Positioning Your Product
Mar 8th, 2010 by yolandi
Simply put, positioning is the consumer’s opinion of your product or service compared to your competition.
The goal of positioning is to convince customers to believe that your offerings are different in some way from your competitors on an important benefit sought by the market. For instance, if a consumer needs a quick bite to eat and does not have a lot of money, he or she will probably go to McDonalds because their marketing efforts position their products as offering quick, good food for a cheap price. The consumer knows this because of McDonalds’ advertising.
Why use positioning?
First, positioning your service or product defines who you are to the consumer. Your products say a lot about you, but your marketing materials tell people what to think about you. When a business owner sees a full colour brochure touting the services and products of a brochure printing company in their mail, if the brochure is not spectacular, the business owner’s opinion of that brochure printing company will not be good.
How to position successfully
To position successfully, you need to know the key benefits of your product or service. You then need to know what benefits your target market wants. You also need to know what benefits you can offer that your competition cannot. Then use these common benefits to position your product by touting these benefits in all of your marketing materials.
There are many ways to effectively position: by price, attribute, quality, application, product user and as a solution.
Price is the easiest way for consumers to compare you to your competition – people know the difference in clothing price when they’re choosing between shopping at Jet or a designer boutique.
Positioning by attribute is common in the automobile industry – Volvo emphasizes safety and durability, while Jeep emphasizes off-roading ability.
When positioning by application, this means by what the product will be used for. For instance, Tiger Oats is positioned as being the choice of champions for morning cereal.
Product user positioning is demonstrated by Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo. You know who the product is designed for.
Avoid generalities when positioning your product or service:
The convenient bank.
We take care of everything.
The airline with super service.
Be tangible, and vivid:
The bank on every block.
We’re #2, so we try harder.
Welcome aboard, your Highness.
And be specific:
Enjoy ice cold. Castle Light.
Think different. Apple computers.
Refreshes like nothing on earth. Hunters.
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