For them to significantly contribute to the achievement of sales goals, marketing materials need to be rooted in the company’s market positioning.
Market positioning means presenting a brand’s offering so that it attains a distinct and desirable position in the minds of the target consumers as opposed to its competitors. In short, the objective is for the product to be perceived as different from the rest, especially if it is only one of a thousand of a customer’s options.
A brand’s position is based on the way customers evaluate its attributes. Before planning the content and look of marketing materials, companies should first determine their positioning strategy. Said process begins with identifying their competitive advantage, or the value that they actually offer the customers.
Safeguard, for instance, enjoys a good recall when it comes to germ protection, as opposed to other soap brands like Dove, whose positioning is based on providing moisture. But aside from product differentiation, positioning can also be based on service, channel, people, and image differentiation. Two mobile phone brands may offer more or less the same features, but one can differentiate itself by delivering more ubiquitous repair services or better customer care (service differentiation). Two auto manufacturers may have similar models, but their dealership may differ in terms of accessibility or competence (channel differentiation).
A brand usually possesses more than one difference from its competitors, but in positioning, a company picks the more important differences to promote. Marketing experts state that product attributes can be a weak differentiator, because it can always be offered by the competitor, too. Instead, companies must work to associate a brand with a desirable benefit, or even better, strong beliefs and values. For example, a brand of detergent can position itself as not just as the powerful cleanser (product attribute) that can make your clothes look new (benefit), but also as the tool of a practical, smart, and reliable homemaker (strong belief).
The objective is to present oneself as bringing customers the most benefit, through what is called the brand’s “value proposition” based on the benefit-price matrix. The dream is to be able to say “more (value) for (less) cost,” but it is also desirable to say “more for more,” “more for the same,” “the same for less,” and “less for much less.”
The end goal is a positioning statement, which should be reflected in the marketing materials, including print and broadcast advertisements, signages, and communication and visibility guidelines.
