Brand positioning:

Is at the heart of marketing strategy and helps to guide marketing strategy by

clarifying what the brand is all about, how it is unique, why consumers should
purchase and use it, how is it similar to competitive brands etc.
While deciding on positioning marketers need to know:
1. Target consumer/market:

Helps marketer know which associations to strongly held,

favourable and unique. Have a finely segmented market to ensure efficient
implementation of marketing programs.

Segmentation bases: behavioural (user status, usage rate, usage

occasion, brand loyalty, benefits sought) ; demo ( income, age, sex, race,
family); Psychographic (values, opinions, attitudes, activities and lifestyle);
geo (international , regional)

B2B segmentation bases: nature of good (kind, where used, type of

buy); buying condition (purchase location, who buys, type of buy);
demographic (SIC code, number of employees, number of establishments,
number of prod workers)

Segmentation can be done on the basis of loyalty (convertible,

shallow, average, entrenched) or behaviour or demographic.

Criteria that can help segmenting: identifiable (can we easily

identify the segment?), size (is the segment large enough for adequate
sales), accessibility (are there any distribution outlets and communication
media available for reaching the segment?) , responsiveness (how
favourable will be the response of the segment to the marketing plans?)
2. Main competitors

It is important to consider competitors since even they would be

planning to target our segment or are targeting. Consumers will also be
checking competitors while making a purchase decision.

Competitive analysis can be done on many basis such as: resources,

capabilities, distribution channels, likely intentions etc.

Most of the time competition occurs at benefit level rather than

attitude level. Example: people preferring furniture items over apparels.

Competition can be defined at product hierarchy level: Fresca

(drink) having product type competition with non-cola flavoured drinks;
product category level being all soft drinks and product class being all
beverages

3. How the brand is similar to these competitors :

POD: close connection to USP and SCA (sustainable competitive

advantage- firms ability to deliver superior value in the market place for a
prolonged period of time). POD can be on the basis of functional,
performance related considerations, or abstract.

Consumers brand choices depend on perceived uniqueness of brand

association. IKEA converting luxury section of furniture into affordable
purchases.

Example: SUBARUs think. Feel. Drive slogan being an upgrade in

the luxury brand image.

POP can be category POP: features that basic requirement for

product to be considered. They are included at generic product level and
expected product level.

Competitive POP: brand cans break-even in those areas where its

competitors are trying hard to find advantage.
4. How brand is different from them