Beyond deciding which segments of the market it will target, the company must decide on a value proposition—how it will create differentiated value for targeted segments and what positions it wants to occupy in those segments. A product position is the way a product is defined by consumers on important attributes—the place the product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products. Products are made in factories, but brands happen in the minds of consumers.
Method laundry detergent is positioned as a smarter, easier, and greener detergent; Tide is “a washing miracle,” an all-purpose, heavy-duty family detergent that gets out grime and tough stains. Your Visa card is “Everywhere you want to be”; with American Express, “The Journey Never Stops.” At IHOP, you “Come hungry. Leave happy”; at Buffalo Wild Wings, it’s “Wings. Beer. Sports.” In the automobile market, the Honda Fit and Nissan Versa are positioned on economy, Mercedes and Cadillac on luxury, and Porsche and BMW on performance. Home-improvement store Lowe’s helps you “Never stop improving.” And IKEA does more than just sell affordable home furnishings; it’s the “Life improvement store.”
Consumers are overloaded with information about products and services. They cannot reevaluate products every time they make a buying decision. To simplify the buying process, consumers organize products, services, and companies into categories and “position” them in their minds. A product’s position is the complex set of perceptions, impressions, and feelings that consumers have for the product compared with competing products.
Consumers position products with or without the help of marketers. But marketers do not want to leave their products’ positions to chance. They must plan positions that will give their products the greatest advantage in selected target markets, and they must design marketing mixes to create these planned positions.
In planning their differentiation and positioning strategies, marketers often prepare perceptual positioning maps that show consumer perceptions of their brands versus those of competing products on important buying dimensions. Figure 7.3 shows a positioning map for the U.S. large luxury SUV market.27 The position of each circle on the map indicates the brand’s perceived positioning on two dimensions: price and orientation (luxury versus performance). The size of each circle indicates the brand’s relative market share.
Thus, customers view the market-leading Cadillac Escalade as a moderately priced, large, luxury SUV with a balance of luxury and performance. The Escalade is positioned on urban luxury, and in its case, “performance” probably means power and safety performance. You’ll find no mention of off-road adventuring in an Escalade ad.
By contrast, the Range Rover and the Land Cruiser are positioned on luxury with nuances of off-road performance. For example, the Toyota Land Cruiser began in 1951 as a four-wheel-drive, jeep-like vehicle designed to conquer the world’s most grueling terrains and climates. In recent years, the Land Cruiser has retained this adventure and performance positioning but with luxury added. Its website brags of “legendary off-road capability,” with off-road technologies such as an Acoustic Control Induction System to get the most out of the RPMs, “so you can make molehills out of mountains.” Despite its ruggedness, however, the company notes that “its Bluetooth hands-free technology, DVD entertainment, and a sumptuous interior have softened its edges.”
Some firms find it easy to choose a differentiation and positioning strategy. For example, a firm well known for quality in certain segments will go after this position in a new segment if there are enough buyers seeking quality. But in many cases, two or more firms will go after the same position. Then each will have to find other ways to set itself apart. Each firm must differentiate its offer by building a unique bundle of benefits that appeal to a substantial group within the segment.
Above all else, a brand’s positioning must serve the needs and preferences of well-defined target markets. For example, as discussed in the chapter-opening story, although both Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks are coffee and snack shops, they target very different customers who want very different things from their favorite coffee seller. Starbucks targets more upscale professionals with more high-brow positioning. In contrast, Dunkin’ Donuts targets the “average Joe” with a decidedly more low-brow, “everyman” kind of positioning. Yet each brand succeeds because it creates just the right value proposition for its unique mix of customers.
The differentiation and positioning task consists of three steps: identifying a set of differentiating competitive advantages on which to build a position, choosing the right competitive advantages, and selecting an overall positioning strategy. The company must then effectively communicate and deliver the chosen position to the market.
To build profitable relationships with target customers, marketers must understand customer needs and deliver more customer value better than competitors do. To the extent that a company can differentiate and position itself as providing superior customer value, it gains competitive advantage.
