POSITIONING

Agenda

Developing a positioning
strategy

Communicating the Company’s

positioning

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Developing a positioning strategy

 While a company can create many differences, each difference created has a
cost as well as consumer benefit. A difference is worth establishing when the
benefit exceeds the cost. More generally, a difference is worth establishing to
the extent that it satisfies the following criteria.
 Important: The difference delivers a highly valued benefit to a sufficient number
of buyers.
 Distinctive: The difference either isn't offered by others or is offered in a more
distinctive way by the company.
 Superior: The difference is superior to the ways of obtaining the same benefit.
 Communicable: The difference is communicable and visible to the buyers.
 Preemptive: The difference cannot be easily copied by competitors.
 Affordable: The buyer can afford to pay the higher price
 Profitable: The Company will make profit by introducing the difference.

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 Positioning

Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy your brand in preference
to others.
Positioning starts with a Product, a piece of merchandise, a service, a company, an
institution, or even a person.
Positioning is not what you do to the product.
Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect or consumer.
It is how you place the product in the mind of the consumer.

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Positioning

 Positioning is the result of differentiation decisions. It is the act of designing the

company's offering and identity (that will create a planned image) so that they
occupy a meaningful and distinct competitive position in the target customer's
minds.

 The end result of positioning is the creation of a market-focused value

proposition, a simple clear statement of why the target market should buy the
product.
 Example:
Volvo (station wagon)
Target customer-Safety conscious upscale families,
Benefit - Durability and Safety,
Price - 20% premium,
Value proposition - The safest, most durable wagon in which your family can
ride.

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 Positioning

“Products are created in the factory, but brands are created in the Mind…”
- Philip Kotler

Product position & Brand position are different in scope.

Product position refers to the objective attributes in relation to other product.
Brand position refers to the subjective attributes in relation to other product.
It is how you place the product in the mind of the consumer.

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Advantage of Positioning

Advantage of
Positioning

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How many differences to promote?

Many marketers advocate promoting only one benefit in the market (Your market
offering may have many differentiators, actually should have many
differentiators in product, service, personnel, channel, and image).
Kotler mentions that double benefit promotion may be necessary, if some more
firms claim to be best on the same attribute. Kotler gives the example of Volvo,
which says and "safest" and "durable".

Four major positioning errors

1. Underpositioning: Market only has a vague idea of the product.

2. Overpositioning: Only a narrow group of customers identify with the product.
3. Confused positioning: Buyers have a confused image of the product as it
claims too many benefits or it changes the claim too often.
4. Doubtful positioning: Buyers find it difficult to believe the brand’s claims in
view of the product’s features, price, or manufacturer.

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Different positioning strategies or themes

1. Attribute positioning: The message highlights one or two of the attributes of

the product.
2. Benefit positioning: The message highlights one or two of the benefits to the
customer.
3. Use/application positioning: Claim the product as best for some application.
4. User positioning: Claim the product as best for a group of users. - Children,
women, working women etc.
5. Competitor positioning: Claim that the product is better than a competitor.
6. Product category positioning: Claim as the best in a product category Ex:
Mutual fund ranks – Lipper.
7. Quality/Price positioning: Claim best value for price

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Which differences to promote

 This issue is related to the discussion of worthwhile differences to incorporate

into the market offering done earlier. But now competitors positioning also
needs to be considered to highlight one or two exclusive benefits offered by the
product under consideration.

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 Brand Positioning with Differentiation

CREATING DIFFERENTIATION

PRO ENVIRONMENT: this positioning aims to show that the company is a good citizen.
Ex : Canon says “Made from recycled material’

PRODUCT CLASS: categorizing the product in a different class.

Ex : Dove is positioned as a Moisturiser & not as a toilet soap. Pears as a glycerin soap.

PRICE/QUALITY: It is a powerful technique to position product.

Ex : Parle G biscuits come in different price & size.

COUNTRY OR GEOGRAPHIC AREA: such as German engineering, Russian Vodka, or

Banarasi Silk.

