Positioning for Competitive Advantage

Once a company has decided which segments to enter, it must decide what positions it wants to occupy in those segments. A products position is the place the product has in consumers minds relative to competing products. In other words, a products position is the set of perceptions, impressions, and feelings that consumers

hold for the product compared with competing products. E.g. Toyota is positioned on economy, Mercedes and Cadillac on luxury and Porsche and BMW on performance, Volvo on safety. Consumers simplify the buying process by categorizing products in their minds. Marketers do not leave their products positions to chance. They must plan positions that will give their products the greatest advantage in selected target markets.

Positioning Strategies

Marketers can position (differentiate) their products on;

product: a company can differentiate its physical

product from the competitors e.g. product feature Volvo provides safety, Delta Airlines offers wider seating and free in-flight telephone use; product performance - Vestel Washing Machine offers express washing, Rinso offers better whiteness; style and design Porsche offers unique look; atmosphere - Hard Rock Caf is special with its

interior design, Ciragan Palace with its building; place - Swiss Hotel offers the best Bosphorus view... service: a product can be differentiated by its speedy, convenient or careful service delivery e.g. Akbank offers full banking services at home, Garanti offers service during the lunch time, Osmanli Bank offers branches in supermarkets, Migros offers home delivery, McDonalds offer training for its franchisees personnel: a company can hire better people than competitors do e.g. Singapore Airlines is well known with its beautiful flight attendants, IBMs people are professional, McDonalds people are polite

image: a company may establish an image different

from the competitors e.g. Motorola quality. Symbols, famous people and sponsorship can be used to create image. benefits: a products benefit can be differentiated e.g. Nazar chewing gum protects from the devil eyes, Orbit offers teeth protection, Colgate offers better taste... usage occasions: a products position can be positioned according to the time of using the product e.g. Hilton when American business take the family along, American business stays at Hilton... user category: a product can be positioned for some people e.g. Johnson&Johnsons baby

shampoo, Pepsi Max for adventurous men against another product: this approach can be named as competitive advertising where the company positions itself directly against one competitor e.g. Avis we try harder against Hertz, Wendys where is the beef? against McDonald, Sabah against Milliyet; Burger King against McDonald; Sheraton against Hilton product class dissociation: a product may also be positioned away from all competitors e.g. Sprite has positioned itself against the cola products, Yapi Kredi claims to be giving the best services price: a product can be differentiated by using its price. The product would be having the lowest price in the market e.g. Alo.

After the company selects the right position for itself, it must communicate and deliver the chosen position with promotions.