Positioning (marketing)

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 for to accommodate entering into foreign markets.

It has also be 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.

Several large brands—Lipton, Kraft, and Tide—developed "precisely worded" positioning statements that guided how products would be packaged, promoted and advertised in the 1950s and 1960s. The article, "How Brands Were Born: A Brief History of Modern Marketing," states "This marked the start of almost 50 years of marketing where 'winning' was determined by understanding the consumer better than your competitors and the getting the total 'brand mix' right. Advertising guru, David Ogilvy, stated in an article in 1963 that he believed that "the most important decision is how to position your product". This early positioning tactic was focused on the product itself—its "form, package size, and price", according to Al Ries and Jack Trout

According to Stephen A. Fox, Al Ries and Jack Trout "resurrected the concept and made it their trademark. They stated that positioning means focusing on the consumer, rather than oneself. In addition to the previous focus on the product, positioning now includes building a brand's reputation and competitive standing. Ries and Trout, former advertising executives, published articles about positioning in Industrial Marketing in 1969 and Advertising Age in 1972. By the early 1970s, positioning became a popular word with marketers, especially those in advertising and promotion. In 1981, Ries and Trout published their classic book, Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind. John P. Maggard notes that positioning provides planners with a valuable conceptual vehicle for implementation of more meaningful and productive marketing strategies.

...
Wikipedia