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 Brand Positioning with Differentiation

CREATING DIFFERENTIATION
According to KOTLER, a difference will be stronger, if it measures, the following criteria:

DISTINCTIVE : The difference is clearly delivered in a well defined way.

SUPERIOR : Consumers perceive the difference to be superior than the competition.
PRE EMPTIVE :The difference is sustainable & cannot be copied easily.
AFFORDABLE :The consumers can afford to pay for the difference
PROFITABLE : The differentiation should be profitable for the organisation.

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 Determining the positioning strategy

Positioning is not easy & is a complex process.

It is important to fix a competitive point of reference.

The point of reference can be :

POINT OF PARITY : are the attributes which are common to all brands in the same
category.

POINT OF DIFFERENCE : strong & unique attributes of a particular brand in the same
category.

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POSITIONING PROCESS

1) IDENTIFY COMPETITOR

2) ASSESMENT OF CONSUMERS PERCEPTION OF COMPETITION

3) DETERMINING COMPETITOR POSITION

4) ANALYSING CONSUMER PREFERENCE

5) MAKING THE POSITIONING DECISION

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 Positioning Process

1) IDENTIFY COMPETITOR
 It may appear simple, but it is not.
 It requires broad thinking.
 Since, competing products may not be restricted only to those from the same
product category but also from different categories.
Ex : Maggi competes not only Top Ramen but also with other snack like pasta, macaroni,
chowmein.

2) ASSESMENT OF CONSUMERS PERCEPTION OF COMPETITION

 After defining the competition, it is important to understand how consumer
perceives the competition.
 Market research or surveys can be done based on product attributes, product usage,
consumer benefits on products of same category.

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 Positioning Process

3) DETERMINING COMPETITOR POSITION

 Determine how all competing brands are positioned & what is their relative position in
consumer’s perceptual map.
 Market research can be used to plot a perceptual map to show the position of different
competing brands.
STYLISH , PRESTIGIOUS SPORTY, FAST

ROLLS ROYCE FERRARI

BENTLY JAGUAR

AUDI LAND ROVER

CONSERVATIVE, OLDER PRACTICAL,ECONOMICAL

AMBASSADOR ALTO

MARUTI OMNI SANTRO

FIGO

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 Positioning Process

4) ANALYSING CONSUMER PREFERENCE

 After the product positioning in the perceptual map,
 The next step requires the identification of segments (clusters of customers) who
prefer the product location in the perceptual map.
 An ideal product is one, that is preferred by all.

5) MAKING THE POSITIONING DECISION

 Product positioning in the map, makes it clear to make some subjective decision as to
which decision is appropriate.
 It involves segmenting the market or choosing one more segments.
 It is also to be considered that, the segment would support the brand entry or not.
 Some companies wait for other brands to educate the market & then they exploit the
market. (Ex Ericson & Motorola Vs NOKIA)

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 Writing a position statement

It is a statement expressed clearly & in few words that identifies the target market.
POSITIONING STATEMENT VALUE PROPOSITION

1. Target Market : Upper middle &

For upper middle & upper class Indian
upper class Indian families.
families, VOLVO is the car that
2. Benefits : provides safety &
provides the utmost in safety &
durability
durability.
3. Price : 20% above similar cars

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Selecting an Overall Positioning strategy

 Value proposition of a brand is the full positioning of that brand, that is, the full
mix of the benefits that differentiate and position a brand. Value proposition
answers the question WHY SHOULD I BUY YOUR BRAND? COCA COLA’s
“taste the feeling” value proposition give us the image of a great and refreshing
drink but also including memorable moments and feelings when sharing on of
their bottles.
 There are several possibilities of value propositions on which a company might
position their products, those possibilities are contained in the table next slide:

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Selecting an Overall Positioning strategy

Colours on the table make easier to understand it. There are shown ways of achieving competitive
advantages in green (winning value proposition); then in red representing losing value proposition; and
finally, the yellow cell shows the position in which at best a marginal proposition.

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Thank you
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