Is this opportunity a reasonable offering?

© 2018 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

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Positioning
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5. 2

© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

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Marketing Framework

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

What Is Positioning?
Positioning
Who your brand or company is in the marketplace, vis-à-vis the competition, and in the eyes of the customer
It has physical and perceptual elements

STP = Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Discussion Questions #1
Describe the positioning for the following:
Stanford
Your local community college
A local technical school
A state university
How does a firm obtain its position?

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

What Determines Positioning?
Positioning is determined by the marketing mix
Product
Price
Place
Promotion

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Positioning via Perceptual Maps
Perceptual maps show graphical depictions of how the brands and their competitors are perceived in the minds of customers
Brands close together are seen as similar
Brands farther apart are viewed as different

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Positioning Questions #1

Which brands are most interchangeable?
Which brand competes more with Timex?
Which brand(s) is attractive to segment 1?
What market opportunity exists?
Is this opportunity a reasonable offering?

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Positioning Questions #2

How would you compare Rome/Nassau?
The firm implemented a promotional campaign highlighting how reasonably priced Maui is. Was it successful?
Which segment offers an opportunity?

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Positioning Questions #3
A yoga studio is rated on various qualities and their importance
Which quality is most important?
What is the studio doing well/not well?
What one thing would you invest in?

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Maps for Competitive Analysis
(slide 1 of 2)
Competitive yoga studios are rated
However, map is limited to two dimensions
Price and satisfaction with number of morning classes

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Maps for Competitive Analysis
(slide 2 of 2)
Use a bar chart to show more than two dimensions

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Discussion Questions #2
Use previous Figures 5.3 and 5.4 to answer the following questions
What do we (studio 1) do better than our competitors? Worse?
Combining Figures 5.3 and 5.4, what dimension should we consider improving first?

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

The Positioning Matrix
Companies usually can’t be great at everything due to limited resources
Can a firm realistically hold the lowest price, highest quality position?

Marketers need to determine the “best” position for the firm

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Product Quality by Price

Low-low and high-high make sense
Over-priced and good value products don’t make sense

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Promotion by Distribution
Heavy-wide and light-exclusive make sense
Underadvertised and hard to get products don’t make sense

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

All 4 Ps Matrix

All 4P combinations are possible
However, some are more optimal than others

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Suboptimal Matches
(slide 1 of 3)

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Suboptimal Matches
(slide 2 of 3)

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Suboptimal Matches
(slide 3 of 3)

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Hard-to-Sustain Matches
(slide 1 of 2)

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Hard-to-Sustain Matches
(slide 2 of 2)

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Quality and Price Align
Optimal matches:
High-end and value
Suboptimal matches:
Over-priced: customers stop buying; firms drop price, increase quality, or leave market
Good value: firms increase price or lower quality

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Promotion and Distribution Align
Optimal matches
Mass and niche
Suboptimal matches
Hard to get: Why promote heavily if consumers can’t find the product?
Underadvertised: If a brand has an exclusive image, why distribute it everywhere?

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Optimal Matches
16 combinations can be reduced to two

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Examples of Brands in 4 Ps Matrix
In the real world, many brands occupy the natural matches; however, some brands appear in the suboptimal combinations
Have good reasons for moving from natural matches

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Optimal Matches Aligned with Gurus
The two extremes in the matrix are consistent with management gurus
Treacy and Wiersema
Operational excellence (Southwest)
Product leadership (Apple)
Customer intimacy (Amazon)
Michael Porter
Keeping costs down and prices competitive
Leading by differentiation
Niche positioning

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Writing a Positioning Statement
(slide 1 of 3)
Positioning statement
Succinctly communicates parameters of a position
Consider
Your target market
Your unique selling proposition (USP)
If a “real” attribute difference does not exist,
create a “perceived” image difference
e.g., For customers who want {target}, our brand is the best at {USP}

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Writing a Positioning Statement
(slide 2 of 3)
Answer the following questions:
Who are you trying to persuade?
Who are you competing with?
Who are your competitors? What is your major product category?
How are you better?
What makes you unique? What are your points of difference? Do you have any benefit that dominates competitors?

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Writing a Positioning Statement
(slide 3 of 3)
Make sure your statement is succinct
Prioritize your brand benefits and choose the most important, compelling differentiator
Think about what benefits the customer

Examples:
Walmart: “Save money. Live better.”
Porsche: “Engineered for magic. Every day.”

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Discussion Question #3
Write a personal positioning statement to use when speaking to future employers.

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Managerial Recap
(slide 1 of 2)
Positioning is important

Positioning is seen through the eyes of the customer
Perceptual maps help facilitate an understanding of position

Positioning is achieved via the marketing mix

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 

Managerial Recap
(slide 2 of 2)
The positioning matrix demonstrates that certain marketing mix combinations are more optimal than others

Positioning statements guide marketing strategies and tactical actions
They should indicate the target, a competitive frame of reference, and a competitive advantage or unique selling proposition

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© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.