Understanding Product Positioning

This assignment explores the concept of product positioning within strategic marketing. It defines positioning as a marketing theory that shapes a product's image in the minds of consumers through promotional strategies, pricing, distribution, and product features. The assignment delves into three main types of positioning: functional, symbolic, and experiential, highlighting the benefits each offers to customers and businesses. It further explains the product positioning process, emphasizing key elements like features, abstract attributes, direct and indirect benefits, surrogate positioning, and the importance of creating a distinct place for a product in the consumer's mind relative to competitors. Finally, the assignment touches upon product hierarchies and classifications, illustrating how different types of goods require unique marketing tactics.

Positioning within strategic marketing:
Positioning is a marketing Theory that summarize what a business should do to ensure the
availability of its product or service to its customers. In positioning, the marketing cell creates a
specific image for the product relying on its Targeted audience. This is created through the use of
promotion, price, place and product. The more intense a positioning strategy, typically the more
fruitfull the marketing strategy is for a company. A good positioning strategy encourages the
marketing efforts and helps a buyer move from knowledge of a product or service to its
purchase.
Particular form of positioning that you feel is pursued by an organisation with
which you are familiar:
More generally, there are three Basic types of positioning concepts:
1. Functional positions
 problems
 Provide Advantage to customers
 Get favorable perception by investors and lenders
2. Symbolic positions
 Self-image enlargement
 Ego identification
 Belongingness and social meaningfulness
 Affective fulfillment
3. Experiential positions
 Provide sensory stimulation
 Provide cognitive stimulation
Product positioning strategy
Product positioning strategy is the process which is implemented by marketers to
differentiate products and gain the best ways to launch the product attributes to the target
market. The best chance of a product has at surviving in the market is only if it has a
sustainable advantage and the unique offers over its competitor’s According to Karadeniz,
product positioning focuses on marketers which creates an identity for the product. For
example, products can be positioned as the most accessible, durable, reliable, reparable, the
best quality and also the lowest price.
Product positioning process:
The strategy and the other attributes that are to be used to draw customers to a brand can be the
make or break point in accessing a position where your brand is valued over competitors. Most

brands are generally positioned under one dominant positioning strategy, for the reason that it
communicates better to the market in relation to what their brand is trying to achieve. There are
many positioning concepts that companies use, which are of direct benefits, indirect benefits,
surrogate positioning, abstract attributes and features.
Features (concrete attributes) – characteristics of the brand advantage that can be measured,
tangible and specified to the product category
Abstract attributes – often regarded as a collection of concrete attributes, frequently comparable
across product categories, not tangible
Direct (functional) benefits – communicates advantages of the brand; the personal value
customers are given to product or service features, not directly observable; reflects whether a brand
works as intended, refers to problem solutions.
Indirect (experiential/symbolic) benefits –The advantages that satisfy hedonic requirements;
gives customers an indirect advantage of the usage of a product; perception of a self or a social-
image benefit.
Surrogate Positioning – designed to create consumer associations about external aspects of a
brand; allows an individual to come to an individual ressult about the brand.
To be successful in a particular market a product must occupy an "explicit, distinct and proper place
in the minds of all potential and existing consumers". It has to also be relative to other rival products
on the market of which is has to compete with.
tactics that might be used by the organisation to establish and reinforce that
positioning:
Delight Customers by exceeding expectations.
Product Heirarchy:
1. Need Family
2. Product Family
3. Product Class
4. Product Line
5. Product Type
6. Brand
7. Item
Product Classifications: Different types of goods require different Marketing tactics to be
successful.
1. Durable Goods
2. Non Durable Goods

3. Services