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Before we jump in a quick term clarification so that everyone can follow.

Helping nature = Any sort of activity that protects or rewilds nature.

Value Proposition = Qualities that make your product attractive for donators or customers.

Product = Everyone is selling a product. It might be a service, a physical product, an impact, etc. If you want people to donate to your cause, you want them to buy your actions.

Let’s start directly with a banger. Helping nature is not enough as a value proposition.

He did not say that, did he?

Yep, and I mean it.

If you try preserving and restoring nature, you might expect people to just jump on your idea. After all, you are doing something extraordinary that would benefit all of us, right?

As much as I personally agree with this way of thinking, it is unfortunately not reflecting the reality we face. If this dream scenario existed, we wouldn’t be in the middle of a 6th mass extinction, wouldn’t you agree?

Let’s go through the reasons why helping nature isn’t enough as a value proposition and how to create a unique selling proposition.

The reasons why nature protection & restoration are not enough as a value proposition

Ok, we won’t open the box of pandora here and go deep into all the different clashes that humans & nature developed in the past thousands of years.

Let’s cut right to our current problem and why it matters in this discussion.

Humans are selfish. We put our interest over the interest of nature and climate.

We cut down forests for timber and agriculture, we fish more than the ocean can provide… You get the idea.

So, now you can try to fight this and bring systematic change. But what do we do in the meantime?

I like to be pragmatic about it. Understand the rules of the game and become a great player.

The rule that I want to address in this newsletter.

You can’t only solve the problem for nature, you need to solve a problem for your human customer too.

The two problems you need to address at the same time

This rule makes things a bit harder for you than for usual businesses or social NGOs. All they have to do is address one problem. Fixing an issue for us humans.

Now you have 2 customers to satisfy: Nature and humans.

1. You need to make sure that the maximum of resources goes towards nature protection and restoration.

2. You need to get those resources (often money) from humans.

Unfortunately, the majority of biodiversity ventures that I have seen are focusing entirely on number one. With the hope that people love the idea so much that they will just donate or buy their products.

I hope to see such a world one day, but it is not the world we have right now.

I know that you don’t need my help with creating an impact on nature, so let’s tackle the second customer. Humans.

Example of how to add a human-centered value proposition to your product

So, by all means, keep your nature-related value proposition at heart. But let’s add a couple of points to your product.

We take a Rewilding NGO as an example to illustrate the potential value propositions you could add. It works the same if you have a company or a grassroots group.

Their common value proposition is: rewilding nature to combat the biodiversity crisis.

Potential human-centered value propositions to add:

• Rewilding has the following positive effects on yourself → clean drinking water, CO2 sequestration, fertile soils, etc.
• Get a tax cut if you donate.
• Capture X amount of carbon to offset.
• Create a measurable impact X → makes people feel better.
• Donating allows X indigenous women to rewild the area for you.
• Make your name visible on our wall of love → one page on your website with all donators → People love social proof.
• Easily share your impact on your socials with these pictures we created.
• Get product X in return for your donation.
• We partnered with company X; you get goodie X for every donation.
• Adopt animal X, and it gets your name.
• Pay based on your wishes → one time, monthly, a decade.
• Don’t have money? Here is a web page you can forward to your company so they pay in your name.
• Don’t have money, you can donate time, currently, we are looking for an accountant to help us.
• Rewild this area with an initial investment of X, and in 10 years, we will pay you out X because the area has gained in value.
• You, inside the government, do not have the means to move fast enough? Outsource this service to us → We are more cost-efficient, create results faster, etc.

The list goes on, but I hope you got a first idea of it.

One thing to keep in mind. No matter who you want to attract. If it is ordinary people, companies, or governments. It always comes down to individual people making those decisions.

So using those value propositions will help you immensely to get their attention and resources.

Your turn: the importance of offering a unique selling proposition and adding more human-centered value to it

Today is Saturday, but book yourself a slot on Tuesday (Mondays are usually hectic) in which you reflect on how to add more human-centered value propositions to your product.

Areas that humans care most about are health, wealth, and relationships.

Can your company/NGO reduce any pain in one of those fields?

That is it for today!

Stay wild!

Oliver

Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways we can help you:

1. 1-to-1 business consulting. Detailed and personalized consulting to double the impact of your biodiversity venture in the shortest possible time.
2. Wild Business Mates in Action. Wild Business Mates help you to execute in areas you are struggling with. Tech, Marketing, Sales, Communication, etc.