Positioning

Many different interpretations of what position is exist. They centre around the notion of how customers and prospects see a product – or a line of products, or a company.

There are therefore 2 key attributes to a positioning:

1. It is psychological & emotional: It is all about how your customers and prospects perceive you, not how much product you have sold

2. It is all relative to your competitors: In other words, it is what your prospective buyers think of you relative to the other products, services or companies that they can engage with in the market place

Jack Trout introduced the idea in a paper called “Positioning is a game people play in today’s me-too market place”, in 1969, in Industrial Marketing. Trout there argues that customers and prospects are overwhelmed with intrusive advertising, and have a natural tendency to discard all information that does not immediately find a comfortable (and empty) slot in their minds.

Al Ries and Jack Trout then refined this idea in their book ” Positioning – a battle for your mind”, to talk about positioning relative to competitors.

Positioning is the aggregate perception of the target audience has of a company, product or service, relative to their perceptions of the competitors in the same category (including indirect competitors such as buying nothing or buying from an alternative category). It happens regardless of whether the company formally seeks to evolve a position, but once aware, a company can seek to positively influence its positioning.

The Positioning Process

1. Define the market that you want to compete in – who are you customers and prospects?

2. Identify the dimensions or attributes of the product ‘space’ – the features and functions that prospective buyers are looking for

3. Survey customers about their perceptions of the competitive products, including your own, and their feature functions

4. Score each competitors Share of Mind

5. Plot each competitors position, for example using a Positioning map, based on customer perceptions

6. Determine the ideal vector – prospective buyer’s ‘perfect product’ based on their responses

7. Look at the relationship between

* The position of your product

* The position of the ideal vector

8. Position – can you move the perception of your product closer to the ideal vector?

Sales & Marketing

• Marketing Industry, Marketing Trade
• Sales Industry, Sales Trade
• The Sales Funnel

Marketing for Dummies Guides

• Marketing for Dummies
• Marketing Plan
• Marketing Strategy
• Positioning
• Differentiation
• Brand Equity
• Brand Marketing
• Direct Marketing
• RFM – Recency Frequency Monetary
• Breakeven Response Rate
• Customer Profitability
• CLV – Customer Lifetime Value
• Loyalty Program
• The 4 Ps
• The Campaign Framework
• The Marketing Budget
• The Marketing Mix

Measuring, Marketing, Metrics & KPIs

• KPI – The One Key Marketing Metric
• Marketing KPIs and Metrics
• Measuring Marketing
• ROMI – Return on Marketing Investment
• Marketing Finance
• Financial KPIs
• Market Share
• Mind Share
• Customer Satisfaction (Cust Sat)
• Net Promoter Score
• Kano Model

Online Marketing/ Digital Marketing

• CPM Advertising
• CPC Advertising
• CPA Advertising
• Click Through Rate (CTR or Click Thru Rate)
• Conversion Rate
• SEO Marketing
• SERP: Search Engine Ranking Page
• Behavioral Email
• Guerilla Marketing