Customer Persona (target segment defined),

Value Proposition (customer perceived value)

and Brand Positioning
Dr Rula AL Abdulrazak
Customer Persona
Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of
your ideal customer based on market research and
real data about your existing customers.
When creating your buyer persona(s), consider
including customer demographics, behaviour
patterns, motivations, and goals.
The more detailed you are, the better.
Target Persona
A target audience/market segment persona outlines a
typical member of a target market.
They are semi-fictional representations rooted in
behavioural data and knowledge that you have gained
from getting to know your brand advocates on a
personal level.
Personas add richness to target audiences.
 •Hobbies
•Sport
•Lifestyle, way of living, daily
routine, habits (reading, watching
TV, listening to radio, social media
etc.)
•Real quotes from interviews with
customers
•Computer literacy
•Where they get their news
status, children etc.
•Blogs they read
Spot the difference
More examples
Value Proposition
Designing a Customer Value-Driven Marketing Strategy
A brand’s value proposition is the set of
benefits or values it promises to deliver to
customers to satisfy their needs.
 Differentiation and Positioning
Choosing a Differentiation and Positioning Strategy
Value proposition is the full mix of
benefits upon which a brand is
positioned.
The value and benefit
from a consumer’s point
of view:
- Functional
- Emotional
- Self-expression and
identity
Value Proposition Canvas
Example
Brand Positioning
Differentiation and Positioning
Brand position is the way a brand
offers are defined by consumers on
important attributes.
 Differentiation and Positioning

Positioning maps
show consumer
perceptions of
marketer’s brands
versus competing
brands on important
buying dimensions.
 Differentiation and Positioning
Choosing a Differentiation and Positioning Strategy

For example, although both Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks are coffee and snack shops,
they target very different customers, who want very different things
- Starbucks targets more upscale professionals with more high-brow positioning.
- Dunkin’ Donuts targets the “average Joe” with a decidedly more low-brow, “every
person” kind of positioning.
- Each brand succeeds because it creates just the right value proposition for its unique
mix of customers
 Differentiation and Positioning
Choosing a Differentiation and Positioning Strategy
Competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering
consumers greater value, either through lower prices or by providing more benefits
that justify higher prices.

Product
Services
Channels
People
Image
All communicated through brand and
delivered by committed well trained
employees
Differentiation and Positioning
Choosing a Differentiation and Positioning Strategy

A competitive advantage should be:

Important Distinctive Superior

Communicable Preemptive Affordable

Profitable

Brand points-of-parity and points-of-difference

Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone, the phone is positioned not only on attributes shared
with competing models, such as user interface and speed. Nokia positioned it as a
smartphone with a 41 megapixel camera with a “reinvented zoom” and “full HD video”
that fits today’s digital lifestyles.
Differentiation and Positioning

Positioning Statement
Positioning statement summarizes company or brand positioning using this form:
To (target segment and need) our (brand) is (concept) that (point of difference)

The World Local Bank, HSBC

Evernote:
“To busy multi-taskers who need help remembering things, Evernote is a digital
content management application that makes it easy to capture and remember
moments and ideas from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet,
and the Web.”
Tips
• Select the analysis model you want to use in deciding your value
proposition, defining your target customer persona to identify
your brand position
• You can select more than one analysis model to apply
• Present your findings and decisions as you wish and you can use
one or more of the relevant models to present your value
proposition and customer persona
• Clarify these choices to your employees in a brand positioning
statement
• Follow the recommended structure of your assessment in the
brief, associated tutor materials and slides