Business value proposition
Professional structure: role, context, objective, details, steps, format, criteria and self-check. Designed for better results, not guaranteed ones: always review the answer.
Never use real personal data. If you need to, run it through the data cleaner.
## Role Act as a marketing strategist specialising in small businesses. ## Context I have a business or project and cannot explain in one sentence why people should choose me. ## Objective Define the value proposition and several ways to express it. ## Details (fill in what is in square brackets) - [product or service] - [ideal customer] - [problem I solve] - [alternatives the customer uses today] ## Step-by-step instructions 1. Describe the customer's jobs, pains and gains. 2. Link each feature to a benefit. 3. Write five one-sentence versions of the value proposition. 4. Explain how to test with real customers which works best. ## Output format Summary canvas as a table, five sentences and a simple validation plan. ## Quality criteria - It talks about benefits, not just features. - It avoids empty words like «innovative» or «leading». - It is understood in five seconds. ## Self-check Before answering, check every quality criterion. If information is missing, ask me instead of making it up, and at the end state what you have assumed.
Try it here
Open model · not frontier
This tester runs on Gemma 4 26B (Google), an open-weights model served by Cloudflare. It is not a frontier model like the paid versions of ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude: it is faster and more modest, and it will sometimes get things wrong. It shows how a good prompt behaves, not what the most advanced AI can do. Paste the prompt into your usual assistant for its best version.
Fill in the details and try the prompt with an open model without leaving the page.
Objective
Define the value proposition and several ways to express it.
When to use it
This prompt is brilliant when you are stuck in the weeds, struggling to explain your business to a potential client at a networking event. It is essential for early-stage startups or pivoting businesses needing clarity. However, it is less useful if you have not yet defined your core product or service. Do not use this as a substitute for deep market research; it works best when you have some initial customer feedback to build upon.
Worked example: input (fictional data)
Worked example: full response
Variants
Short and punchy
Instead of the full canvas, please provide only three concise variations of the value proposition. Focus purely on the emotional hook and the primary benefit. Keep each sentence under 15 words to ensure they are punchy and memorable for social media bios or website headers, avoiding any jargon or complex corporate speak.
For B2B enterprise
Adapt the output for a corporate B2B audience. Focus on metrics like efficiency, cost reduction, risk mitigation, and ROI. Ensure the language sounds professional and authoritative, suitable for a pitch deck or a proposal document aimed at senior decision-makers who need to justify the spend to their finance team.
For personal branding
Shift the focus to a personal service or consultancy. Instead of 'product', think about 'expertise'. Highlight the unique methodology you bring and the specific transformation your client experiences. Ensure the tone is approachable yet credible, helping you stand out as an individual consultant rather than a generic business service provider.
Common mistakes
- Writing for everyone instead of a specific customer.
- Accepting the sentence without testing it.
- Using complex jargon that confuses the reader. How to avoid it: Explain your value like you are speaking to a friend at the pub; keep it simple.
- Listing ten different benefits instead of the main one. How to avoid it: Focus on the single most painful problem the customer has; less is often more.
- Making the value proposition about you, not the client. How to avoid it: Shift the focus by using 'you' and 'your' instead of 'we' and 'our' throughout.
- Creating a generic statement that applies to any business. How to avoid it: Include specific details about your industry or customer type to make it uniquely yours.
Related guide
- AI for the self-employed and small businesses: practical uses (no tax advice)
- AI for small shops: product listings, photos and customer service
General and assistant-specific tips
Tips by assistant
- ChatGPT: save the role and format in a project or in custom instructions so you do not have to repeat them.
Getting the most out of it
- Paste the prompt as is and only replace what is in [brackets].
- If the answer does not fit, do not start over: ask for “shorter”, “more formal” or “as a table”.
- Always review the result before using it: AI can get facts, dates or names wrong.
Before you paste it: quick checklist
- Don’t paste real customer data or full invoices.
- Describe your business in one sentence: trade, type of customer and area.
- Ask for gaps in [brackets] so you can fill in real data yourself.
- Check any tax or legal obligation on the relevant official website.
How to adapt it to your assistant
The template works the same in ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or Claude because it only uses plain language. If your assistant supports fixed instructions (custom instructions, Gems or projects), you can store your preferred tone and format there and paste only the variable part. On a free plan, split long requests into two or three shorter messages.