Reaching your target marketing with Product Positioning.
The original work on positioning was consumer marketing oriented, and was not as much focused on the question relative to competitive products as much as it was focused on cutting through the ambient “noise” and establishing a moment of real contact with the intended recipient. In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization.
Although there are different definitions of brand positioning, probably the most common is: identifying a market niche for a brand, product or service utilizing traditional marketing placement strategies (i.e. price, promotion, distribution, packaging, and competition).
Positioning is also defined as the way by which the marketers create an impression in the customers mind.
Product Positioning
Positioning is a concept in marketing which was first introduced by Jack Trout ( “Industrial Marketing” Magazine- June/1969) and then popularized by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their bestseller book “Positioning – The Battle for Your Mind.” (McGraw-Hill 1981)
This differs slightly from the context in which the term was first published in 1969 by Jack Trout in the paper “Positioning” is a game people play in today’s me-too market place” in the publication Industrial Marketing, in which the case is made that the typical consumer is overwhelmed with unwanted advertising, and has a natural tendency to discard all information that does not immediately find a comfortable (and empty) slot in the consumers mind. It was then expanded into their ground-breaking first book, “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind,” in which they define Positioning as “an organized system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances” (p. 19 of 2001 paperback edition).
What most will agree on is that Positioning is something (perception) that happens in the minds of the target market. It is the aggregate perception the market has of a particular company, product or service in relation to their perceptions of the competitors in the same category. It will happen whether or not a company’s management is proactive, reactive or passive about the on-going process of evolving a position. But a company can positively influence the perceptions through enlightened strategic actions.
Product Positioning is all about targeting a specific marketing and placing your promotions and all marketing efforts towards the channels that matter most.
No matter which target marketing strategy is selected, the overall marketing strategy should involve the process of positioning your offerings in ways that will appeal to targeted customers. Positioning is concerned with the perception customers hold regarding a product or company. In particular, it relates to marketing decisions an organization undertakes to get customers to think about a product or company in a certain way compared to its competitors. The goal of positioning is to convince customers to believe the marketer’s offerings are different in some way from its competitors on an important benefit sought by the market. For instance, if a customer has discovered she has a need for an affordable laptop computer, a company such as Dell may come to mind since their marketing efforts position their products as offering good value at a reasonable cost.
To position successfully the marketer must have thorough knowledge of the key benefits sought by the market. Obviously the more effort the marketer expends on segmentation (i.e., reached Stage 3) the more likely they will know the benefits sought by the market. Once known, the marketer must: 1) tailor marketing efforts to ensure their offerings satisfy the most sought after benefits, and 2) communicate to the market in a way that differentiates the marketer’s offerings from competitors.
Product Marketing Experts
For firms that seek to appeal to multiple target markets (i.e., segmentation marketing), positioning strategies may differ for each market. For example, a marketer may sell the same product to two different target markets, but in one market the emphasis is on styling while in another market the emphasis is on ease-of-use benefits. The important point is that the overall market strategy must be evaluated for each target market since what works well in one market may not work as well in another market.
10Tier.com specializes in Product Positioning and is a top marketing and advertising agency.