Positioning

Presented By:
Richa.S.Kapoor
 What is Positioning?
• Positioning is the act of designing company’s
offerings and image to occupy a distinctive place
in the minds of the target market.

• Simply, positioning is how your target market

defines you in relation to your competitors.

• A good position is:

1. What makes you unique

2.This is considered a benefit by your target
market
 Value Proposition
• The result of positioning is the successful creation of
a customer focussed Value Proposition.

• Value Proposition:
– A cogent reason why the target market should
buy the product. For eg.

• The value proposition of Dominos Pizza,

whose target market is the convenience
minded Pizza lovers, looking for benefits like
delivery, speed and good quality is:
– A good, hot pizza delivered to your door
within 30 minutes of ordering
Brand Positioning: Remember
This
What seven concepts are critical to
positioning?

1. Perception (their’s, not your’s)

2. Differentiation
3. Competition
4. Specialization
5. Simplicity
6. Leadership
7. Reality
Why Is Positioning Important
Nobody is waiting for our
product/service. Nobody really wants to
listen to us.

Thousands of messages fight every day

for consumers’ attention.

If you can stand out with a unique

benefit, you have a chance of getting
attention.
 Positioning

• In order to begin positioning a product,

two questions need to be answered:

1.What is our marketing environment?

2.What is our competitive advantage?
 Environment

• The marketing environment is the

external environment. Few things to
consider:

How is the market now satisfying the

need your product satisfies?

What are the switching costs for
potential users for your market?

What are the positions of the
competition?
 Competitive Advantage
• The competitive advantage is an internal
question. What do you have that gives you
advantage over your competitors. Some
things to consider:

Is your company small and flexibile?

Do you offer low cost and high quality?

Does your product offer unique benefits?

Are you the first on the market with this
product (First mover advantage)?, etc.
 Differentiation & Positioning
• Process of creating favorable relative
position:
– (1) Identification of target market
– (2) Determination of needs, wants,
preferences and benefits desired
– (3) Examination of competitors’
characteristics and positioning
– (4) Comparison of product offerings with
competitors
– (5) Identification of unique position
– (6) Development of a marketing program
– (7) Continual reassessment
Can you think of any companies that
market the same product or service
offering to multiple segments using
different strategies? Are the different
segments being
offered different value
propositions?
 Differentiation & Positioning
• Differentiation Strategies
– Product Descriptors
• Product features
• Advantages
• Benefits
– Customer Support Services
– Image
• Positioning Strategies
– Strengthen the Current Position
– Repositioning
– Reposition the Competition
Using Product Descriptors
for Product Differentiation
 Kotler On Marketing

Poor firms ignore

their competitors;
average firms copy
their competitors;
winning firms lead
their competitors.
Porter’s Five Forces : Determining
Segment Attractiveness
Example
 Brand Building

Brand Equity

Trust

Making the Delivering the

Promise Promise
IIM-A
 Brand Equity
• The BT- Nielson survey was carried out to find
out the best B-Schools.
• Respondents were asked to rank the top 30 B-
Schools.
• The important factors arrived at for Brand Equity
of best B-Schools are:
Quality of Placement;
Faculty;
Infrastructure;
Teaching Methodology;
Placement;
Reputation;
Admission Eligibility.
Communication Is Important

– How can we break through this clutter?

• Ensure that your message:

– Differentiates your brand from the

competition

– Is Relevant to the Consumer

Developing and Communicating a
Positioning Strategy
• Positioning: How many ideas to promote?

• Unique selling proposition (USP)

– Choosing an attribute and
presenting yourself as number one
in benefits such as quality,
superiority, price etc. This becomes
the Point of Difference.
Eg. Nike, Sugarfree, Lux, etc.
Developing and Communicating a
Positioning Strategy
• Points of Parity:
It refers to the associations that are not
necessarily unique to the brand but may
infact be shared with other brands.
Category- Necessity
Competitive-Negate competitors POD.

Eg. Dettol and Savlon

Developing and Communicating a
Positioning Strategy
• There are some popular positioning strategies that
can be pursued:
– Product Attributes: What are the specific product
attributes?
– Benefits: What are the benefits to the customers?
– Usage Occasions: When / how can the product
be used?
– Users: Identify a class of users.
– Against a Competitor: Positioned directly against
a competitor.
– Away from a Competitor: Positioned away from
competitor.
– Quality/Price Positioning.
Developing and Communicating a
Positioning Strategy
• Communicating the Company’s
Positioning
– Need to have a Positioning Statement
– Communicate that positioning through the
Marketing Mix
– Marketing integration and alignment to
support positioning

Mountain Dew’s Web

site supports its
positioning
 Positioning Statement
• The brand positioning statement is the single
most important item in all of marketing.

• It defines EVERYTHING about what your

brand is to the consumer.

• Packaging, Pricing, Distribution,

Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing….

