Marketers and manufacturers will know that positioning a product is the most critical and yet the most difficult task to accomplish. Positioning opportunities occur throughout the life cycle of a product. Entrepreneurs may want to reposition a product in the market at a time when the product is not performing as expected. Sometimes the market reaction can change and make positioning unavoidable. This could present a huge challenge and a significant hurdle to overcome in order to achieve overall marketing success.
To cultivate a fascinating position of a product in the market, it takes a useful art and discipline along with a justified development to achieve it. The following tips can improve the ranking development process and also alleviate common and costly ranking mistakes.
1. Make the position statement clear and uncomplicated – A position statement that is simply demonstrated will be easily understood and accepted by each member of the participating team. Indeed, languages are not usually perfect to illustrate perception, it is often difficult to translate the concept of positioning into words. However, this should not bring unnecessary complexity to the declaration.
Most of the time, marketers fail to keep their statement simple as they have infused multiple ideas that automatically have a messy statement. This will make positioning unattainable. And when a positioning statement is represented by a single word or phrase, then it has been made simple and understandable. The statement can be easily recalled at any time. Classic examples are Mercedes-Benz which has positioned itself as a manufacturer of ‘luxury cars’, Volvo as a manufacturer of ‘safety’ cars, etc.
2. Institute a definition of positioning: Cue from the book by Al Reis and Jack Trout entitled “Positioning”, Positioning is the action by which we create in the minds of our target audience a feeling of our product that positively differentiates it from its rivals . What this means is that an activity needs to be defined first before it can be implemented. A previously agreed goal definition will ultimately establish common actions among the participating members. So, when the position of a product has been well defined, the overall goals and objectives of the team will go in the same direction.
