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Marketing Los Angeles - Market Positioning and Brand Identity
A product's position is how potential buyers see the product. Positioning is expressed relative to the position of competitors.
Positioning is something (perception) that happens in the minds of the target market. It is the aggregate perception the market has of a particular company, product or service in relation to their perceptions of the competitors in the same category. It will happen whether or not a company's management is proactive, reactive or passive about the on-going process of evolving a position. But a company can positively influence the perceptions through enlightened strategic actions.
In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. It is the 'relative competitive comparison' their product occupies in a given market as perceived by the target market.
Generally, the product positioning process involves:
- Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)
- Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product 'space'
- Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the relevant attributes
- Determine each product's share of mind
- Determine each product's current location in the product space
- Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)
- Examine the fit between:
- The position of your product
- The position of the ideal vector
- Position.
The process is similar for positioning your company's services. Services, however, don't have the physical attributes of products. So you need to ask first your customers and then yourself, what value do clients get from my services? How are they better off from doing business with me? Also ask: is there a characteristic that makes my services different?
Positioning models (back to top)More generally, there are three types of positioning models:
- Functional positions
- Solve problems
- Provide benefits to customers
- Get favorable perception by investors and lenders
- Symbolic positions
- Self-image enhancement
- Ego identification
- Belongingness and social meaningfulness
- Affective fulfillment
- Experiential positions
Positioning is facilitated by a graphical technique called perceptual mapping, various survey techniques, and statistical techniques like multi dimensional scaling, factor analysis, conjoint analysis, and logic analysis.
Contact Los Angles Web Design to find out how we can help your company position its product or service.
