Define positioning Identify and explain the 3 factors import

Define positioning. Identify and explain the 3 factors important for effective positioning.

Solution

Define positioning. Identify and explain the 3 factors important for effective positioning.

Positioning is generally used for Competitive Advantage:
It can be a Shop(Merchandise), a service, a company, a institution, a product, an advertisement or even a person.

But positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect.
- Al Ries and Jack Trout (1981)
Here prospect is your customer.

Few more definitions:
   Creating distinct and valued physical and perceptual differences between one’s product and its competitors, as perceived by the target customer.
   The act of designing the firm’s market offering so that, it occupies a distinct and valued place in the minds of its target customers.

Market positioning is the process of developing competitive positioning for a product in a market.
Seller must plan how to represent the product to the consumer.
The product\'s position can be derived by how consumers view the product and its attributes.

Product’s Position - the place the product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products.

Important points for effective positioning:
Competetiveness:
Clarity: Consumer centered thinking in service
Consistency: Quality of service on the scale of time
Credibility: Trustworthiness from the customer

A) PHYSICAL POSITIONING:

Where to place a product for effective impression of customer.

Following are the attributes of impact:

Physical Positioning
   Technical orientation
   Physical characteristics
   Objective measures
   Data readily available
   Physical brand properties

   Large number of dimensions
   Represents impact of product specs and price
   Direct R&D implications

Simple physically based attributes
   Single physical dimension such as quality, power or size
Complex Physically based attributes
   Concepts like spaciousness and User friendly environment etc.
Price

B) PERCEPTUAL POSITIONING :

What makes the conceptual impression in consumer\'s mind.

Following are the attributes of impact:

   Consumer orientation
   Perceptual attributes
   Perceptual measures
   Need for marketing research
   Perceptual brand positions and positioning intensities
   Limited number of dimensions
   Represents impact of product specs and communication
   R&D implications need to be interpreted
  
C) REPOSITIONING