Segmentation, Targeting, and
Positioning
The Three Major Steps in
Target Marketing
Product Position
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The place the product occupies in
consumers’ minds relative to competing
products.
The complex set of perceptions, impressions,
and feelings that consumers have for the
product compared with competing products.
E.g. Mercedes and Cadillac on “luxury”;
Porsche and BMW on “performance”; Volvo
on “safety”; Toyota on “fuel-efficient”.
Positioning Maps
Positioning According to Ries
and Trout
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Positioning is what you do to the mind of the
prospect, NOT what you do to a product.
Well-known products generally hold a
distinctive position.
E.g. Coca-Cola in soft drinks & Porsche in
sports cars.
Positioning According to Ries
and Trout
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Four strategic alternatives
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Strengthen its own current position in the
consumer’s mind, e.g. Avis & 7-Up.
Grab an unoccupied position, e.g. Pink Dolphin.
De-position or re-position the competition in the
customer’s mind, e.g. Benz vs. BMW (The
ultimate sitting machine verses the ultimate
driving machine).
The exclusive-club strategy (product ladders), e.g.
Toyota – Honda – Nissan.
Positioning According to
Treacy and Wiersema
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Value Disciplines
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Product leader, e.g. Sony.
Operationally excellent firm, e.g. McDonald’s.
Customer intimate firm, e.g. 3M.
A firm can not normally be best in all three
ways, or even in two ways.
Positioning According to
Treacy and Wiersema
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Four Rules
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Become best at one of the three value disciplines.
Achieve an adequate performance level in the
other two disciplines.
Keep improving one’s superior position in the
chosen discipline so as not to lose out to a
competitor.
Keep becoming more adequate in the other
disciplines, because competitors keep raising
customers’ expectation.
Choosing a Positioning
Strategy
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Identifying possible competitive advantages
Choosing the right competitive advantages
Selecting an overall position strategy
Differentiation Variables to
Gain Competitive Advantage
Product
Services
Personnel
Channel
Image
Form
Ordering
ease
Competence
Coverage
Symbols
Features
Delivery
Courtesy
Expertise
Media
Performance
Installation
Credibility
Performance
Atmosphere
Conformance
Customer
training
Reliability
Durability
Customer
consulting
Responsiveness
Events
Product Differentiation
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Style
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The product’s look and
feel to the buyer.
E.g. Starbucks, Knorr,
and Apple computers.
Product Differentiation
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Features
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E.g. Oral-B’s blue dye,
Sony’s long-lasting
battery, Holiday KTV,
and Discover 2GO.
Determine the features
Feature bundles or
package
Case: 好自在
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1980年代中期推出織優朗表層、蝶翼系列產品
1990年推出的絲薄系列
其他特色–瞬潔鎖濕中心、特有氣味淨化、柔
細綿柔表層、栱型設計。
好自在
蘇菲
靠得住
康乃馨
一般
6.0元/片
3.33 元/片
2.25 元/片
3.25 元/片
量多
6.6元/片
5.27 元/片
2.77 元/片
3.93 元/片
夜用
7.7元/片
6.25 元/片
3.44 元/片
4.64 元/片
Measuring Customer
Effectiveness Value
Company Cost
Customer Value
Customer
Value/Customer
Cost
(a)
(b)
(c=b/a)
Rear-window
defrosting
$100
$200
2
Cruise control
600
600
1
Automatic
transmission
800
2,400
3
Feature
Product Differentiation
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Performance quality
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E.g. Essilor: The Lightness Lenses from the
Toughest Material.
There exists a significantly positive correlation
between relative product quality and ROI.
Conformance quality
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E.g. Honda in Pakistan, Lexus’s secondhand car
in Singapore, McDonald’s, and E61 Café.