But solid positions cannot be built on empty promises. If a company positions its product as offering the best quality and service, it must actually differentiate the product so that it delivers the promised quality and service. Companies must do much more than simply shout out their positions with slogans and taglines. They must first live the slogan. For example, online shoes and accessories seller Zappos’s “powered by service” positioning would ring hollow if not backed by truly outstanding customer care. Zappos aligns its entire organization and all of its people around providing the best possible customer service. The online seller’s number-one core value: “Deliver WOW through service.”28
To find points of differentiation, marketers must think through the customer’s entire experience with the company’s product or service. An alert company can find ways to differentiate itself at every customer contact point. In what specific ways can a company differentiate itself or its market offer? It can differentiate along the lines of product, services, channels, people, or image.
Through product differentiation, brands can be differentiated on features, performance, or style and design. Thus, premium audio brand Bose positions its audio products on the innovative, high-quality listening experiences it gives users. Bose promises “better sound through research.” And BMW positions itself as “The Ultimate Driving Machine” that’s “designed for driving pleasure.”
Beyond differentiating its physical product, a firm can also differentiate the services that accompany the product. Some companies gain services differentiation through speedy, convenient service. Jimmy John’s doesn’t just offer fast food; its gourmet sandwiches come “Freaky Fast.” Other firms promise high-quality customer service. For example, in an age where customer satisfaction with airline service is in constant decline, Singapore Airlines sets itself apart through extraordinary customer care and the grace of its flight attendants.
Firms that practice channel differentiation gain competitive advantage through the way they design their channel’s coverage, expertise, and performance. Amazon and GEICO, for example, set themselves apart with their smooth-functioning direct channels. Companies can also gain a strong competitive advantage through people differentiation—hiring and training better people than their competitors do. People differentiation requires that a company select its customer-contact people carefully and train them well. supermarket chain Wegmans has long been recognized as a customer service champ with a cult-like loyalty among its shoppers. The secret to its extraordinary customer service lies in its carefully selected, superbly trained, happy employees, who personify Wegmans’s commitment to customers: “Everyday You Get Your Best.” For example, the chain’s cashiers aren’t allowed to interact with customers until they’ve had at least 40 hours of training. “Our employees are our number one asset,” says the chain’s vice president for human resources.29
Even when competing offers look the same, buyers may perceive a difference based on company or brand image differentiation. A company or brand image should convey a product’s distinctive benefits and positioning. Developing a strong and distinctive image calls for creativity and hard work. A company cannot develop an image in the public’s mind overnight by using only a few ads. If Ritz-Carlton means quality, this image must be supported by everything the company is, says, and does.
Symbols, such as the McDonald’s golden arches, the colorful Google logo, the Twitter bird, the Nike swoosh, or Apple’s “bite mark” logo, can provide strong company or brand recognition and image differentiation. The company might build a brand around a famous person, as Nike did with its Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James basketball shoe and apparel collections. Some companies even become associated with colors, such as Coca-Cola (red), IBM (blue), or UPS (brown). The chosen symbols, characters, and other image elements must be communicated through advertising that conveys the company’s or brand’s personality.
Suppose a company is fortunate enough to discover several potential differentiations that provide competitive advantages. It now must choose the ones on which it will build its positioning strategy. It must decide how many differences to promote and which ones.
Many marketers think that companies should aggressively promote only one benefit to the target market. Former advertising executive Rosser Reeves, for example, said a company should develop a unique selling proposition (USP) for each brand and stick to it. Each brand should pick an attribute and tout itself as “number one” on that attribute. Buyers tend to remember number one better, especially in this overcommunicated society. Thus, Walmart promotes its unbeatable low prices and Burger King promotes personal choice—“have it your way.”
Other marketers think that companies should position themselves on more than one differentiator. This may be necessary if two or more firms are claiming to be best on the same attribute. For example, with its “Expect More. Pay Less.” positioning, Targets sets itself apart from Walmart by adding a touch of class to its low prices. And Microsoft differentiates its innovative Surface tablet as being both a laptop and tablet in one. It’s the “One device for everything in your life”—lighter and thinner than a laptop but with a click-in keyboard and fuller features than competing tablets. It’s “Powerful as a laptop, lighter than Air.” Microsoft’s challenge is to convince buyers that it’s one brand can do it all.
Today, in a time when the mass market is fragmenting into many small segments, companies and brands are trying to broaden their positioning strategies to appeal to more segments.
Not all brand differences are meaningful or worthwhile, and each difference has the potential to create company costs as well as customer benefits. A difference is worth establishing to the extent that it satisfies the following criteria:
Important. The difference delivers a highly valued benefit to target buyers.
