Positioning Services

in Competitive
Markets

What is segmentation?
A

Market segment is a subgroup of

people or organizations sharing one
or more characteristics that cause
them to have similar product needs.
Market segmentation is the
process in marketing of dividing a
market into distinct subsets
(segments) that behave in the same
way or have similar needs.

Why company goes for

segmentation??

Important Elements of
Market Segmentation
Each

market segment has unique

wants and will have a unique
demands

Each

market segment requires its

own marketing strategy and
marketing plan.

Three questions which led to

segmentation.
Who

is buying?

What
Why

do they buy?

do they buy ?

Criteria for segmenting

consumer market.
Geographic

segmentation.

Demographic

segmentation.

Psychographic.
Behavioralistic.

Geographic
Segmentation.
Region:by

continent,country,state,or
even neighbourhood.

Population
Climate.

density.

Demographic
Segmentation.
Age.
Gender.
Family size.
Generation.
Income.
Occupation.
Education.

 Ethnicity.
Social class.
Religion.

Psychographic
Segmentation.
Lifestyle.
Personality
Values.

Behavioralistic
segmentation.
Behavioralistic

segmentation is
based on actual customer behavior
towards product.It consists of
Occasion.
Usage.
Loyalty.
Benefit sought.

Occasion.
When

a product is consumed or
purchase.
For example air travel is triggered by
occasion related to busines,vacation
or family.
Certain days such as Mothers day,&
fathers days were promoted partly
to increase the sale of candy &
flower.

Usage.
Some

market can be segmented into

light medium & heavy user.
Marketers are usually attracted to
heavy users.
For example Airlines gives the
frequent flier status" to its heavy
users, among other benefit.

Loyalty Status.
Hard

Core loyals.

Split

loyals.

Shifting

loyals.

Switchers.

Hard Core Loyals.

Consumers

who buy one brand all

the time.
These

brand.

brands have status of cult

Split Loyals.
Splits

loyals are those person who

use more than one brand.

For

example customer may used two

or three brands of perfume.

Shifting Loyals.
Customers

who shift their loyalty

from one brand to another can be
classified under this segment.

For

example person sing Lux for

quite sometime ,might shift to
Cinthol.

Switchers.
Switchers

are those customer who

are not brand specific .These people
might buy any brand on impulse or
to seek variety.

Benefit Sought.
Benefit

segmentation requires
marketers to understand & find the
main benefit customer look for in a
product.
For example in toothpaste market
where research has found four main
benefit
segmenteconomic,medicinal
,cosmetic & taste.

Hybrid segmentation approaches.

Hybrid

segmentation means
combining more than one
segmentation variable.
It is also known as multiattribute
segmentation.

Targeting the right group of

customers

After

segmenting the market based

on the different groups and classes,
you will need to choose your targets.
No one strategy will suit all
consumer groups, so being able to
develop specific strategies for your
target markets is very important.

Strategies for target markets

Undifferentiated

Targeting: This approach

views the market as one group with no
individual segments, therefore using a single
marketing strategy.
Eg: General Casualty Hospital.

 Concentrated

Targeting: This approach focuses

on selecting a particular market niche on which
marketing efforts are targeted. Your firm is
focusing on a single segment so you can
concentrate on understanding the needs and wants
of that particular market intimately
Eg: Asian Heart Institute And Research Centre,
Mumbai
Fortis Escorts Heart Institute & Research Centre

 Multi-Segment

Targeting: This approach is

used if you need to focus on two or more well
defined market segments and want to develop
different strategies for them.
Eg : P. D. Hinduja Hospital and Medical
Research Centre

Positioning
Positioning

strategy is concerned with creating,

communicating and maintaining distinctive
differences that will be noticed and valued by
those customers
Requires managers to understand their target
customers preferences, their conceptions of value
and characteristics of their competitors offerings
Price and product attributes are 2 elements
commonly associated with positioning strategy.

Standing Apart from the

Competition
A business must set itself apart from its competition.
To be successful it must identify and promote itself
as the best provider of attributes that are
important to target customers
George S. Day

Four Principles of Positioning

Strategy

Must establish position for firm or

product in minds of customers

Position should be distinctive, providing

one simple, consistent message

Position must set firm/product apart

from competitors

A company cannot be all things to all

peoplemust focus its efforts

Principles of Positioning

What does our firm currently stand for in the minds of current and
prospective customers?

What customers do we serve now, and which ones would we like

to target in the future?

What is value proposition and target segment for each of our

current service offerings?

How do our service offerings differ from competitors?

What changes must we make to our offerings to strengthen our

competitive position?

Developing an Effective Positioning

Strategy
Point

of difference (PODs)
Most compelling benefit offered by brand
that stands
out from competitors
Point of parity (POPs)
Associations that are not necessarily unique
to the brand but infact be shared with other
brands

Levis
Strauss
& Co.
We Invented Blue Jeans

POINTS OF PARITY
Accessibility
Convenience
Variety
Quality
Fitting

jeans

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE
Authentic
Original
Innovation
Premium

price

Positioning
Approach

Your Levis, Your Style

Comfort, Fit and Style
We Invented Blue Jeans
Innovative and trendy
Classic yet modern
Best quality
Dynamic

Slogans Used by
Companies
The best a man can
get.

Finger-lickin
good!
Share moments. Share life.

Because Im worth it.

Developing a Market Positioning

Strategy
MARKET
ANALYSIS

INTERNAL
ANALYSIS

- Size

- Composition
- Location
- Trends

- Resources

- Reputation
- Constraints
- Values

Define, Analyze
Market Segments
Select
Target Segments
To Serve
Articulate
Desired Position
in Market

Marketing
Action
Plan

Select Benefits
to Emphasize
to Customers

COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS

- Strengths

- Weaknesses
- Current
Positioning

Analyze
Possibilities for
Differentiation
Source: Developed from an earlier schematic by Michael R. Pearce

Anticipating Competitive Response

Competitors

might pursue same market position

Get inside competitors headsconduct internal
corporate analysis for all current/potential
challengers to get sense of how they might act
Analyze possible effects of alternative
competitive moves
Responses of different segments to changes in service

attributes

Changing Competitive Positioning

Repositioning
Positions

evolve in response to changing market

structures, technology, competitive activity, and
the nature of firm itself
Firm may have to make significant change in
existing position
Revising service characteristics; redefining
target market segments; abandoning certain
products; withdrawing from certain market
segments

 Improving

negative brand perceptions may

require extensive redesign of core product
Weaknesses may be perceptual rather than
real.

Repositioning

introduces new dimensions into

positioning equation that other firms cannot
immediately match