Segmentation and Positioning

Selecting the right positioning strategy

Consumers often choose products and services that will give them a higher value.

Those marketers is that consumers want to position their brands on key benefits they offer over competing brands.

The overall positioning of a brand is called brand value proposition - the total mix of benefits for which the brand is positioned. It's the answer to the question of the consumer: "why should I buy this brand."

See the potential value propositions below, which are the winners - propositions that give the company a competitive edge:

Choosing the right competitive advantage

After the company discover a number of competitive advantages, it must decide on which one (s) choose your positioning strategy. She must decide how many and which differences to promote.

Some marketers think that a company should aggressively promote only an advantage for a target market. Rosser Revers, for example, believes the company should develop a unique selling proposition (USP) for each brand and stick to it. Each company should have an attribute and present itself as number one. Buyers tend to remember more than one number in our society with too much communication

Other marketers think that companies should position themselves on more than a factor of differentiation. Such an approach may be necessary when two or more companies claim to be the best in the same attribute.

Identify potential competitive advantages

The key to winning and keeping customers is to understand their needs and their buying process better than the competition and deliver greater value. As the company positions itself as providing superior value to target markets selected, it gains a competitive advantage.

The position begins with the differentiation of the company's marketing offer so that it gives consumers more value than competitors' offerings.

To find points of differentiation is necessary to think from the customer experience with the product or service company. A company can find ways to differentiate themselves at all points where there is contact with the customer. The provision of a company can be differentiated by their product lines, services, channels, employees or image.

Product Positioning

Consumers are overloaded with information about products and services and can not reevaluate products every time you make a purchase decision. To simplify the purchase decision process (heuristics), they organize the products into categories - "position" products, services and companies on their minds.

The positioning of a product is the way the product is defined by consumers on important attributes-the place he occupies in consumers' minds relative to competing products. The position involves the deployment of unique benefits and differentiation of the brand in consumers' minds.

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Identification of the market

After segmentation, the company needs to evaluate the various segments and decide how many and which will focus.

In assessing different market segments, the company must assess three factors: size and growth of the segment, attractiveness and structural features and objectives of the company.

The company must first collect and analyze data on current sales, growth rates and expected profitability of various segments. After selecting the most attractive to her.

The segments largest and fastest growing are not always the most attractive. For smaller companies may lack the resources and skills needed to meet them or they are very competitive. Such companies can select segments smaller and less attractive but has a potentially more lucrative for them.

Segmentation of the consumer market

Not a single way to segment the market, the trader can use different segmentation variables - alone or in combination - to find the best way to visualize the structure of the market.

To be useful segments of the markets should be:

Levels of market segmentation

Since each buyer has different needs and desires, each one is potentially a separate market. In an idealized world a company could try to develop a marketing program unique to each consumer. In practice, except in rare cases, not worth targeting a very complete - usually done in wider categories of buyers with similar needs and desires.

Thus, targeting of marketing can be performed at different levels:

Segmentation, identification and market positioning for competitive advantage

Companies today know they can not sell to all buyers in the market - or the same for everyone. Consumers are very numerous, widely dispersed and many varied in their shopping needs.

Instead of trying to compete in any market, facing competitors who may be higher, companies must identify segments that can serve better and more profitably.

Most companies have skipped the party and mass marketing to segmentation and identification of the market, selecting one or more of them and developing marketing programs on measure for each of the selected segments. Instead of spraying your marketing efforts companies are turning to buyers who have great interest in the values ​​they create best.

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