Value Proposition – Keep it Super Simple

So, we have covered Google Principles #9 – “birds of a feather flock together” and #8 – “build a profitable business model personally and professionally”.  Now is it time for #7 – keep it super simple!  This is a simple saying and would seem to be an easy thing to accomplish, but it is not.  Just think about the number of businesses that fail each day because they could not convey or deliver their value proposition in a simple manner.  Consider the brands that could not come up with something like Nike – “Just Do It”.  There are so many examples of companies that could not keep it super simple.  There are also many examples of people in their careers that could not simply convey who they were, what they desired for their next role, and how they would have an impact in that role for the benefit of the business.

We live in such a complex time.  There is so much data and messaging coming at everyone.  We are part of a global supply chain.  We have superpowers battling over all sorts of macro and micro economic items and a pandemic all around us.  Thus, during this time, it is critical that we keep our message about our own brand and our Company’s offerings super easy to grasp.  In our personal brands and our businesses, we must strive for simplicity.  We must discern what we want to be known for and drive that message forward, over and over again.  The simpler the business model and the easier we are to deal with personally, the more successful we will be in our endeavors.

Google created the easiest offering one could imagine, and it became a verb.  They did not clutter their business model with the creation of their own proprietary content.  Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista and many other portals did just the opposite.  These other search engines created a business model that would allow a user to search for content, but then remain on the same portal viewing the response to the search string.  This was a sub optimal business approach, and it was NOT simple to execute.  Contrarily, Google focused on helping a user navigate the web and became content agnostic.  Later, they introduced the ability to monetize the model with “paid for” returns, but they did not mix their search business model with proprietary content formation.  This was brilliant and simple.

Google does not even need to advertise their business, we all do it for them.  When we have a search that returns useless data, we don’t call their support line for help – we simply retype another search string.  Now, in the past few years, as their core business grew and created a giant amount of cash flow, they have entered new businesses that leverage data at the core.  This has complicated their business and created internal business tension.  But, in the beginning, they kept it super simple.  We could all benefit from doing the same!