Positioning Strategies in Business Markets
An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article
Positioning strategies in business markets
Stavros P. Kalafatis Markos H. Tsogas Charles Blankson
Professor of Business Marketing, Kingston Business School, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, UK Senior Lecturer, Kingston Business School, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, UK Assistant Professor, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, USA Keywords Business-to-business marketing, Product quality, Positioning Abstract Tests the relevance of positioning within the domain of business marketing through the application of a new typology of positioning strategies. The proposed typology is tested
…show more content…
The concept of positioning Positioning appears to have evolved from market segmentation, targeting and market structure changes during the 1960s and the early 1970s (Sekhar, 1989). In the last few years, however, writers on the subject have credited Ries and Trout for popularising the term. In their work, Ries and Trout (1986) concluded that,
Positioning starts with the product. A piece of merchandise, a service, a company, an institution, or even a person . . .
They go on to argue that positioning is not what is done to the product/ service, but rather what is done to the mind of the prospect, ``. . . positioning shifts the emphasis of marketing from the product to the battle for your mind. ' ' The emphasis of their debate (supported almost exclusively by their consultancy and personal experiences) centered around the communications/ advertising elements of positioning. This theme has been adopted by Kotler (2000) who provides the following definition,
Positioning is the act of designing the company 's offering and image to occupy a distinct place in the target market 's mind.
Although the definitions of Ries and Trout, and Kotler are among the most widely quoted, a single, universally accepted definition has yet to emerge. At the same time, several terms such as positioning (Kotler, 2000), position (Smith and Lusch, 1976),
In order to accomplish the organization’s goals, the product differentiation and positioning strategies will be used. In some cases both will be used while other goals will only use one of the strategies. To meet the ticket sales goal of being in the top one third of the league both will be used. Product differentiation will be used by showcasing the elite
Product positioning is very hard for the firm. There is a tight price competition due to the existence of strong players in the industry. Also in the existence of these big and strong competitors, substitution is also high because each of these players offer a wide variety of products that present consumers different level of satisfaction.
Market positioning is “a ranking of a brand, product, or company in terms of its sales volume relative to the sales volume of its competitors in the same market or industry.” (BusinessDictionary.com)
Developments of a more appealing offer for each segment so that the customers are more likely to be delighted or at least satisfied. Positioning is the process of placing the product in a clear distinctive and desirable place in the mind of the competitors in order to gain an upper edge.
Differentiating is the marketing mix to improve on meeting the needs of customers and the company building a competitive advantage (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2011). When companies advertise the distinctiveness of their product will over shadow their competitors. Positioning display how customers view new or existing products in the market (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2011). The relationship between differentiating and position of products and services allow companies to show the differences of their products and services from their competitors and secure a position in the market to maintain the interest of customers’ needs. Switching the direction of the motorcycles in the simulation was a necessity because it increased their sales and gain interest from new customers. Even though there were minor changes to the Cruiser motorcycle, it was the financial services and services offered by the company are what increase the interest of the younger buyers. The financial service allowed the younger bike riders to finance high-quality motorcycles. Thorr company implemented different strategies to reposition the image of a high quality motorcycle.
Positioning refers to how an organization communicates the benefits of their products and services to potential customers. Positioning a product involves research, development, design, branding and advertising. NHL being a niche sport, it is currently considered as a second rate sports league behind the NFL and NBA. It has a very passionate fan base, but it is relatively small when compared to the other sports. The lack of interest and fan following is attributed to the absence of knowledge and the failure to understand the unique features that NHL offers that are absent in other sports.
My stereotype is “women are not as strong as men” and i used a picture and a video to explain this stereotype. First i’m going to be talking about what the image that I chose to represent that women used to represent feminism and equality in women and men. The image was used to represent equality in women and men in the 80’s . now a little about the picture. This picture came around in the 40s because of world war two to inspire the women working in the factories making all kinds of equipment for the soldiers and was created by J howard miller.
Positioning, to marketers, means they drive their “better” product to a particular audience. This strategy is important to marketers because, they use this technique to increase their sales by convincing their audience that their product is better than the competing brand. A product I buy that is “positioned” to me is The North Face backpack. As a student, North Face are popular around campus. When someone sees a North Face backpack, they assume you might have a little money. The backpack has many compartments and zippers. Inside the larger pocket, there is two padded slots, one for a laptop and the other for a smaller tablet or ipad. The back of the backpack is padded as well for comfortability. Depending on the style, there are two bottle
Jack Nettles Ms.Weaver English 4 5- -17 Macbeth and Wuthering Heights While reading Macbeth and Wuthering Heights I discovered these pieces of literature are very similar.
Chris Hedges once said “Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause.” Violence, behavior involving physical force intended to injure, harm, or kill someone or something, as well as aggression, hostile or violent behavior or attitudes toward another, is spreading throughout the globe like a disease, corrupting our modern society. The drastic increase in violent and aggressive behavior in modern society can be attributed directly to the prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse, easy availability of deadly weapons and the limitless exposure to mass media that celebrates these behaviors.
Marketing plans for small companies should include a positioning statement that is congruent with their business plans and address segmentation in order to effectively target their market (Solomon, 2011). The positioning statement for the Singapore café in question would therefore emphasize world-class customer service as a way to differentiate this small business from encroachments by competitors such as Starbucks and McDonalds. Fortunately, this aspect of the marketing plan can be highly
7Q-7. what is positioning? Identify the different positions strategies presented in the chapter give examples of companies or products that illustrate each
Are you a fan of the iPhone or galaxy? For example, you are a fan of the iPhone. By selecting iPhone, you took a position. Now as an iPhone fan would you buy a Samsung galaxy phone? Most likely not, even though both phones have almost the same features. When it comes to marketing, it is almost the same. Marketers position their products to appeal to its certain demographic consumers. They try to create an image of their brand that they want their consumer 's to accept. If marketers successfully done that then they will be able to create a place for their product 's in the mind of a consumer. When consumers will think of this product, they will think of having a certain style, characteristic, feature and position. Therefore, product positioning is very essential for a marketer because his/her products success largely depends on this.
Positioning creates a perception in people’s mind of what the product does and differentiates the product in the mind of the consumer. Consol prides itself in their ability to use the positioning marketing concept effectively for their target market, focusing widely on the benefits Consol glass provides its customers and the environment. The objective of this essay is to prove that Consol’s positioning is effective because it coincides with the four drivers of successful relationships with customers, communicates the benefits that the product provides and thus provides clear a distinction from their competitors.
Due to the globalization of the economy, there has been great competition in the business sector. The basic human desire to challenge new limits and capture as much market as it is possible has given a new dimension to the concept of marketing - brand positioning. To position a brand requires making choices; whereas having a position means people will prefer a brand over another. A brand can be positioned in several ways: offering a specific benefit, targeting a specific segment, price or distribution. Despite the fact that positioning is considered by both academics and practitioners to be one of the key elements of modern marketing management, it is surprising to uncover general paucity of consumers/customers derived studies regarding