Positioning
Category: Marketing
Having identified the segments in a given market and decided which segment(s) to target, a company must then position its products correctly in the chosen segment(s).
According to Wind «a product’s position is the place a product occupies in a given market as perceived by the relevant group of customers: that group of customers is known as the target segment of the market».
Harrison states that the position of a product is «the sum of those attributes normally ascribed to it by the consumers: its standing, its quality, the type of people who use it, its strengths, its weaknesses, any other unusual or memorable characteristics it may possess, its price and the value it represents».
Essentially positioning is not about what is done to the product, it is what is created in the minds of the target customers. Ries and Trout sum this up by saying that «the product is positioned in the minds of the consumers and is given an image».
The product must be perceived by the selected target customers to have a distinct image and position vis-a-vis its competitors. The product must stand out and have a clearly defined position.
In depth market research (often using focus groups) leads to an understanding of how consumers perceive products, which marketing variables they believe to be most important and by what magnitude. Perceptual mapping is a tool commonly used by marketers to visually depict the results of such research. Perceptual maps visually display consumer perceptions and prioritising of brands and their perceived attributes.
The UK children’s clothes retailer, Adams, has used perceptual mapping to reposition its market offering away from a «budget orientated» position to that of a «quality with value» position.
Gallaher re-positioned its Silk-Cut brand in a more down-market segment, using perceptual mapping data. (Marketing Week. March 1. 1991. p.8). Silk-Cut has traditionally been premium-priced and has been positioned in the ABC1 segment of smokers, using its esoteric «Cut-Silk» advertising campaign. Perceptual data showed however that ABC1s were showing a growing trend towards healthier pursuits, and towards a preference for the Dunhill Light Virginia brand, a direct upmarket competitor from Rothmans, and JPS Lights from Imperial Tobacco. In response, Gallaher have re positioned Silk-Cut defensively within the C2D smoker segment. It has cut advertising in upmarket and business publications, in favour of mass-market titles with predominantly C2D readerships.