When building a business, for example, a jury to obtain investment, one of the key questions is: What is your position? It is therefore necessary to give a relevant answer that is carefully considered beforehand and thus understands the interest of your company. Positioning is the final step in your marketing strategy. In the minds of consumers, this perception allows you to stand out from your competitors. Several criteria define the position occupied by a product or service and, above all, your brand on the market.
a common mistake
We can identify many cases of poor audience targeting by companies. American card giant Hallmark must still remember this. Whoever offers a series of cards with pre-written messages ready to conquer the world decides to attack the French market without taking into account the cultural factor. The French absolutely do not like the idea of non-personalized cards and even boycott the brand. Faced with this blatant denial, the brand had no other option but to repatriate all its shares to the United States. In the food sector, the Danone company also made its mark by targeting wrongly. In 2007, the firm launched its Essensis yogurt with trendy pink and silver packaging to appeal to young women. Riding the cosmetics wave, yogurt promises to “nourish the skin from within”… except that it’s a concern that seems to affect older women more. The brand is trying to transform itself but the new target is watching their weight and the fatty consistency of yogurt doesn’t convince them on the subject. Danone realizes this too late.
start with split
In developing a marketing strategy, segmenting your market is the first thing to be achieved. The idea is to create consumer groups. More precisely, it is a method of dividing a given population into subgroups called blocks. It should be distinct and homogeneous. To do this, it is necessary to rely on quantitative and measurable segmentation criteria such as socio-demographic data (age, gender, profession, etc.), or behavioral data (frequency and volume of purchases, channels used, etc.). The size of the received segments must be large enough to be proven fully operational. The ideal remains that each group is represented, separating them.
then target your
Once the segmentation is complete and your market study has been done, the targeting step follows. After evaluating and analyzing the various segments of your market, it is a question of choosing the ones on which to focus the company’s effort. In other words, the most attractive. Selected, these sections constitute your goal, and the ones that are targeted the most are grouped under the name “Main Goals”. Then all your advertising campaigns or any other marketing action has to be tailored to your goal. They will be used to define the nature of your advertising media, along with the preferences of your recipients, to reach people interested in your product/service. A way to combine efficiency and profitability from the perspective of your marketing operations.
What is positioning?
Now that you know your market as well as your target, all that remains is to know how to put yourself in front of them. By definition, positioning refers to consumers’ perception of your product or service, or your brand, in comparison to your competitors. This involves bringing it out of oblivion to emerge in its market and give it a distinctive place in the minds of consumers. The wrong choice of positioning can be critical for your business. Each company has its own identity and develops in a specific universe called a market. Positioning defines your company’s image within this market. On the consumer side, it reflects, as we saw earlier, their perception of your brand. In this sense, it is necessary to know how to position oneself. Keep in mind that this position is not the result of your market research but a component of it, as it is you who define it through a number of criteria. First, by developing your offer, which should be customized according to your goal, including its selling price, its packaging, delivery, as well as communication. This set represents what are called the 4Ps of the marketing mix: Product, Price, Place (Distribution), Promotion (Communication). It is a question of clearly and simply defining the space occupied by your brand, but also what defines your product or service in the competitive landscape. In other words, all the features that will allow you to stand out from the competition. To differentiate yourself, you must consider three key elements: the expectations of your target, the position of your competitors, and the potential of your offer. Using a positioning map can help you establish unique positioning. It allows you to visualize the quality/price ratio of your product/service as per where your brand is located. It’s a fun way to understand how your brand will be perceived by consumers, but also to determine its relative position against competitors.