It goes without saying that we live in a world saturated with products and services and that for your product or brand to be as successful as expected, you have to make it stand out. In Marketing, there are a whole series of metrics, strategies, and tasks to accomplish for this purpose, and one of the key issues is market positioning.
Market positioning
Surely if we mention brands like Nike or Coca-Cola, or companies like Google and Amazon, you will immediately recognize them; you can mentally visualize their logos and even know what sector they are dedicated to.
Market positioning refers to the perception that consumers have about certain brands, trade names, or companies in relation to their competitors.
The idea is clear: 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.
Done well, market positioning will mean that the product is seen as unique and that a consumer will consider buying it because it will provide them with a specific benefit. With a good positioning strategy, a product or service would give its unique sales proposition, known as USP for its acronym Unique Selling Proposition.
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 terms of extensions, changes, distribution, and advertising.
The market positioning process
Some basic steps to take are:
Market segmentation
Evaluation of each segment
Selecting a segment (or several) that could be targeted
Identification of the various positioning possibilities for each chosen segment
Selection and development of a positioning concept
Market positioning strategies can be carried out and developed 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 characteristics of the product class.
But before the positioning of a product or service begins, some questions must be answered.
What is your customer really buying from you? For example, Burger King is not selling hamburgers and fries, but instead selling 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 competitors? Although there are many products of the same type, you can add an extra that differentiates it 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 be adapted to offer what that market is most attracted to.
All these questions must be answered with the market research that your company must do. A positioning statement doesn't have to be long or elaborate, but it does need to point out your target market, how you'll reach them, what they're really buying from you, who your competition is, and what your unique selling proposition is.
When a good market positioning or branding is created for your product or service, you can begin to take advantage of the clarity that this gives to focus all your efforts on what was discovered when conducting the research for positioning in marketing.
Keys to Implementing or improve your market positioning
You may think that trying to develop more than one type of positioning will be ideal for your brand, but the reality is that it is better to focus your efforts on the option in which you have the most chances of success.
The different types of market positioning that you can choose 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, that you do the same... but you do it better.
Market niche
If your product or service was born with the purpose of satisfying the specific needs of a market, it will be easier for you to promote it as something exclusive or special.
Strategic
Highly recognized brands with great market positioning offer more than their quality and price, by providing status or prestige to those who purchase and use them.
Specific use
Whether it's a beverage, clothing item, or other categories, a product or service can be given a specific application based on how and where it is used. For example, many beers are designed for the beach and others are in keeping with the cold; but they can be positioned by the town where they are, such as Cerveza Victoria, which is presented as the drink that "ignites the values of Mexico to feel the pride of being Mexican."
Quality and price
This strategy is followed 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, and others.
Lifestyle
It consists of positioning itself according to the lifestyle of the target consumer, that is, showing the product as the alternative for people who live in a certain way. This technique is used in the automotive sector and in some fashion styles, for example, urban or sports.
Social positioning of the company
Undoubtedly, a distinctive feature of many companies is their social commitment or respect for the environment and they base their positioning on aspects such as being eco-friendly or contributing to a healthy lifestyle to publicize their products.
Depending on a particular selected
Positioning is free depending on what you want to highlight and can focus on something as specific as the cheapest price on the market or the only one that reaches that place; however, this implies risks because either way it has to be maintained or in the future it has to be changed and this would generate double investment.