Principles of marketing
Positioning
Session-21,22
What is Positioning?
Positioning is the act of designing the
company’s offering and image to
occupy a distinctive place in the mind of
the target market.
Positioning Strategies
1. Determine consumers’ perceptions and evaluations
of the product or service in relation to competitors’.
2. Identify competitors’ positions.
3. Determine consumer preferences.
4. Select the position.
5. Monitor the positioning strategy.
Types of Positioning
• Product Attributes position many technical
products. The positioning of Ericssons
EH237 mobile phone is its Low weight and
number features
• The Benefits they offer or the needs they fill
position many products – Crest toothpaste
reduces cavities.
• Usage occasions position many products.
Mentadcnt Night Action toothpaste, for
instance, is for evening use
• Competitors' Positioning: A product can be
positioned directly against a competitor. For
example, in ads for their personal computers,
Compaq and Tandy have directly compared their
products with IBM personal computers.
• Product Class: Its a means of positioning. For
example, Van Den Bergh's I Can't Believe It's Not
Butter is clearly positioned against butter, while other
yellow fats are promoted as cooking oils.
• Quality Positioning: A product can be positioned on
the basis of quality for example Sony
• Price Positioning: The price of the product sets in
the mind and they believe that the product is very
well priced example Akai.
Perceptual Maps
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Types of Positioning Errors
• Under Positioning – that is, failing to position the
company at all another entry in the market like
Vanilla Coke, Diet Pepsi.
• Over Positioning – that is, giving buyers too narrow
a picture of the company. Thus a consumer might
think that the Steuben glass company makes only
fine art glass costing 1,000 and up, when it also
makes affordable fine glass starting at around 50.
• Confused Positioning: Leaving buyers with a
confused image of the company. Company making
too many claims
• Doubtful Positioning: Buyers find hard to believe
the brand claims in view of product features, price,
manufacturer like slimming