Brand positioning

Positioning refers to the place that a brand occupies in the mind of the customer and how it is distinguished from products from competitors. In order to position products or brands, companies may emphasize the distinguishing features of their brand (what it is, what it does and how, etc.) or they may try to create a suitable image (inexpensive or premium, utilitarian or luxurious, entry-level or high-end, etc.) through the marketing mix. Once a brand has achieved a strong position, it can become difficult to reposition it.

Positioning is one of the most powerful marketing concepts. Originally, positioning focused on the product and with Ries and Trout grew to include building a product's reputation and ranking among competitor's products. Primarily, it is about "the place a brand occupies in the mind of its target audience". Positioning is now a regular marketing activity or strategy. A national positioning strategy can often be used, or modified slightly, as a tool to accommodate entering into foreign markets.

It has also been called product positioning, but that is a limiting description because it focuses on the product itself, while the positioning marketing technique focuses on the minds of the consumers.

David Ogilvy noted that while there was no real consensus as to the meaning of positioning among marketing experts, his definition is "what a product does, and who it is for". For instance, Dove has been successfully positioned as bars of soap for women with dry hands, vs. a product for men with dirty hands.

Ries and Trout advanced several definitions of positioning. In an article, Industrial Marketing, published in 1969, Jack Trout stated that positioning is a mental device used by consumers to simplify information inputs and store new information in a logical place. He said this is important because the typical consumer is overwhelmed with unwanted advertising, and has a natural tendency to discard all information that does not immediately find a comfortable (and empty) slot in their mind. In Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, the duo expanded the definition as "an organized system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances".

Positioning is closely related to the concept of perceived value. In marketing, value is defined as the difference between a prospective customer's evaluation of the benefits and costs of one product when compared with others. Value can be expressed in numerous forms including product benefits, features, style, value for money.

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