POSITIONING

STRATEGY
 Process by which marketers try to create an image or
identity in the minds of their target market for its product,
brand, or organization.

 It will happen whether or not a company's management is

proactive, reactive or passive about the on-going process of
evolving a position.

 Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product,

relative to the identity of competing products, in the
collective minds of the target market. Sprite, Bingo, Bajaj
Pulsar,

 De-positioning involves attempting to change the identity of

competing products, relative to the identity of your own
product, in the collective minds of the target market.
Cadbury, Godrej, Shoppers Stop
 Positioning is undoubtedly one of the simplest and most useful
tools to marketers. After segmenting a market and then
targeting a consumer, you would proceed to position a product
within that market.

 Marketers manage product positioning by focusing their

marketing activities on a positioning strategy. Pricing,
promotion, channels of distribution, and advertising all are
geared to maximize the chosen positioning strategy.
 Other positions that firms successfully have claimed include:
 Age (LIC)
 High Price (Mercedes, ipod)
 Gender (Emami Fair & Handsome)
 Time of day (Vodafone – Night Speak, Reliance Broadband)
 Place of distribution (Reliance Communication, Maruti
Service Station)
 Quantity(Lays 30%)
 PROCESS OF
POSITIONING
1. Defining the market in which the product or
brand will compete (who the relevant buyers
are)

2. Identifying the attributes (also called

dimensions) that define the product 'space’.

3. Collecting information from a sample of

customers about their perceptions of each
product on the relevant attributes

4. Determine each product's share of mind.

5. Determine each product's current location in the
product space
6. Determine the target market's preferred
combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal
vector)
7. Examine the fit between:
* The position of your product
* The position of the ideal vector
8. Position.
 POSITIONING STRATEGIES
 Positioning by Product Attributes and Benefits

 Associating a product with an attribute, a product feature or

a consumer feature.
 The price/ quality attribute dimension is commonly used for
positioning the products.
 Maruti Suzuki offers benefits of maximum fuel efficiency and
safety over its competitors. This strategy helped it to get
60% of the Indian automobile market.
 Nirma offered the benefit of low price over Hindustan Lever’s
Surf to become a success.
 Positioning by Price/ Quality
o Focus on the quality or value offered by the brand at a very
competitive price.
o For e.g.ICICI prudential ad and also the wheel detergent or Rin soap
which always focuses on the value addition and price.

 Positioning by Use or Application

 Another way is to communicate a specific image or position for a
brand is to associate it with a specific use or application. Surf Excel is
positioned as stain remover ‘ Surf Excel hena!’
 Positioning by User Facebook is a social networking site
used exclusively by college students. Facebook is too cool for
MySpace and serves a smaller, more sophisticated cohort

 Positioning by Product Class

 The product is positioned against others that, while not exactly
the same, provide the same class of benefits. Airlines know that
while they compete with other airlines, trains and buses are
also viable alternatives
 Manufacturers of music CDs must compete with the cassettes
industry. Dove is positioned as a moisturizer, not a soap
 Positioning by Competitor
 This approach is similar to positioning by product class,
although in this case the competition is within the same
product category.
 Moov compares itself with Iodex. Coke with Pepsi etc
 FACTORS DEFINING
BRAND POSITIONING
 Brand Attributes

 Consumer Expectations

 Competitor attributes

 Price

 Consumer perceptions
 BRAND IDENTITY, IMAGE
AND POSITIONING
 BRAND IMAGE: How the brand is now perceived

 BRAND IDENTITY: How strategists want the brand to be

perceived The part of the brand identity and value proposition
to be actively communicated to a target audience.

 BRAND POSITION:
Brand as received or
Brand in relation to decoded
competitive brands.
TO SUM UP…
 Positioning is what the customer believes
and not what the provider wants them to
believe. Positioning can change due the
counter measures taken at the competition.
 Managing your product positioning requires
that you know your customer and that you
understand your competition; generally, this
is the job of market research not just what
the enterpreneur thinks is true.
ANY QUESTIONS…..