Positioning a company has been and remains a very powerful marketing tool, the benefits of which are difficult to overestimate. After all, the success of a business directly depends on the client's attitude to the brand or the product offered by the company.
Unfortunately, many Russian entrepreneurs still underestimate the opportunities that competent company positioning can provide them. Many believe that they can do without high school senior mailing list it: there is a product - there are buyers, what else do you need?
This view of things is very short-sighted. Without a well-constructed positioning strategy, it is impossible to make people remember and trust a company, rather than treat it as one of many, representing nothing special.
Positioning is the process of determining a position in the market that will be most advantageous for the company, its product or brand and will allow it to stand out from its competitors. This is done with a specific consumer audience in mind in order to create a unique image in the minds of potential customers that stands out from the others.
The process of positioning a company allows you to develop a strategic plan for promoting a product (or service), identify existing or potential future competitors, and outline the correct line of development for the future.
The first to talk about positioning as a marketing tool was the popular marketer Jack Trout (USA) back in 1969. At that time, he was the vice president of the marketing agency “Ries Capiello Cowell” and, as part of business correspondence, approached the owners with a proposal to start using the term “positioning” and include it in the business dictionary.
A little later, the magazine Industrial Marketing (USA) published the now famous article “Positioning is a game…” It was after this that Jack Trout was publicly recognized as the “inventor” of positioning.
The article attracted a lot of attention, and after some time (already in 1980) a whole book called “Positioning: The Battle for Minds” was published. Jack Trout’s long-time friend and colleague, Al Ries, participated in its writing as a co-author.
In these works, the authors talk about the process of positioning as an operation to influence the consciousness and mind of future clients with the aim of creating the desired image in their heads and its subsequent perception.
What is company positioning?
The essence of this theory is based on the assertion that the consumer, seeing the huge volumes of goods offered on the market, is physically unable to remember their characteristics and qualities. And he involuntarily builds associations that help to somehow organize the information, linking the goods with important features for himself, by which he makes a decision about the purchase.
A simple example with wristwatches: a person sees more expensive and cheaper models on store shelves; watches of famous brands, but made by an unknown person; with mechanical and electronic mechanisms; shockproof; splashproof; with built-in lighting; classic models or sports-style options and many others. Here it is important not to form an image as such, but to emphasize how exactly your product differs favorably from similar ones presented by competing companies.
Whatever niche you are in, the main thing is to identify what makes your business unique and point it out to potential buyers. The process of positioning means developing a differentiated approach to business results. That is, you encourage the consumer to choose your product or service based on certain criteria.
When positioning a company, you can rely on emotions or calculation. In the second case, you must present the consumer with a logically sound argument in your favor - then he will calmly accept it. If you count on the emotional factor, then everything is tied to a positive perception, the ability to satisfy your needs.