POSITIONING

By Vidushi Sharma
Definition:
• It is the act of developing the company’s
offerings and image to occupy a distinct place
in mind’s of customers.
• It is the position in the perceptual space of
the consumer’s mind that the product takes
in relation to competitor’s product.
• It helps Brand Manager in identifying the core
meaning of brand and communicate them as
unique to brand.
• End result of Positioning: it gives customer a
value proposition – a reason to buy the
product
• Positioning also involves developing and
implementing marketing strategies to
achieve the desired position in market.
• Product, price ,distribution and promotion
are the potential tools for positioning a
company and its offerings.
• Market segmentations and positioning are
interrelated
• One can select target market first and
then develop positioning or visa versa.
• Positioning is needed because of intense
competition in many product
categories(clutter)
• E.g. : Maggi – Convenience food to solve
frequent food demand for growing kids.
• Dove – Premium brand with high
moisturizer content.
• Mahindra Scorpio: hybrid positioning-
luxury car & thrill of SUV
• Indica : more space with no extra cost.
“more car per car”
• Virgin, Vodafone, Pepsi, ICICI- Jeetey raho
• Raymond “The Complete Man”
Positioning Strategies:
1. Positioning by product features / unique attributes:-
 Reference to specific features.
 Indicate product superiority.
 Telling the customers what the features mean to
them(benefits achieved).
 E.g. front loading, semi automatic washing machine,
power steering of the car.
 medimix ayurvedic soap – 24 different herbal
ingerdiant .
 J&J no tears shampoos, Lava mobile phone
 Titan raga-fashion accessory.
2. Positioning by benefits :-

 Closely related to product-feature adds.

 Product bought for their benefits, choosing a
unique benefit to position.
 Close-Up fresh breath and opposite sex appeal.
 Colgate total fights 12 oral problems.
 Anchor & Dabur babul-strong teeth.
 Car buying- economy, seed, luxury, esteem &
safety.
 Fructis shampoo- long & strong hairs.
 All clear shampoo-anti dandruff.
 Krack , itchguard
3.Positioning by usage and use time:-
 Product sold on the basis of their
consumer usage.
 Brand’s associations with a particular
usage or situation
 E.g. knorr soups- used in evening.
 Britania marie.
 After bath cream- used after bath.
 Comfort fabrics .
 Livon hair lotion.
 Milkmaid-Usage for making sweets.
4.Positioning by users :-
 Associates the product with the users or the
class of users.
 Products intended for use by a particular group.
 E.g. J&J products, amul paneer.
 Super active-health supplement for middle age.
 Women Horlicks.
 Complan.
 Sunsilk shampoo.
5. Positioning by competitors/ against competition:-
 Positioning a product in comparison to competitor’s
brand
 Reference of competitor n giving an argument in
favor of own brand.
 Looking for weak points in other brands n launching
own product against those weak points.
 Direct and indirect comparison with competitors
E.g. Thumps up v/s Pepsi and Complan v/s Horlicks
 Tata salt, tide, vim etc
6. Positioning by Corporate Identity:-
 Brand draws a direct connection with the
corporate identity (benefit of its
credentials).
 Use corporate name to label their names in
various product category. E.g. LG,
Samsung.
 In other cases, a separate brand launched
revealing corporate connection e.g. Dabur
HUL, Nestle etc.
7. Positioning by brand endorsement :-
 Successful brand is used as an endorser of
a new entry. E.g. Dabur used vatika to
promote its shampoo.
 Nestle used Maggi to promote catch-up,
pickles & soups.
 Raymond’s park Avenue endorses soaps,
after shaves, perfumes & deodorants.
8. Product class positioning:-
 Positioning brand with respect to a product
class by developing class related
association.
 E.g. Nescafe- instant coffee.
 Bru brand filter coffee.
 Cadbury bytes-sweet snacks.
9. Price-quality and positioning:-
 Some brands occupy “single economy
position” like Nirma and Hamam.
 This is low quality low price position for
price conscious customers.
 Other brands occupy a “premium position”
like Surf excel and dove.
 This is high quality high price position for
price quality conscious customers.
 Madura Garment’s – Peter England- lower
end brand and Louis Philippe at top end
 Big Bazar is Value for Money- “isse sasta
aur accha kahin nahin”
THANKS