A Presentation On

Positioning and Differentiation

Submitted To:- Submitted By:-

Mr. Ajay Kumar Veeraj Vashishtha

(Assistant Professor) (NU-MBA)

(FMG 061)

Definition

• Product positioning is what comes to mind when your target market thinks about your product compared to your competitor’s products.

• Product positioning is a crucial ingredient in the buying process and should never be left to chance. It’s your opportunity to influence the market’s perception of your products.

Frame of Reference.• Point of Parity (PoP):- The specifications which may not be

unique to a single brand but may be shared by other brands.

• Points of Difference (PoD):- Refers to the specifications of a product that are different from it’s competitors.

• ..\Desktop\marketing\Brand-Positioning[www.savevid.com].flv

• Example:- Dettol and Savlon

PoP:- Dettol is an Antiseptic Liquid From Reckitt Benckiser India and Savlon Is also Antiseptic Liquid from Johnsons

PoD:- Dettol produces stinging sensation, turns cloudy in water and has a strong smell where as Savlon did not have any of these features.

Selecting Competitive Advantage

1. Identifying a set of possible competitive advantages upon which to build a position.

2. Selecting the right competitive advantages.

3. Effectively communicating and delivering the chosen position to a carefully selected target market.

4. Selecting the target market and designing the marketing mix go hand-in-hand.

Eureka Forbes achieved competitive advantage through the way it’s distribution channel is designed. Reaching

out to the customers home for installing, demonstrating, collecting money and offering after

sales service did it all for Eureka Forbes.

Category Membership• A product should not get trapped into category.• Sometimes consumers are not convinced that a brand

holds category membership.

• For Example:- Hewlett Packard has been positioned as laptop and desktop manufacturing company, though it also produces cameras but commonly HP cameras are not bought by people as they do not believe that HP can manufacture cameras also.

Some Examples

Non

Cola

Drin

k

Fresh B

reath

Toothp

aste

Mos

t Fue

l

Efficie

nt

Car

Perceptual Map for Beer

Differentiation. Is the process of distinguishing a product or offering from others,

to make it more attractive to a particular target market. This involves differentiating it from competitor’s products as well as a firm's own product offerings.

Product differentiation is the process of describing the differences between products or services, or the resulting list of differences

Example:- How cars Differentiate among themselves in Print Ads.

Colgate Max Fresh Differentiates itself from Close Up as Max Fresh contains cooling crystals.

..\Desktop\marketing\Colgate-Max-Fresh-Commercial[www.savevid.com].flv

..\Desktop\marketing\Close-Up-Commercial-India-NEW-[www.savevid.com].flv

Differentiation Parameters.

•  Differentiation is due to buyers perceiving a difference, hence causes of differentiation may be functional aspects of the product or service, how it is distributed and marketed, or who buys it. The major sources of product differentiation are as follows.

• Differences in quality which are usually accompanied by differences in price.

• Differences in functional features or design.• Ignorance of buyers regarding the essential characteristics and

qualities of goods they are purchasing.• Sales promotion activities of sellers and, in advertising.• Differences in availability (e.g. timing and location).

Product Differentiation

Form• Size, Shape, Form or physical

structure of a product may be different.

Features• Features of different products may be

different. As in cars there are different models such as LX, LXi, VXi

Performance Quality• A product can be differentiated on

quality parameters as well. Levels may be low, high, superior.

Durability

• A measure of a product’s expected operating life under natural circumstances and stressful conditions. Example- If a cars body starts rusting within a year no one will tend to that product.

Repairability

• Is a measure of the ease of fixing a product when it malfunctions or fails at little cost and time. Companies now offer free repair services for initial period (say 6 months or a year).

Style• Style describes the product look and

feel to the buyer. Ex:- Mont Blanc Pens, Apple computers.

Services Differentiation

Delivery Ordering Ease

SBI Increased number of

branches and differentiated

itself.

Lowest Priced car in the world.

Dove as creamy soap and showing alkalinity test.

..\Desktop\marketing\Dove--Litmus-Test[www.savevid.com].flv