Fine I say, a company has managed to create a product portfolio and we are expecting the company to do well in the coming year. All very fine, but there is another gentleman who has come up with the same product, and then what do you do? Especially when you really felt that you could have possibly taken the entire market by storm. The key, my dear friend lies in differentiating your offer. Why do you feel the customer should buy your product and not the other person’s? So, you associate certain attributes to your product (including all the widths and lengths) and you touch your customer’s heart. All of a second he feels that, ‘oh my God, how did he know that I wanted that?’ That my friend is what positioning is all about. You were able to reach out to the customer and able to relate to him. God bless positioning. So, what is positioning after all?

‘Positioning’ is one of the most widely bandied-about (and least well-defined!) buzzwords in Marketing. We quite often hear people say ‘positioning’ when they actually mean ‘advertising strategy’ or ‘research concept’. Other times we hear people refer to ‘brand values‘ when they really mean ‘positioning’.

“The positioning is a strategic statement of what differentiates your brand competitively in the market– and inside the mind of the target customer. It’s what gives him/her reasons to buy you, to be loyal to you, to be an advocate for you.

Tangible (product & service) features form the scaffolding that supports your positioning and makes it believable – but a truly strong positioning goes beyond these tangible factors, making powerful and emotive connections”.

Positioning can have many different ‘starting places’ depending on the psychology of the market concerned:

• User imagery & badging: “The precise, stylish brand of office technology which says you’re really creative in the way you run your business”
• Usage occasion: “The wholesome toaster-snack, which warms, satisfies and comforts when you’ve just come home after a really hard day“
• Mood transformation: “The drinks brand which brings out what’s most cool, adventurous and attractive inside the secret you”