Blatchford and Whitebread, 2003). In theory some people may have the opinion that the teachers who had not experienced ICT throughout their learning tend to have a negative attitude towards it, as they may lack the training in that area of the curriculum.

             Another important drawback to using ICT in schools is the fact that computers are expensive. According to the IT learning exchange (2001), in most schools ICT will be the single largest curriculum budget cost. This may be seen as a good thing but on the other hand there will be little money left over for other significant costs.

Day two of the blog, still no followers, but I’m hoping that will change by the weekend! Today wasn’t all that exciting! Being unemployed means I will be getting a lot done around the house from cleaning, catching up on laundry, rearranging my TV room and my bedroom, and much more!

After I posted my first post last night, I updated my resume on linkedin, indeed, and my computer file. I applied for a job on indeed.com...no details yet...but it is something I was doing at the previous job. Do I really wanna get back into what I was doing before I quit? The answer is, Maybe… I don’t know, I am comfortable with it. Or do I get daring, and find a job that will challenge me?

What did LM do today? Woke up at 10am, slept in a little! (Best part of being unemployed at the moment.) I am not a morning person; so of course I needed my coffee and my favorite meal of the day, breakfast! Made myself a cup coffee in one of the many coffee mugs I own. Toasted a bagel, added some cream cheese, boom… breakfast of champions!! Before my day really started, I sat down in front of the TV, put on Netflix, and started to watch Gossip Girl! Wow, as I write this, I wonder, "why am I giving this post a play by play?" It just occurred to me how boring my morning is already. Went on the unemployment website to see if I am even eligible for it, more information on that at a later post! Started to browse the job listing I have received via email. One of the jobs I did apply for today was for iHeartMedia, a local radio station. They're looking for a full time Promotions Assistant. I am not completely qualified for the job, but so what, I am putting myself out there!

Did some cleaning today too!! Finally cleaned up the living room, which I call “The Pink” room! It had a lot of my things in it that never made it upstairs to my rooms! Yes I said rooms; I have a TV room and the lovely room I sleep in! Tomorrow my goal is to get my bedroom clean, do laundry, clean the kitchen, do dishes, change my sheets, and relax! Of course I will do all that after my job interview, which is at 11am with an office I just applied to last night! Wish me luck y’all!!

Anyways, going to go cook dinner, making some chicken tenders, fries and tots!

Til next time!