Essilor Airwear
Case: 舒酸定
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2002年，葛蘭素史克從嬌生買下舒酸定品牌。
主要競爭對手之定位：黑人－亮白；高露潔－防蛀。
舒酸定之定位：抗敏感→專業牙醫師推薦。
不論是電視廣告、平面廣告和公車廣告等，全都離不
開「專業牙醫師推薦」的品牌印象。
獨特的行銷通路：由5人組成的業務團隊，默默走遍
台灣的牙醫診所，向牙醫解說產品成分，提出國外醫
師研究舒酸定的文獻報告，取得牙醫的認可，也會在
牙醫診所發放大量的試用品，讓患者試用，進而透過
牙醫的專業權威傳播，推薦舒酸定這項產品。
Case: 舒酸定
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舒酸定的行銷預算分配，是採媒體和牙醫通路並行。電視廣告仍
是舒酸定最主要的媒體投資。在牙醫診所的通路上，葛蘭素史克
也不馬虎，每年花在牙醫診所的陳列物、試用品或是促銷包，也
和媒體投資不相上下。
不停研究消費者可能接觸的媒體環境，如歇腳亭、貴族世家。
「抗敏感牙膏」目前在整體牙膏市場，大概是將近20%的比例。
舒酸定在這一塊坐穩了第一名的寶座，維持著七、八成的市佔
率。
整體市佔率：黑人－36%；高露潔－33%；
舒酸定－32%。
Service Differentiation
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Ordering ease, e.g. Optic Point, ezTravel, 博
客來, and SKYPE.
Delivery, e.g. pizza, film, and FedEx.
Installation, e.g. B&Q, 全國電子.
Maintenance and Repair, e.g. HP e-support,
聯強–「今晚送修，後天取件」 、「三十分
鐘維修、兩年保固」（手機）.
Miscellaneous services, e.g. Canon.
Channel Differentiation
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Coverage
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Expertise
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E.g. 7-11.
E.g. Caterpillar, P&G.
Performance
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E.g. Dell, and Avon.
Case: Caterpillar
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Products: yellow tractors, crawlers, loaders,
bulldozers, and trucks.
Sales: more than $30billion annually.
Market share: (1) 30% of the worldwide
construction-equipment business; (2) more than
double that of number-two Komatsu; (3) more than
twice that of Komatsu and Deere combined in the
North American market.
Factors of enduring success: high-quality products,
flexible and efficient manufacturing, and a steady
stream of innovative new product.
Case: Caterpillar
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Value proposition: “Buy the Iron, Get the Company”.
200 outstanding independent dealers worldwide
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Dealer profitability: “Share the gain as well as the pain”.
Extraordinary dealer support: excellent parts (零組件)
delivery system.
Communications
Dealer performance: Caterpillar dealerships, many of
which are family business, tend to be stable and profitable.
Personal relationships
People Differentiation
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Hiring and training better people than their
competitors do
E.g. Disney – friendly and upbeat, Singapore
Airlines – graceful flight attendants, IBM –
professional, 亞都麗緻, 玉山銀行, and SOGO
百貨公司電梯小姐, 大腳桶.
Better-trained personnel exhibit six
characteristics: competence, courtesy,
reliability, responsiveness, and
communication.
Image Differentiation
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Symbols, colors, slogans, special attributes
Physical plant, e.g. Coca-Cola’s bottling
plant, Asahi’s picnic grounds with football
field dimensions, Suntory’s art museum, and
Sapporo’s museum.
Event and Sponsorship, e.g. Toshiba &
Samsung.
Using multiple image-building techniques,
e.g. Swatch.
Many companies build their brand image
through creating or sponsoring various
events. Toshiba and Samsung were major
sponsors of the 2002 World Cup, while
Visa is an active Olympics sponsor. Can
you think of other companies
which have sponsored major
events like these to build
their brand image?
Image Differentiation – Event
and Sponsorship
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統一純喫茶 – 海洋街舞季、3對3鬥牛、安麗
世界盃撞球、NBA每周一球以及世界盃棒球賽
等。
捷安特 – 贊助西班牙Once車隊、德國TMobile車隊、澳洲國家代表隊、歐洲登山隊
(ATB Team)、美國越野車隊(MBX)、大陸各省
市車隊及台灣捷安特(亞洲)自由車隊，一年投
入近億元。
Case: Sonic Vox vs. I Am TPain
Sonic Vox
I Am T-Pain
How Many Ideas to Promote?
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Unique selling proposition (USP)
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Double-benefit positioning
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E.g. Hitachi: quite; Sampo: disinfectant; Colgate:
anticavity protection; Benz: great engineering.
E.g. Volvo: safest and most durable.
Triple-benefit positioning
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E.g. Aquafresh toothpaste: anticavity protection,
better breath, and whiter teeth; Lever 2000:
cleansing, deodorizing, and moisturizing.
Four Major Positioning Errors
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Underpositioning, e.g. Shiseido.
Overpositioning, e.g. Cartier.
Confused positioning, e.g. Kmart’s “upscale
discounter” vs. Wal-Mart’s “Always low prices.
Always!”.
Doubtful positioning, e.g. 非常可樂.
Value Proposition