Victoria recently posted an entry about Unique Value Propositions, which is an essential read for any business owner or startup entrepreneur.

I wrote her a comment that I wanted to share:

"This is such a crucial aspect to marketing and the life of business. Great job Victoria.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked on marketing planning or have been asked to weave marketing into product development for businesses that have little to no UVP in their model whatsoever. Many times we’ve had to get them back to the drawing board on their model before we can even think about marketing. Not so easy to do, but essential nonetheless.

A business model is most potent when it is founded on customers needs and desires first, all of which must be culled from market research and surveying. A stitch in time save nine. In this case spending the extra time on delivering value often simply means the difference between business success and failure."

Marketing and business planning can often get very complex when considering models, charts and statistics, all of which need to be considered independently and respective of each other.

When models and plans have lots of moving parts, the best thing to do is simplify them.

I was recently asked to consult on a plan for marketing Orange County business to national business travelers.

As with any project like this the first question I want to answer is always from the customer's perspective.

"Why should I care?" "What's in it for me?" "Why must I buy from you?"

Answer the simple questions and you've got the roots to a Unique Value Proposition.

Spotify and a gaggle of other companies are hoping you chuck away your precious storage device in favor of their cloud-based services.

As usual, right about the time the critical mass fully adopts some form of technology the next idea or platform is beginning to be adopted.

It appears that mp3s and all the other audio file types are about to become the next dusty media relic shelved right next to yellowing 8-track cassettes and warped vinyl.

Why? Everything, not just music, is going into the cloud.

Right now there are literally thousands of startups cranking the wheels to get cloud data and media streaming services to your fingertips.

Can you imagine a music service with just about every song ever recorded in the history of mankind available whenever you want it in real-time? It's like having a 500 million petabyte iPhone.

It reminds me of this old Qwest TV commercial about a motel that touches on the same idea "...all rooms have every movie ever made in any language anytime, day or night."

Services like Spotify want to be the total source for your music.

What is Spotify? Spotify is largely unknown in the U.S., but that could change very soon. It’s basically a music service that allows anyone to stream music directly to their computer or mobile device.

"I already have Pandora!", you cry. Spotify goes beyond simple channel streaming by offering the world of music and has integrated social sharing by allowing users to connect with their Facebook friends for their music experience. Note: Pandora does this too, but not as well.

Most of our music experience is about shared songs, recommendations and music writers, DJs or band members. This whole network is very important to how we grow with and use the songs in our everyday life.

But it's not just about music - in the next few years the Qwest commercial will be a reality for just about any type of media or data we desire.

Tim Andren is the founder of Guideas, Inc. an innovation and marketing company.

As web user, you and I are already used to targeted advertising. In my every day web travels I enjoy the recommendations I receive on sites like Amazon.

It's like a having my own personal assistant who filters through junkmail or unwanted solicitators because they understand I read a lot of books about marketing or economics and couldn't care less about the next Danielle Steel book, unless I was shopping for my aunt.

In that respect the shared information model will clean up the web for each personal user. I get a bit more of what I want to see. Don't worry Steel fans, the popular stuff will always make it through just by simple advertising economics alone.

The next obvious question is 'how much will be too much?' Users hold the key to the answer. If it was up to Facebook or the advertising and media companies they'd want to know if you felt like a grilled cheese or salad for lunch...but seriously we're not that far from that becoming a reality.

If I shot a message to my friend Sally about meeting at noon couldn't I theoretically receive packaged advertising bits telling me where the best deal is in my location?

Foursquare is leading the charge with this type of interaction right now while Yelp is not doing such a great job on mobile platforms, but just wait until Facebook feels like being a geolocation assistant too, they'll simply need to flip a couple of switches.

Tim Andren is the founder of Guideas, Inc. an innovation and marketing company.

What type of apps are possible? I can see collaborative business or system planning, creative design for all forms of media in a group dynamic...

When you bend things and distort them it gives you the fresh perspective you need.

This Peter Merholz study about service design shines new light on the model by completely flipping its order of operation.

His stance:

"Customers have no idea what's going on in those layers below "interactions", and just end up feeling insulted and abused by these mercenary mindsets."

Starbucks, Target, and Apple are top of mind brands that have flipped their approach and seen great success.

 
The left model begins with a company's structure that often limits the desired experience from a customer and misses the mark. The right model (pun intended) begins with attractive attributes and awareness that can be channeled into procedures and systems all while increasing brand share.

Is this even possible for your business? What factors do you have to consider?

Tim Andren is the founder of Guideas, Inc. an innovation and marketing company.