Page 118 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Unit 5: Designing a Customer-driven Strategy .......

5.4.2 Positioning Strategy Notes

Jack Trout and Al Ries suggest that managers should ask themselves six basic questions to create
a position for a product or service:
1. What position, if any, do we already have in the prospect’s mind? (This information must
come from the market place, not the managers’ perceptions.)
2. What position do we want to own?
3. What companies must be outgunned if we are to establish that position?
4. Do we have enough marketing money to occupy and hold the position?
5. Do we have the guts to stick with one consistent positioning strategy?
6. Does our creative approach match our positioning strategy?
The brand or product manager must determine which strategy is best suited in a given situation
to position the brand or the firm, as the case may be. The exercise to determine the positioning
strategy is not easy and could prove to be difficult and quite complex. Six steps need to be taken
to reach a decision about positioning.
Identify competitors: It may appear simple but it is not. This requires broad thinking. The
competing products may not be only those, which come from the same product category with
which the brand competes directly.

Example: Maggi competes not only with Top Ramon and other noodles, but also with
all other products, which are used as snacks. The marketer must consider all likely competitors,
various use situations and usage effects on the consumer.
Assessment of consumers’ perceptions of competition: After defining the competition, it is
important to determine how consumers perceive the competing products. To do this, a set of
product attributes, such as product characteristics, consumer benefits, product uses or product
users are chosen for comparison. The task is to identify relevant attributes to avoid any which
would be superfluous.
Determining competitor’s position: This exercise is undertaken to reveal how all the competing
brands, including the company’s own are positioned and what is their relative position in the
consumer’s perceptual map. Which are the competing brands that consumers consider as similar
and which are the ones considered dissimilar.
Analysing the consumers’ preferences: The analysis so far discussed would determine where in
the perceptual map the product should be positioned. The next step requires the identification of
segments or clusters of customers who prefer this product location in the perceptual maps.
Customers who value a certain set of attributes or benefits would form a segment. An ideal
product would be the one that is preferred over all others.
Making the positioning decision: Up to this point, it may become reasonably clear to make some
subjective decision as to which position can be appropriate. In many situations, however, it may
become necessary to rethink. Positioning usually involves segmenting the market and choosing
one or more segments.
Monitoring the position: How strongly and advantageously a position is maintained in the
market should be monitored periodically by using the tracking studies to measure the image of
the brand or the company.

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