By Diana Palau, on 11 September 2024
Product positioning is a marketing strategy that is used to decide how you want your target audience to perceive your product or service. Product positioning includes establishing a distinct image and identity for your product in the consumer’s mind, and highlighting the unique benefits and features of your product. It is important in marketing because it communicates the value of the product and communicates it's value to the audience in a way that aligns with their needs.
Keep reading to learn about the importance of product positioning, steps to achieve effective product positioning, and key elements of product positioning!
Importance of Product Positioning
Differentiation
Product positioning emphasizes the unique benefits of your product, helping it stand out from competition in a crowded marketplace.
Targeting
Product positioning allows you to tailor your marketing efforts to certain portions of the market, which can increase relevance and make your product more likely to resonate with consumers from that segment.
Brand Perception
Consumers may develop a stronger, more positive perception of your product and therefore a stronger positive association with your brand. This can increase consumer loyalty and trust.
Competitive Advantage
Product positioning can allow you to get a competitive edge if you make it clear to consumers how your product outpaces the options presented by your competitors.
Marketing Efficiency
By ensuring that there is consistent messaging across all channels of communication, you can make your marketing and product placement strategy as efficient as possible.
What Influences How Your Product Is Perceived?
Brand Identity
Your brand’s unique identity sends a strong signal about its positioning. A well-designed logo, a memorable name, and a clear identity can create positive associations with your brand.
Quality and Performance
The quality of your product or service significantly influences consumer perception. The performance of the product over time is also a major factor.
Price and Value
The price and value of your product will, of course, strongly influence consumer perceptions.
Marketing
How consumers learn about your product can change how they perceive it and whether or not they decide to purchase it.
Third-Party Integration
Third-party integration refers to other products that customers can integrate your product with, which can increase the value they place your offering.
Support
Product training and assistance is very important to consumers and their use of your product.
Policies
The rules that your company publishes about your business can factor into the way your brand is perceived. Being transparent about policies is very important for product perception.
Steps to Effective Product Positioning
Understand Your Market and Audience
Conduct thorough research of the market landscape, trends, and consumer behaviors. You can use surveys and analysis tools to do this. You need to fully understand your audience’s specific needs and preferences.
Analyze Your Competitors
Compile a list of your competitors, and the strengths and weaknesses of their products. Then, compare these strengths and weaknesses to your own products’ to determine the selling points of your product. You should also identify market gaps you can use to better position your product in relation to your competitors.
Define Your Unique Value Proposition
Identify the top benefits of your product, which should address consumer pain points or needs. Make sure that you are highlighting the unique features of your product, especially if your competitors do not offer them.
Craft a Positioning Statement
Create a succinct statement that describes the essence of your product’s positioning. This should include: target audience, market definition, brand promise, and reason to believe in the promise.
Key Elements of Product Positioning
Vision: The direction that your product is pointing toward.
Mission: What you will do to achieve your vision.
Market category: The market that you are in, and the consumers you are marketing to.
Tagline: The slogan that you will use to describe your product.
Customer challenges: Customer pain points that you will take into consideration during product positioning.
Company and product differentiators: Characteristics that create unique value for your product, especially when compared with competitor offerings.
Brand essence: The values you want your brand to be known for or associated with in the minds of your consumers.
