Competitor Research: Positioning

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Competitor Research Positioning
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Competitor Research-Positioning

• Positioning is something you do to the mind of
  the prospect
• It is not enough to invent something. You must
  get into the subjects mind
• Positioning is designing an offering that target
  segment members both perceive as different and
  value more than competitive offerings

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Positioning

• 3 common ways to position
• 1. Our product is unique
• 2. Our product is different
• 3. Our product is similar
• To position, managers must understand customers
  perception of competitive structure of market

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Positioning

• These managerial questions are
• 1. How do customers view our brand
• 2. Which brands are perceived to be our
  closest competitors
• 3. What product/company attributes are most
  responsible for these perceived differences

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Positioning

• Requirements of effective positioning
• 1. Uniqueness
• 2. Desirability
• 3. Believability

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Positioning

• Before making claim, company should ask
• 1. Does any other co. already occupy this
  position
• 2. Is the feature /benefit really important to
  people
• 3. What objective evidence do we have to
  support our claim
• 4. Can we deliver against this claim
• 5. How much promotion effort will be required to
  get this position in peoples minds

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Positioning

• Methods of positioning research
• 1. Product /service profiles
• 2. Quadrant analysis
• 3. Importance and uniqueness ratings
• 4. Perceptual maps

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Positioning

• Perceptual maps are spatial representations with
  alternatives plotted in a Euclidean space
• Features of perceptual maps
• 1. Pairwise distances between alternatives
  indicate perceived similarities
• 2. Vectors on map show both magnitude and
  direction. Vectors are product attributes
• 3. Axes of map are underlying dimensions of
  consumer perceptions of differences between
  alternatives