A product positioning strategy is not to be ignored. Used correctly, you’ll get more bang for your buck with everything it can offer. Focusing on product positioning gives your company the chance to rebrand, revamp, and, most importantly, make your products stand out.
What Is A Product Positioning Strategy?
If there is ever a question of whether your target audience is seeing your product or not, the missing link is most likely product positioning. Exercising product positioning specifies who sees your amazing products and how they see them. You’ve got killer products, but they are of no use if they are not seen by the people who want them or if you can’t advocate for them correctly.
Brand Positioning Or Product Positioning
First things first, let’s determine the difference between brand and product positioning. Brand positioning has everything to do with your target audience. Think of brand positioning as focusing on hitting the nail on the head every time. You are exactly where your target audience is. Every time.
Whereas product positioning holds its focuses on how potential customers view your product. To “win” at product positioning is to accurately highlight the benefits and use of your product to potential customers.
Why Is Product Positioning Important?
Product positioning is what you have to thank for standing out among every other product out there. When you take the time to strengthen your product positioning strategy, you’ll see real growth and be able to set yourself apart from your competition.
Diversify Your Target Audience
Determining your target audience is a great start to understanding what consumers need from your products, but it doesn’t stop there. Use product positioning to connect deeper with your target audience and align your values with theirs. Take it one step further: you can dip your toes into new markets and end up breaking into a whole new section of your target audience. The road to a larger, stronger, more diverse audience is right down the path of product positioning.
Anticipate Market Changes
Harnessing a product positioning strategy works towards predicting changes in the market. Based on certain positioning tactics, you can see how favored they are by consumers. From there, you should infer where the market is directed. Product positioning is not only the one and only hype man you need for your products but is also a telltale sign about your consumers’ tendencies.
Build Customer Rapport
Repositioning, in essence, means understanding what the consumers need and providing that need to the best of your ability. By acknowledging the needs of your consumers, you create a strong relationship with your audience. Increasing loyalty while satisfying your audience will generate more and more activity toward what you have to share.
Attract, Attract, Attract
An accurate product positioning strategy will express all the values, benefits, and good things your products can offer. If your product positioning is done the right way, it will accurately reflect everything your company has to offer and snap heads toward you. An effective product positioning strategy takes your products and services out of hiding and right into the consumers’ path.
Break The Ice On New Products
You’ve got the following, and now it’s easier for your company to introduce new topics and push traffic forward. You’ve got the means and backup to reveal new products, and with your already steady following, you can ensure they receive the love and support they deserve.
To give you a headstart on your soon-to-be game-changing product positioning strategy, these templates serve to organize any potential marketing plans, goals, or strategies.
Types Of Product Positioning Strategies
Product positioning can be broken down into various paths, each that focuses on different main points that sell for your product. It doesn’t always mean a one-size-fits-all situation, to nail your product positioning strategy, one approach may suit your product better than the other.
Quality-Based Positioning Strategy
Choose to pursue a quality-based positioning strategy that shines the light on how high-quality your products are. Setting a focus on quality will take attention away from the price. The quality-based approach instills in the audience’s mind that no matter the price it’s essential because of how well this product does its job. Align your product with all high-quality products enticing your audience regardless of price or other external factors.
Competitor-Based Positioning
Competitor-based positioning draws a clear line between your product and the rest. Highlight specific features that only your product has. Contrast your product with your competitors to help set your product apart from the competition. Make your product more desirable and unique. Avoid blending in with the crowd and make your product pop with competitor-based positioning.
Feature Or Characteristic-Based Positioning
There is a reason your team is working to promote your product. Whether that reason is efficiency, accessibility, or convenience you’re communicating the X factor that makes your product indispensable. Ever hear of playing to your strengths? Positioning your product to focus on what your product does best is exactly that.
Pricing-Based Positioning Strategy
A common blocker for many customers, no matter the product, is price. Choosing a pricing-based positioning strategy can offer an alternative to customers that will save them money. Your product can become the affordable option they needed.
How To Build A Product Positioning Statement
Before launching your new product positioning strategy, it’s important to clarify your product positioning approach to your audience. Providing a positioning statement will set the tone for all future product positioning, and give a voice to your efforts.
Define The Target Audience
To position your products effectively, it’s vital to establish your target audience. Think of what type of customers search for your product or could benefit from what you have to offer. Without a target audience, you could end up firing on all cylinders to the wrong crowd.
Determine Unique Selling Proposition
To ensure your product and your product statement stand out, you need to determine a unique selling proposition. This is basically what your product or service does better than the other products or services competing for your customers. This serves as proof that your product can do things that others can’t. Shows your product doesn’t just talk the talk but walks the walk.
Consider Segmenting The Target Audience
It’s helpful to hone in on a specific group of customers for your product. You’ve narrowed it down to your target audience but when it comes to the wants and needs of your audience, there can be a lot of noise. To drown it out and get a better sense of what certain people need, consider narrowing your lens a little more. You can reach more niche groups and deliver more focused, personal messages that will create a buzz in your audience. On top of that, you will avoid wasting efforts on people who are not interested in your product.
Do Competitor Research
To help anticipate change, get a leg up on fellow competitors and brainstorm ways you can set your brand apart from theirs. It’s not a bad idea to scope out the competition. Give yourself the opportunity to size up your competition and know what you need to do to compete.
Create Your Message
After all the curating and planning, it’s time to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and begin writing your message. Within your message there are a few necessary points to address:
Check those boxes off and you can be sure all the bases are covered and your product positioning strategy will speak highly for your company.
Monitor The Results
Opportunities don’t stop once your statement is published. Analyze the results generated from your product positioning statement to gain further insight. You can supervise the click-through rate on your website from your statement and get a better understanding of potential changes. You have the results and by monitoring them you can use them for substantial help that will improve your statement.
Brand Repositioning
All of this product positioning stuff is helpful to jumpstart any product positioning that you wanted to test drive, but what do you do when you need to reposition your product? Within the product positioning realm, nothing needs to be set in stone.
If you’re unsure whether brand repositioning is the right move, here’s a way to know. If you feel you want to shift how your audience perceives your product then you are in the position to begin your repositioning. To engage in brand repositioning you’re actively changing things to alter the way others perceive your brand compared to how they used to.