Contrary to the common thought of positioning products/services in marketplace, marketers should rather reshape the thought and make it to positioning in consumer minds and not marketplace. But by just reshaping this thought wouldn’t help much in addressing the challenges faced in the market place; and that too with many of your competitors battling it out to gain that top spot in the consumers mind. So what are these challenges after all:
- Positioning is not a standalone activity – There are two other factors that are relevant for positioning’s success and they are Segmentation and Differentiation. Without these two, positioning is set to fail. The fact that Raymond is a premier brand wouldn’t have been perceived so had it not been segmented and targeted to a niche set of corporate executives and differentiated themselves with world class suiting. It is in the minds of the targeted segments would you want to position your brand. So successful positioning depends on segmentation and differentiation.
- Positioning is different for different set of consumer groups – You launched a product or a service and as always there is a group called early adopters who reach out to you. You have a single positioning strategy for this set. Now the challenge for you is the next set of consumer groups who would take some time to use your product or avail your service. You may have to bring out an alternate strategy to address this next set of consumers
- Battlefield: Consumer Mind: Like it was mentioned earlier, your positioning should be in the mind; the difficulty of getting into it depends on the way you decide your strategy. At the same time you will witness your competitors too deploying their own tactics – all in all – one tough battle with multiple armies!
Well these were some of the the challenges we feel may prove a hurdle to form the positioning strategy. You feel there are some more? Let us know!
