Positioning involves designing a company, brand, product, or person to occupy a distinctive place in the target market's mind. It is based on customer experiences and perceptions rather than just advertising. Marketers use pricing, promotion, distribution, and advertising to maximize their positioning strategy. Positioning should be simple, creative, and unique. There are different bases for positioning, including attributes, benefits, technology, user categories, competitors, and leadership versus follower status. Repositioning and de-positioning are also strategies. Positioning can be measured using perceptual mapping, surveys, and statistical techniques.

2. POSITIONING
Positioning is the act of designing the
company’s offering and image to occupy
a distinctive place in the target market’s
mind.
Firms can position brands, the company, the CEO,
or individual products.
Positioning is a concept first popularized by Al
Ries and Jack Trout in their best seller book
“Positioning – A Battle for your Mind”
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3. POSITIONING
Positioning is what the customer believes
based on his/her experiences and
evidence, rather than just the awareness
created by advertising or promotion.
Pricing,
promotion,
channels
of
distribution, and advertising are all
geared by marketers to maximize the
chosen positioning strategy.
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4. POSITIONING SHOULD BE
Simple
Creative
Unique
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5. POSITIONING CONCEPTS
Functional concepts
- Solve problems
- Provide benefits to customers
Symbolic concepts
- Self image enhancement
- Ego identification
- Belongingness and social meaningfulness
- Affective fulfillment
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6. POSITIONING CONCEPTS
Experiential concepts
- Provide sensory stimulation
- Provide cognitive stimulation
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7. BASES AND STRATEGIES FOR POSITIONING
Product or service attribute
Technology positioning
Benefit positioning
User category
Competitor positioning
Integrator positioning
Positioning of leader
Positioning of follower
Re positioning
De positioning
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8. BASES AND STRATEGIES FOR POSITIONING
Product or Service Attribute - May include features
such as size, color, ingredients, speed, etc. Ex:
Computer, financial planning services
Technology Positioning - Positioning on the basis of
technology shows that a firm is on the cutting edge.
Ex: Oracle as database software, Microsoft for PC
market
Benefit Positioning - Benefit positioning is generally a
stronger basis for positioning because it answers
the
consumer
question:
What
will
this
product/service do for me? Ex: Volvo for safety
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9. BASES AND STRATEGIES FOR POSITIONING
User Category - User category positioning
relies on customer segments. Ex: The
Pepsi
Generation,
Wheaties
the
Breakfast of Champions
Competitor Positioning - Many firms
position by benefits that provide
advantages over their competitors. Ex:
Software company claiming to be
superior, TOI
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10. BASES AND STRATEGIES FOR POSITIONING
Integrator positioning - Integrators provide
everything a consumer needs in a
particular product category, industry, or
even in general.
Ex: Martha Stewart’s Web site brings
together business units in one place.
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11. BASES AND STRATEGIES FOR POSITIONING
Positioning of leader – largest percentage
of sales in terms of revenue. Ex – Coca
Cola, McDonald’s
Positioning of follower – claiming to be
only second to the best. Ex: Lowenbrau
and Beck’s beer, Avis Car Rentals – We
are No:2, We Try Harder
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12. BASES AND STRATEGIES FOR POSITIONING
Repositioning Strategies - Repositioning is the
process of creating a new or modified brand,
company, or product position. Ex: Cadbury,
Dabur (pharma to FMCG)
A company may enhance or modify a position,
based on market feedback.
 Yahoo! repositioned from online guide to Web
portal.
 Amazon repositioned from world’s largest
bookstore to “Earth’s biggest selection.”
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13. BASES AND STRATEGIES FOR POSITIONING
De positioning – changing the
identity of competing products,
relative to identity of own products.
Ex: Bingo to Lay’s, Fair and Lovely
to Emami
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14. MEASURING THE POSITIONING
Graphical
technique
Perceptual mapping
Statistical techniques
Survey techniques
–
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15. “Finest
sky”
in
the
“India’s first airline to offer great value for moneyA M O D A R Aefficient
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16. “For upscale American families, Volvo
automobile that offers maximum safety”
is
the
family
“For drivers who value auto performance, BMW provides
luxury vehicle that deliver joy through German engineering”
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17. “To be the family friendly low cost restaurant in the fast
food business”
“To cultured millennials , Starbucks is a premium coffee
house that adds an intimate and valuable experience to a
consumer’s lifestyle by integrating caffeine with a
comfortable environment”
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18. “IPhone is for high end of the market”
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19. Thank you
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