What is positioning?

The life cycle of any product or service begins in the concept stage.The concept is then designed, built, modified and tested.At this point in the life cycle of any given product or service the question must be addressed as to where the product will be positioned on the market.This is known as product positioning.Today's sophisticated marketers have stopped thinking about customers as being just a homogeneous market.The savvy marketer will realize that there are several small distinct groups of consumers which require unique strategies in product positioning and therefore must consider promotional strategy, pricing, distribution methods and direct selling techniques in the positioning of his or her product.

Product positioning provides the competition for an identified market segment.This is sometimes referred to as a niche position. Product positioning is the process whereby the product or service and all the other marketing concepts or elements are designed to fit a given place within a particular market segment. The position is often outlined by the use of communications such as advertising rather than actual product differences.Here again it falls to the creative marketer to realize where the product can be positioned without over powering the market.

The marketer will position the product to reflect both the attributes that define the product or service, and the competing products that are recognized as the leaders in their market space.This is the easiest way to establish competition between similar products. By effectively positioning a product this becomes the single largest influence on buyer behavior at this stage of the product life-cycle. It takes both critical and creative thinking to find that right positioning that focuses on the single one or two attributes that are most critical in deciding to purchase a product or service. Positioning is long-lasting and crucial in establishing brand identity. Positioning includes both perceptions of product characteristics and the actual benefits and values that are achieved by association and/or purchase of the product.

Correct positioning can become long-lasting within the culture.Consumers remember which vehicles that are from the heartland of America and which are built like a rock.Taste great and less filling? Which airline offers friendliness and which offers success in your business travel? Which credit card offers so much security that you won't leave home without it? The long-lasting effect of positioning on key features and benefits makes customers highly resistant to changes in perceptions and therefore changes in purchasing.By making a strong positioning within a market it becomes the key to building strong brand loyalty.

Positioning a product mean the organization offering the product must create a unique and valued image for the product.The marketing of the product must be as unique and special as to actually occupy a place within the consumers mind.This insures that when the consumer goes to make their next purchase in whatever category the product is being offered that there is really no other choice for the consumer to make.The product positioning must be so exact as to diminish the desirability of competing products within the consumer's range of choices. The product or service can be positioned on a number of contributing factors including but not limited to:the basis of a single attribute or benefit, the type of use or application, the user itself, the class of the product, the price or quality. These factors can be used singly or together in product positioning.

Product positioning can be crucial in the success of any product.In today's ever-expanding market place a misplaced positioning can result in a monumental failure while successful positioning can result in a product becoming and staying a huge success.