Do you know the word “positioning”? This positioning is very important from a
marketing
perspective when introducing your company’s products and services to the world. By establishing your positioning, you can make your product or service irreplaceable for customers, and sales can vary greatly even for the same product or service. Positioning is so important in marketing.
Therefore, in this article, we will explain the basic knowledge of positioning, the benefits of setting it, and points to consider when setting positioning.
Related materials:
What does positioning mean?
Positioning
literally means “to position” in Japanese. When you think of positioning in marketing, after
targeting
to clarify the target, you need to consider how to position your product or service in the market and how to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This is the content. By making your customers clearly aware of your position and differentiation, you will give them a reason to choose your product or service.
Why is positioning important in marketing?
The reason why positioning is important in marketing is that customers must feel the value of choosing your product or service and have them recognize this.
In today’s world, there are an abundance of products and services, and even if you sell products and services that are similar to those of your competitors and use the same sales methods over and over again, it is difficult for customers to choose you. From the customer’s perspective, there is no particular reason to choose your product or service. In order for customers to choose your company’s products and services when there are many competitors’ products and services, as mentioned above, you must make them feel the value of choosing your product and make them aware of it. . Establishing the position of your product or service in front of your customers will help them choose your product or service even when there are many competitors.
Benefits of setting positioning
Positioning is very important in marketing. There are three main benefits of setting positioning. This was explained a little in the previous section, but let’s take another look at the benefits of positioning.
Leads to establishing your own concept
Setting your positioning means reviewing your company’s current positioning and establishing your company’s concept in order to think about what kind of position you want to take while differentiating yourself from your competitors. Masu. Not only does it help you express your company’s differences from competitors and the unique appeal of your company when compared, but it can also be used to clearly establish your company’s concept.
Differentiate yourself from competitors
As mentioned above, the biggest benefit of setting positioning is that it allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Many competitors now offer similar products and services, and there is a high possibility that customers will not choose you even if you offer similar sales. By differentiating yourself in such a case, you can acquire a different customer base from a different angle than your competitors, or you can avoid the crowd of competitors and make sales.
Become the “reason for being chosen”
If you can make your customers clearly aware of your position and differentiation, this will be the reason why they choose your products and services. It is important that your positioning is not just about what you want to advertise, but what is attractive to your customers and what can be of benefit to them. If customers are aware of these things, it will become an irreplaceable thing for customers who will say, “This product is definitely good!” and it will become the reason why they choose your product.
4 setting points for positioning
We have talked about the benefits of setting positioning, but if you do not set it correctly, you will not be able to take advantage of its effects and benefits. From here, I will explain the four setting points for positioning. If you can clearly define your positioning with these points in mind, your products and services will be chosen by customers.
Determine the target axis
First of all, when setting your positioning, decide what kind of target group you want to select and carry out targeting.
When it comes to targets,
- age group
- Occupation
- Household annual income
- interest/concern
- Hobbies/preferences
- sex
It is also important to decide on a personal axis, such as,
- market size
- Market growth rate
- number of competitors
- price range
Let’s also decide on the target axis for the entire market.
Investigate whether your company is in a position you can aim for
Once you have determined your target, you will set the positioning you want to implement, but instead of moving immediately with the positioning you have set, do a thorough investigation to see if it is a positioning that your company can aim for. If the positioning you have decided on is also a positioning that is also implemented by the industry’s largest competitors, it may be difficult to compete. Even if your company is positioned with no competitors, suddenly entering a field that it has never entered before may result in your company not being able to leverage its strengths. Decide from the perspective of whether it is a position that your company can aim for, and whether it is something that can demonstrate your company’s strengths.
As a positioning
framework
, there is
a positioning map that
represents the position of a product using two-dimensional coordinates consisting of a vertical axis and a horizontal axis.
Think about what meets customer needs
Even if you decide on positioning, it is meaningless if it does not align with customer
needs
. Many companies become too fixated on a positioning that allows them to avoid competitors, and end up losing touch with customer needs. While it is important to find a place where there are no competitors and to find ways to increase your own sales, the most important thing is to meet the needs of your target customers. Let’s think about what will suit the needs of our customers.
Does it have a point that the competition doesn’t have?
As I explained earlier about “differentiation from the competition,” I recommend that you make as clear a difference as possible from the competition. Even if you try to position yourself slightly to be a little different from your competitors, your customers may not notice. Small and subtle differences often end up giving the impression that the products are “almost similar,” and there is a high possibility that you will not be able to capture the interest of customers. There is no point in making your products and services more appealing to customers and making them fully aware of the differences between them and your competitors, so let’s explore the reasons why customers choose your products and services.
Points to note when setting positioning
When it comes to positioning, it’s not just “it’s OK because it’s set”, but what happens after it’s set is important. Even after setting it up, let’s do some trial and error to see if we can connect it to marketing more effectively. We will explain the points to be careful about when setting the positioning, so let’s check the points to be careful about, review the positioning we have decided, and refine it to make it even better.
Is your positioning consistent with your company’s philosophy?
Be sure to check whether the positioning you have decided on is in line with your company’s philosophy. For example, if a company whose philosophy is to “offer products at low prices” sets its positioning to target the wealthy, there will be no consistency between the company’s philosophy and positioning. If you set a positioning that does not align with your company’s philosophy, your reputation with customers may suffer, and you may even hear dissatisfaction within the company. As mentioned above, customer needs and differentiation from competitors are important, but it is also important to set your positioning in line with your company’s philosophy to avoid any trouble.
Perform repositioning
Of course, even if you set the positioning once, there are times when it does not lead to results or the customer’s reaction is poor. In such cases, consider repositioning. Sometimes the positioning we set up from the beginning wasn’t very good, and sometimes what customers want changes as the times change. This does not mean that you should not change your positioning once you have decided on it, even if it is unlikely to lead to results, so you should respond quickly to suit the situation.
summary
This time, we explained the basic knowledge of positioning, the benefits of setting it, and points to consider when setting positioning. If you position your product or service to meet the needs of customers in a place where there are few competitors, customers will have a reason to choose your product or service. In other words, it is no exaggeration to say that the key to business expansion is to set the correct positioning and make customers aware of it. Make sure to set up your products and services to be chosen by customers, and make your marketing a success.