Competitor Research:
Positioning
Competitor Research-Positioning
• Positioning is something you do to the
mind of the prospect
• It is not enough to invent something. You
must get into the subject’s mind
• Positioning is designing an offering that
target segment members both perceive as
different and value more than competitive
offerings
Positioning
• 3 common ways to position
1. Our product is unique
2. Our product is different
3. Our product is similar
• To position, managers must understand
customers perception of competitive
structure of market
Positioning
• These managerial questions are
1. How do customers view our brand
2. Which brands are perceived to be our
closest competitors
3. What product/company attributes are most
responsible for these perceived differences
Positioning
• Requirements of effective positioning
1. Uniqueness
2. Desirability
3. Believability
Positioning
• Before making claim, company should ask
1. Does any other co. already occupy this
position
2. Is the feature /benefit really important to
people
3. What objective evidence do we have to
support our claim
4. Can we deliver against this claim
5. How much promotion effort will be required to
get this position in people’s minds
Positioning
• Methods of positioning research
1. Product /service profiles
2. Quadrant analysis
3. Importance and uniqueness ratings
4. Perceptual maps
Positioning
• Perceptual maps are spatial representations with
alternatives plotted in a Euclidean space
• Features of perceptual maps
1. Pairwise distances between alternatives
indicate perceived similarities
2. Vectors on map show both magnitude and
direction. Vectors are product attributes
3. Axes of map are underlying dimensions of
consumer perceptions of differences
between alternatives