This question makes a lot of entrepreneurs cringe: What makes you different from your competitors? The answer often comes down to the quality of experience you provide and the transformation that you make possible – your value. To attract your ideal client, your marketing needs to communicate value. In this post, we explain exactly what that means and five tips for doing it in ways that will speak to your dream clients. 

What It Means to “Communicate Value”

When we think about “value,” it’s easy to feel like we have to show our clients that we’ll give them the most bang for their buck. We grew up calculating the price of a can of veggies down to the ounce so we could figure out which green beans were actually less expensive. This is not what you’re doing when you communicate value as a small business. In fact, that mindset could set you up to exploit yourself with unnecessarily low prices.

In fact, your ability to communicate value isn’t necessarily about hard numbers at all. (We do advocate for price transparency, though!) It’s about showing clients exactly how your services benefit them. You help them see the transformation they’ll experience by working with you. That will look a little different depending on your industry. Here are a few examples.

• Industry: Wedding Photography → Transformation: Way less stress about documenting poignant memories that they’ll cherish forever
• Industry: Virtual Assistant → Transformation: Never falling behind on their inbox because you have it covered
• Industry: Digital Marketing → Transformation: Passively generating qualified leads while they focus on the parts of their business that they like 

Notice that none of these examples lay out a workflow. We’ll get into the importance of communicating what to expect below. The point is that when you communicate value in your copy, you always bring the focus back to the difference you make in people’s lives. Tell them exactly how you’re solving their problems and how it will make them feel. 

5 Ways to Communicate Value with Stand-out Copy

It’s helpful to communicate value throughout the marketing and sales process and even as part of your client experience. Copy is a critical part of marketing, whether it’s in social media captions, on your website, or in email marketing. These tips will help you communicate value more effectively across your platforms.

1. Be clear about what results to expect.

Clarity is a pillar of trauma-informed marketing. That goes for everything from price transparency to what results clients can reasonably expect when they work with you. Communicate value by telling people not only what their journey will look like but what the end result will be.

There are times when you can’t guarantee what you would like. We don’t promise that our SEO copywriting clients will end up on the first page of Google. We can provide examples of past clients who have had that success. At the end of the day, we often remind copywriting clients that the only metric that matters in regards to our work is leads. 

When you’re up front about what results clients can expect, you also reduce the amount of people who are unhappy with your work. If you promise the moon, people are going to complain when you don’t deliver it. It’s tempting to claim that your services are life-changing. That’s the typical approach of most mainstream marketing, after all. Honesty will make for happier clients and a less stressful business for you.

2. Use words that align with the quality of service you provide.

As small businesses grow, they sometimes shift their markets. This is especially common when people raise their prices. You communicate your value through your word choice as much as you do through stylish brand photography and cool logos. We work with a lot of photographers, so we’ll give you another example from that industry. If someone wants to break into high-end weddings, they might switch from using the word “pics” to “images.”

Word choice helps communicate value by setting the tone for the client experience, too. Your copy can paint a very polite, passive picture or an exciting, active one. Compare these two passages:

1. At Media Management Company, we provide social media strategy and implementation, including captions. 
2. Media Management Company empowers you to connect to a loyal audience through a personalized strategy and polished implementation.

Both passages describe the same service, but the second one communicates value by showing how the client experience is tailored and intentional. It also puts the transformation front and center. The client will connect to a dedicated audience.

3. Include social proof (a.k.a. testimonials).

The term “social proof” actually refers to a whole toolbox that marketers can draw from. When it comes to communicating value with your copy, we’re focusing on testimonials. Some marketers shrug off testimonials as nice touches that don’t really move the needle. Data shows that the vast majority of people look at reviews before making a purchase. Service providers aren’t exceptions to this piece of retail psychology. 

Entrepreneurs often know that it’s helpful to put testimonials on their website. They sometimes forget that you can use reviews and testimonials to communicate value just about anywhere. Include it in your email marketing copy. Turn it into social media captions and Pins. It’s amazing how much of your copy your clients have created for you with those glowing testimonials. (If you’re new to client testimonials or want more tips on how to make them work for you, check out this blog post.)

4. Tell captivating stories.

For better or worse, storytelling is an integral part of marketing. That’s true for your copy as much as it is for your Reels. Storytelling can get people emotionally invested in your brand before they even inquire. It helps them imagine themselves inside your services. They can imagine themselves in front of your lens or running the rocking ads you created.

Perhaps more importantly, storytelling makes the transformations you create feel real. When you show people the difference you make, it’s more powerful than just telling them. Sharing client success stories can be powerful here. As long as you’re transparent and don’t over promise, storytelling can be an ethical and effective way to stir up enthusiasm.

5. Give a peek into your client experience.

In ethical marketing, it’s important to balance highlighting the benefits of your services with clear explanations of your processes. This way you communicate value by showing what systems you have in place. Clients will worry less that they’re investing in someone who will ghost them. You don’t have to lay out every little detail of your client experience on a services page. It does help if you share what you do on your hour-long on-boarding c bc all. 

Do you want help crafting compelling copy that communicates your value? Brandcendent specializes in SEO-powered website and blog copy as well as email marketing. Reach out to learn how we can connect you with your dream clients!