How to start a business

If you're thinking about starting your own business, this is what you need to consider to see if it could work, writes Simon Hall in part two of his three-part series of blogs.

Simon Hall presenting

A critical part of putting together a proposal for a new business is creating its core message, or value proposition. 

This is a simple statement which says, short, sharp and striking, what the business does. 

Despite being no more than eight or nine words, the value proposition can be challenging and take a lot of work. 

But it's essential, because this is the statement from which all a company's communications grow.

 

Creating A Value Proposition 

When I'm working on a business's value proposition, I find it helps to take a heroes and villains approach. 

The villain is the problem it's solving. The company is our hero, riding to the rescue of the customer to save them from it. 

Take Uber for example:

 

   - Tap the app, get a ride

 

The problem is the customer's need for a cab. And here comes Uber, riding to their rescue, to help them. 

Just six words, but it sums up the core of the business. 

Note also that it creates an emotion in the customer., which is important 

By making it that easy to get a cab, you make them happy. 

 

The core message for my company, Creative Warehouse, is:

 

   - All your communication problems solved with style 

 

Again, it sums up what we do in just seven words, and hopefully makes the customer happy.

 

The mainstay of my charitable work is giving talks at state schools to try to raise aspirations amongst the students. 

With all my usual modesty, I call the talks The Secrets of Success. The value proposition is:

 

   - Six critical secrets of success in life

 

I know it works, because I usually have a packed hall, waiting to hear what I'm going to reveal. 

 

That's the importance of the value proposition.

Get it right, and it will feed beautifully into all your other business communications from your website, to presentations, to media work. 

But beware! As you'll find when you try formulating one, they're not as easy as they seem. 

 

The Unfair Advantage

Put simply, this is why your company is better than its competitors, and so is going to succeed. 

It could be some radical new treatment you've created which helps old bald guys regrow their hair (yes, this is wishful thinking!)

It might be the best electric car battery the world has ever seen, because of your fab science.

Going back to Uber, their app is pretty impressive, making getting a cab so simple.

I tend to buy Timberland shoes because the quality is so high and they last so long.

Those are all examples of a company's unfair advantage.

 

In the service sector, Waitrose do well because of their commitment to quality and customer service. 

At Creative Warehouse, we sell ourselves on expertise and ability, with a team made up of former Google, Times, Guardian, BBC, ITV and University of Cambridge veterans. 

Whatever it is, you need an unfair advantage to set you apart from your competitors and give customers a powerful reason to choose you rather than anyone else.

 

Channels

Now your business plan is coming together, people need to be aware of what you're offering. 

So, how are you going to achieve that? What channels are you going to use to get the word out? 

 

Advertising is the traditional one. But there are other options.

Social media is an obvious possibility. 

With Creative Warehouse I held free events, giving tips on communication strategies to spread the word about the business. 

I also signed us up to some business organisations and groups so we appeared in their newsletters, directories etc.

Finally, I wrote a couple of articles for the media. 

 

After that it was mostly word of mouth, recommendations from people who had worked with us (which I think is the best channel you can get and something you should always aim for.) 

But whatever way, or ways, you choose, it's important to have a strategy to tell the world about you.

 

That's part two of this series of three blogs on the basics of putting together a business plan. 

Part one was here, in case you missed it.

Next week, I'll cover the final three areas to think about. 

If you've got any questions, or thoughts you specifically want me to address, let me know in the comments and I'll try to help. 



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