Describe Differentiation and Positioning as a step towards designing a market driven marketing strategy

Product positioning means the way the product is defined by consumers on important
attributes i.e. the place the product occupies in the mind of the consumers relative to
competitors products. One positioning expert once commented that “products are created
in the factory, but brands are created in the mind”
Toyota 110 is positioned as an economical car, Volvo positions on safety and Mercedes
is a luxurious car.
Examples of positioning slogans:
(a) Safaricom: The better option
(b) Nakumatt: You need it we’ve got it
(c) Nation newspaper: The Truth
(d) Mash : We lead the leaders
(e) Kenya Airways: The pride of Africa
(f) Lexus: The passionate pursuit of excellence
(g) Mercedes: In a perfect world, everyone would drive a Mercedes

The Nature of Positioning
- Positioning assumes that consumers compare products along important features.
To simplify the buying process, consumers organize companies, products and services into
categories and position them in their minds
- Positioning must clearly indicate these features lest it fails. The marketer must position the market offer so that it gives them the greatest possible advantage
- Marketers must come up with excellent positioning maps. A positioning map is an effort of
the marketer to show consumer perception of their brands versus competing products on
important dimensions.
- Positioning must be built around a differentiation gimmick
- Marketing mix is used to facilitate positioning.

Poor Positioning May Lead to:
1. Undesirable positioning: head on with stronger competition
2. Undesirable position: Position without demand from customers
3. Fuzzy positioning: Nobody knows what the distinctive feature really is.
4. No positioning: Nobody has heard of the positioning

Bases for Positioning a Product
1. Benefits
2. Price and quality combination
3. Uses and application
4. Product user position
5. Product class position
6. Positioning against Competitor (comparative)
7. Origin positioning

Choosing a Differentiation and Positioning Strategy
Positioning task takes four steps:
(1) Identifying a set of possible competitive advantages
(2) Choosing the right competitive advantages
(3) Selecting an overall positioning strategy
(4) Developing a Position Statement
(1) Identifying Possible Competitive Advantage
- A 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.
- A company’s marketing offer must be differentiated from those of competitors along
the lines of product attributes, services quality, channels, people or physical evidence.
- The company must constantly compare the customer satisfaction of its products,
prices, channels and promotion with those of chosen competitors.
(2) Choosing the Right Competitive Advantage
Sometimes a company realizes that it has several advantages compared to competitors.
It then has to choose how many differences to promote and which ones.
- How many differences to promote – Often companies choose one unique feature and
insist that they are number one in that area. But a company can also promote a number
of differences.
- Which differences to promote – Not all differences are worth promoting. A difference
is worth establishing to the extent that it satisfies the following criteria: Important,
Distinctive, Superior, Communicable, pre-emptive (robust), affordable and profitable.
(3) Selecting an overall positioning strategy
The full positioning of a brand is called value positioning. Value positioning tells the customer
everything about the benefits they will get from a brand.
There are four approaches to value positioning i.e. More for more(pay more get more value),
more for same, the same for less, less for much less and more for less.
(4) Developing a Position Statement
- A positioning statement summarizes company or brand positioning.
- A good positioning statement should follow this form:
To (target segment and need) our (customers), our (brand) is (concept) the best in the market
(point of difference).
e.g to all trendy men, Sir Henrys Suits offers the latest designer suits, specially tailored to fit the modern fashion and a look of elegance. Non compares with us in men’s wear.
“Sir Henrys, the best a man can get.”

Challenges of Positioning
(a) Over positioning
(b) Under positioning
(c) Confused positioning
(d) Doubtful positioning: Buyers cannot believe
Tools to Facilitate Positioning
1. Advertising
2. Pricing
3. Personnel
4. Product features
5. Branding
6. Slogan
7. Service environment

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Titany answered the question on November 3, 2021 at 08:13