Distinctive. Competitors do not offer the difference, or the company can offer it in a more distinctive way.
Superior. The difference is superior to other ways that customers might obtain the same benefit.
Communicable. The difference is communicable and visible to buyers.
Preemptive. Competitors cannot easily copy the difference.
Affordable. Buyers can afford to pay for the difference.
Profitable. The company can introduce the difference profitably.
Many companies have introduced differentiations that failed one or more of these tests. When the Westin Stamford Hotel in Singapore once advertised itself as the world’s tallest hotel, it was a distinction that was not important to most tourists; in fact, it turned many off. Similarly, Coca-Cola’s classic product failure—New Coke—failed the superiority and importance tests among core Coca-Cola drinkers:
Extensive blind taste tests showed that 60 percent of all soft drink consumers chose a new, sweeter Coca-Cola formulation over the original Coke, and 52 percent chose it over Pepsi. So the brand dropped its original-formula Coke and, with much fanfare, replaced it with New Coke, a sweeter, smoother version. However, in its research, Coca-Cola overlooked the many intangibles that have made Coca-Cola so popular for 130 years. To loyal Coke drinkers, the original beverage stands alongside baseball, apple pie, and the Statue of Liberty as an American institution. As it turns out, Coca-Cola differentiates its brand not just by taste but by tradition. By dropping the original formula, Coca-Cola trampled on the sensitivities of the huge core of loyal Coke drinkers who loved Coke just the way it was. After only three months, the company brought the classic Coke back.
Thus, choosing competitive advantages on which to position a product or service can be difficult, yet such choices are crucial to success. Choosing the right differentiators can help a brand stand out from the pack of competitors.
The full positioning of a brand is called the brand’s value proposition—the full mix of benefits on which a brand is differentiated and positioned. It is the answer to the customer’s question “Why should I buy your brand?” BMW’s “ultimate driving machine/designed for driving pleasure” value proposition hinges on performance but also includes luxury and styling, all for a price that is higher than average but seems fair for this mix of benefits.
Figure 7.4 shows possible value propositions on which a company might position its products. In the figure, the five green cells on the top and right represent winning value propositions—differentiation and positioning that give the company a competitive advantage. The red cells at the lower left, however, represent losing value propositions. The center cell represents at best a marginal proposition. In the following sections, we discuss the five winning value propositions: more for more, more for the same, the same for less, less for much less, and more for less.
More-for-more positioning involves providing the most upscale product or service and charging a higher price to cover the higher costs. A more-for-more market offering not only offers higher quality, it also gives prestige to the buyer. It symbolizes status and a loftier lifestyle. Four Seasons hotels, Patek Philippe watches, Starbucks coffee, Louis Vuitton handbags, Mercedes automobiles, SubZero appliances—each claims superior quality, craftsmanship, durability, performance, or style and therefore charges a higher price.
Similarly, the marketers of Hearts On Fire diamonds have created a more-for-more niche as “The World’s Most Perfectly Cut Diamond.” Hearts On Fire diamonds have a unique “hearts and arrow” design. When viewed under magnification from the bottom, a perfect ring of eight hearts appears; from the top comes a perfectly formed Fireburst of light. Hearts On Fire diamonds aren’t for everyone, says the company. “Hearts On Fire is for those who expect more and give more in return.” The brand commands a 15 to 20 percent price premium over comparable competing diamonds.30
Although more-for-more can be profitable, this strategy can also be vulnerable. It often invites imitators who claim the same quality but at a lower price. For example, more-for-more brand Starbucks now faces “gourmet” coffee competitors ranging from Dunkin’ Donuts to McDonald’s. Also, luxury goods that sell well during good times may be at risk during economic downturns when buyers become more cautious in their spending. The recent gloomy economy hit premium brands, such as Starbucks, the hardest.
A company can attack a competitor’s value proposition by positioning its brand as offering more for the same price. For example, Target positions itself as the “upscale discounter.” It claims to offer more in terms of store atmosphere, service, stylish merchandise, and classy brand image but at prices comparable to those of Walmart, Kohl’s, and other discounters.
