How to position your product in your consumers mind?

What is "positioning"? Positioning is the fight for the consumers mind. The different marketers want to secure a place in the mind of the target consumer. To do this the marketers use "positioning". What this means is that the marketers want their product to come to mind when the consumer thinks about purchasing that product type. or e!ample" The marketers of "#iril" soap want the people to think "#iril" when they think soap. The marketers of "$olgate" want the consumers to think "$olgate" when they think toothpaste etc. %n %ndia& "'ero!" is what comes to mind when people think of "photo(copying". "$olgate" comes to the mind of people when they think toothpaste. Howe)er& now with intensi)e competition things are changing. Positioning a product in the minds of the consumer is becoming harder. Howe)er& positioning is going to play a )ery important role in marketing in an o)erly competiti)e en)ironment. %f you ha)e a particular product or ser)ice& then you want people to think of you when they think of buying the kind of product or ser)ice you sell. %n %ndia there are few stores that hold a strong positioning in the mind of the consumers. %n other countries& there are special stores where you can go only to go to do your laundry. There are special stores where you can go only to "'ero!". There are special stores that are dedicated only for the buying of candles& perfumes etc. These stores ha)e a strong positioning in the minds of the consumers. When the consumer thinks candles he goes to the candles store. When the consumer thinks "'ero!" he goes to the copying stores.

Prof. Uma Sankar Mishra, IBCS, Siksha O Anusandhan Univerity

%n %ndia we ha)e a lot of general stores. The "*anya" shop has e)erything in it. There are few speciali+ed stores. There are speciali+ed "Hardware shops" or in the whole sale market there are whole shops dedicated to the selling of one item like "ropes" etc. Howe)er these stores are not e)erywhere and their positioning in the mind of the consumer is not )ery strong.

*esides this& there are many speciali+ed stores that are gi)en )ague names that make it hard for them to be positioned strongly in the mind of the consumer. or e!ample" a hardware store might be gi)en a name ",urarilal -nd .ons". This makes it unclear to the consumer what the store sells unless he is gi)en the reference of the store or )isits the store himself. This might ha)e been okay when the competition was not )ery large. Howe)er& as the competition increases& if a store aims to get new customers& it has to change its name to a name that represents what the store is about. %f this is not done& all the new business will go to stores that are well positioned in the minds of the consumers. %f you are a business selling a product in an already saturated segment of the market like tooth(paste or face creams etc. you ha)e to position your product in the minds of your consumers cle)erly. or e!ample& in the case of fairness creams the first thing that comes to the consumers mind is generally air and #o)ely. air and lo)ely is )ery well positioned in the minds of the consumers. #unching a product to change this position of air and #o)ely in the minds of the consumers may be hard. Howe)er& if you position your fairness cream in the minds of the consumers on the basis of some uni/ue selling point then maybe you might ha)e a place in the mind of the consumer. or e!ample" %f your ads say that yours is a fairness cream specially designed for oily skin then you ha)e a position in the minds of the consumer. %f a consumer with oily skin thinks about a fairness cream& they will think about your cream.

Prof. Uma Sankar Mishra, IBCS, Siksha O Anusandhan Univerity

$onsider the case of 0ominoes Pi++a. They ha)e positioned them sel)es in the minds of the consumers as fast home deli)ery of pi++a under 12 minutes. *ecause of this Pi++a Hut has become the place to go and eat pi++a but 0ominoes is what you think of when you think home deli)ery of pi++a. This is what positing is all about. inding a place in the customers head. Positioning has to be specific. The more specific& the better will the positioning be. or e!ample& consider three stores" - huge shopping comple! that also has a foot ware department - store specially dedicated to foot ware - store specially dedicated to women3s foot ware. %f a woman was to think about buying new shoes and she knew about these abo)e stated options& then she would most likely go to the third store. That is the store that will come to her mind when she thinks about buying shoes. People are more likely to trust specialists than generalists. %f you are to ha)e an open heart surgery& who would you trust& a general surgeon or a specialist heart surgeon? This is what positioning is all about. %t3s about finding a place in the minds of the consumers. ,aking the consumers think of you when they want something you are selling. The best way to achie)e this is to clearly differentiate yourself from you competition in what you are offering and clearly tell the consumer e!actly what you are offering.

Prof. Uma Sankar Mishra, IBCS, Siksha O Anusandhan Univerity