• All work in unison to the beat of the brand

positioning statement.
Brand Positioning
Statement

For homemakers, Dow Bathroom Products

are the easy way to get a great clean shine
for your tub, tile and toilet. That’s because
only Dow Bathroom Products contain
scrubbing bubbles that cut through dirt and
grime clean to the shine!
Brand Positioning Statement

For consumers ages 16-35,

Crest Whitestrips whiten teeth
five times better than the leading
paint-on whitening gel. That’s
because Crest’s gel-coated
strips hold the peroxide on teeth
longer, to whiten stains below
the tooth surface.
Brand Positioning Statement

For women ages 25-

55, Loreal Revitalift
Anti-wrinkle and
firming cream reduces
facial wrinkles and
firms your skin.
NO REASON
WHY!
 Differentiation Strategies
• Product Differentiation
Eg. A lawnmower manufacturer

• Personnel Differentiation
Eg. Singapore Airlines.
MC.Donalds people are courteous, IBM
people are professional, etc.
 Differentiation Strategies
• Channel Differentiation
Eg. Eureka Forbes, Avlon, etc.

• Image Differentiation
Identity and Image needs to be distinguished.

Identity is the way a company aims to identify or

position itself or its product.
Image is the way the public perceives the company
or its products.
Eg. Hyatt Regency hotels developed a distinctive
image through its atrium lobbies.
 Perceptual mapping
• Perceptual mapping will help you find out
how your brand is positioned as compared to
your competitors.

• Perceptual maps can have any number of

dimensions but the most common is two
dimensions.
Perceptual Map
 Perceptual Map
• Perceptual map shows consumer
perceptions of various automobiles on the
two dimensions of sportiness/conservative
and classy/affordable.

• This sample of consumers felt Porsche was

the sportiest and classiest of the cars in the
study (top right corner).
Watch the product life cycle; but more important,
watch the market life cycle.
 Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
• To say that a product has a life cycle
asserts four things
1. Products have a limited life.
2. Product sales pass through distance stages,
each posing different challenges,
opportunities, and problems to the seller.
3. Profits rise and fall at different stages of the
product life cycle.
4. Products require different marketing,
financial, manufacturing, purchasing, and
human resource strategies in each life-cycle
stage.
Sales & Profit Life Cycles
Product Life Cycle Marketing
Strategies
Product Life-Cycle Alternate Patterns
 Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
• Style
– Basic & distinctive mode of expression

• Fashion
– Accepted/popular style in a given field

• Fad
– Fashions that come quickly, are adopted
with great zeal, peak early and decline
fast
Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies

Style, Fashion, and Fad Life Cycles

 Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
Marketing Strategies: Introduction Stage
The Pioneer Advantage
Inventor – first to develop patents
Product pioneer – first to develop working
model
Market pioneer – first to sell

Long-Range Product
Market Expansion
Strategy
(P = Product;
M = Market)
Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
Marketing Strategies: Introduction Stage
– Need to build channels of distribution
– Dealers offered promotional assistance to
support the product – PUSH strategy.
– Develop primary demand/pioneering
information, communications should stress
the benefits of the product to the
consumer, as opposed to the brand name
of the particular product, since there will
be little competition at this stage and you
need to educate consumers of the
product's benefits.
Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
Marketing Strategies: Introduction
Stage
– Price skimming – set a high price in order
to recover developmental costs as soon as
possible.
– Price penetration – set a low price in order
to avoid encouraging competitors to enter
the market, also helps increase demand
and therefore allows the company to take
advantage of economies of scale.
Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
• Marketing Strategies: Growth Stage
– Improve product quality and add new product
features and improved styling
– Add new models and flanker products(i.e.
products of diff. sizes, flavors, etc.)
– Enter new market segments
– Increase distribution coverage and enter new
distribution channels
– Shift from product-awareness advertising to
product-preference advertising
– Start building brand loyalty and differentiation
– Lower prices to attract next layer of price-
sensitive buyers
 Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
• Marketing Strategies: Maturity Stage
– Market Modification
• Expand number of brand users by:
1. Converting nonusers(small sachet packaging of
shampoo)
2. Entering new market segments(Pink soap of
Pears)
3. Winning competitors’ customers(Surf & Ariel)

• Convince current users to increase usage by:

1. Using the product on more occasions(monaco)
2. Using more of the product on each occasion(larger
glass of juice)
3. Using the product in new ways(Asprin)
Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
– Product modification
• Quality improvement
• Feature/Benefit improvement
• Style improvement
– Marketing-Mix Modification
• Prices (lowering/increment)
• Distribution
• Advertising (focus on differentiating brand)
• Sales Pomotion
• Relationship Marketing/Personal selling
• Enhanced Service

Repositioning/Re-launch of product
 Product Life-Cycle Marketing
Strategies
• Marketing Strategies: Decline Stage

– Increase firm’s investment (to dominate the

market and strengthen its competitive position)
– Maintain the firm’s investment level until the
uncertainties about the industry are resolved.
– Decrease the firm’s investment level selectively
by dropping unprofitable customer groups, while
simultaneously strengthening the firm’s
investment in lucrative niches
– Harvesting (“milking”) the firm’s investment to
recover cash quickly
– Divesting the business quickly by disposing of
its assets as advantageously as possible.
– Killing a brand
• Review the Product Life Cycle of two product
offerings by indicating at what stage they are,
and developing the appropriate Marketing
Strategies..
Strategies

• ☺ Tip:
Tip: Consider leveraging the 4 P’s of
Marketing – Price (cost), Promotion
(communication), Product (customer) and
Place (convenience)
 Problems
– Four major positioning errors
• Underpositioning – vague idea of
brand
• Overpositioning – too narrow an image
• Confused positioning – company
makes too many claims or changes
brand positioning frequently
• Doubtful positioning – hard to believe
brand claims in view of product
qualities