Offering the same for less can be a powerful value proposition—everyone likes a good deal. Discount stores such as Walmart and “category killers” such as Best Buy, PetSmart, David’s Bridal, and DSW Shoes use this positioning. They don’t claim to offer different or better products. Instead, they offer many of the same brands as department stores and specialty stores but at deep discounts based on superior purchasing power and lower-cost operations. Other companies develop imitative but lower-priced brands in an effort to lure customers away from the market leader. For example, Amazon offers a line of Kindle Fire tablets, which sell for less than 40 percent of the price of the Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy tablet. Amazon claims that it offers “Premium products at non-premium prices.”
A market almost always exists for products that offer less and therefore cost less. Few people need, want, or can afford “the very best” in everything they buy. In many cases, consumers will gladly settle for less-than-optimal performance or give up some of the bells and whistles in exchange for a lower price. For example, many travelers seeking lodgings prefer not to pay for what they consider unnecessary extras, such as a pool, an attached restaurant, or mints on the pillow. Hotel chains such as Ramada Limited, Holiday Inn Express, and Motel 6 suspend some of these amenities and charge less accordingly.
Less-for-much-less positioning involves meeting consumers’ lower performance or quality requirements at a much lower price. For example, Costco warehouse stores offer less merchandise selection and consistency and much lower levels of service; as a result, they charge rock-bottom prices. Similarly, at ALDI grocery stores, customers pay super-low prices but must settle for less in terms of the service extras. “You can’t eat frills,” says ALDI, “so why pay for them?” (See Real Marketing 7.2.)
Of course, the winning value proposition would be to offer more for less. Many companies claim to do this. And, in the short run, some companies can actually achieve such lofty positions. For example, when it first opened for business, Home Depot had arguably the best product selection, the best service, and the lowest prices compared with local hardware stores and other home-improvement chains.
Yet in the long run, companies will no doubt find it very difficult to sustain such best-of-both positioning. Offering more usually costs more, making it difficult to deliver on the “for-less” promise. Companies that try to deliver both may lose out to more focused competitors. For example, facing determined competition from Lowe’s stores, Home Depot must now decide whether it wants to compete primarily on superior service or on lower prices.
All said, each brand must adopt a positioning strategy designed to serve the needs and wants of its target markets. More for more will draw one target market, less for much less will draw another, and so on. In any market, there is usually room for many different companies, each successfully occupying different positions. The important thing is that each company must develop its own winning positioning strategy, one that makes the company special to its target consumers.
Company and brand positioning should be summed up in a positioning statement. The statement should follow the form: To (target segment and need) our (brand) is (concept) that (point of difference).31 Here is an example using the popular digital information management application Evernote: “To busy multitaskers 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.”
Note that the positioning statement first states the product’s membership in a category (digital content management application) and then shows its point of difference from other members of the category (easily capture moments and ideas and remember them later). Evernote helps you “remember everything” by letting you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, and record voice reminders and then makes them easy to find and access using just about any device, anywhere—at home, at work, or on the go.
Placing a brand in a specific category suggests similarities that it might share with other products in the category. But the case for the brand’s superiority is made on its points of difference. For example, the U.S. Postal Service ships packages just like UPS and FedEx, but it differentiates its Priority Mail from competitors with convenient, low-price, flat-rate shipping boxes and envelopes. “If it fits, it ships,” promises USPS.
Once it has chosen a position, the company must take strong steps to deliver and communicate the desired position to its target consumers. All the company’s marketing mix efforts must support the positioning strategy.
Positioning the company calls for concrete action, not just talk. If the company decides to build a position on better quality and service, it must first deliver that position. Designing the marketing mix—product, price, place, and promotion—involves working out the tactical details of the positioning strategy. Thus, a firm that seizes on a more-for-more position knows that it must produce high-quality products, charge a high price, distribute through high-quality dealers, and advertise in high-quality media. It must hire and train more service people, find retailers that have a good reputation for service, and develop sales and advertising content that supports its superior offer. This is the only way to build a consistent and believable more-for-more position.
Companies often find it easier to come up with a good positioning strategy than to implement it. Establishing a position or changing one usually takes a long time. In contrast, positions that have taken years to build can quickly be lost. Once a company has built the desired position, it must take care to maintain the position through consistent performance and communication. It must closely monitor and adapt the position over time to match changes in consumer needs and competitors’ strategies. However, the company should avoid abrupt changes that might confuse consumers. Instead, a product’s position should evolve gradually as it adapts to the ever-changing marketing environment.
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