In Business World We live in a world saturated with products and services, and that for your product or brand to have the expected success, you have to make it stand out. In Marketing, there is a whole series of metrics, strategies, and tasks to fulfill for this purpose, and one of the critical issues is market positioning.
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Market positioning or marketing positioning
Indeed if we mention brands like Nike or Coca-Cola, or companies like Google and Amazon, you immediately recognize them, you can mentally visualize their logos and even know what sector they are dedicated to.
Market positioning refers to consumers’ perception of specific brands, trade names, or companies about their competitors.
The idea is straightforward: achieve through market positioning that consumers choose that brand over others, simply because it is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a good or service they need.
If done well, market positioning will mean that the product is seen as unique and that consumers consider their purchase as it will provide them with a specific benefit. With a good positioning strategy, a product or service will give its unique sales proposition, known as USP for its acronym in English Unique Selling Proposition.
Of course, the current market is saturated with an immense amount of brands, products, or services that offer similar benefits. However, good market positioning will be highlighted by specific characteristics that will attract the target or target audience, which in addition to being able to make better profits, will also keep the competition away in terms of results.
A good brand positioning, market positioning, or market positioning also allows a product and the company that produces it to overcome bad seasons more easily. It also offers greater flexibility to the brand or product in extensions, changes, distribution, and advertising.
The process of positioning in the market
Some basic steps to take are:
- Market segmentation
- Evaluation of each segment
- Selection of a segment (or several) that could be the target
- Identification of the various positioning possibilities for each chosen segment
- Selection and development of a positioning concept
Market positioning strategies can realize and develop in many ways. They can be derived from the attributes of the object, the competition, the application of the article, the types of consumers it covers, or the product class’s characteristics.
But before the positioning of a product or service begins, a few questions must be answered.
What is your customer buying from you?
For example, Burger King is not selling hamburgers and fries, but rather it sells fast food that tastes the same, no matter where or when it is ordered, seeking to create a clean, family-friendly environment.
What is it that differentiates your product from the competition?
Although there are many products of the same type, you can add an extra that differs from others or different ways of doing it or presenting it.
What makes your service or product unique?
Depending on the area, a product or service can adapt to offer what that market is most attracted to.
A positioning statement doesn’t have to belong or elaborate. Still, it does have to state your target market, how you will reach it, what they are buying from you, who your competition is, and what your unique selling proposition is. All these questions must answer with the market research that your company must do.
When a good market positioning or brand positioning is created, your product or service can take advantage of the clarity this gives to focus all your efforts on what discover when researching market positioning.
Keys to implementing or improving your market positioning
You may think that trying to develop more than one type of positioning will be ideal for your brand.
The reality is that it is better to focus your efforts on the option to have the most opportunities for success.
The different types of market positioning that you can choose from are:
Differentiation
Highlight the characteristic that makes your brand or product unique, its design, composition, or service that stands out above the competition.
Benefit
If your brand or product offers additional value to the product or service itself, benefiting the consumer.
Competitive
In this type of market positioning, you will base the comparison with your competitors.
That is, you do the same… .but you do it better.
Market niche
If your product or service creates to satisfy specific needs.
It would be easier for you to promote it as something exclusive or unique.
Strategic
Highly recognized brands with excellent market positioning offer more.
Their quality and price by providing status or prestige to those who acquire and use them.
Specific use
Whether it is a beverage, clothing item, or other categories.
A product or service can give a specific application base.
For example, many beers thoughts for the beach, and others go according to the cold.
Quality and price
This strategy follows by brands to relate to attributes such as exclusivity and luxury.
For this reason, they base their positioning on the quality of the product and its price.
This is widely used by jewelry, perfume, and elegant fashion brands such as Chanel, Dolce & Gabanna, etc.
Lifestyle
It consists of positioning itself according to the target consumer’s lifestyle.
That is, showing the product as the alternative for people who live in a certain way.
This technique uses in the automotive sector and some fashion styles, for example, urban or sportswear.
Social positioning of the company
Undoubtedly a distinctive feature of many companies is their social commitment or respect for the environment.
They base their positioning on being eco-friendly or contributing to a healthy lifestyle to publicize their products.
Depending on a selected individual
The positioning is accessible according to what you want to highlight, and you can focus on something.
As specific as the lowest price in the market or the only one that reaches such a place.
However, this implies risks because it may be, it has to be maintained or in the future.
It has to be changed, and this would generate double investment.