Chapter 11 Chapter 9 Choosing the right market position

Positioning starts with the product.A product, a service, a company, an institution, or even a person... However, positioning is not about taking any action on the product itself.Positioning is to take action against the psychology of potential customers, that is, to determine an appropriate position for the product in the minds of potential customers. All marketing strategies are based on STP - Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.After a company discovers different needs and groups in the market, it targets those needs and groups that can be met in a better way, and then positions its products so that the target market can recognize the company's unique products and image.

In 1959, Honda's mopeds entered the US market. Initial sales were not satisfactory, with only 167 units sold in the first year.Motorcycle pundits scoffed at these small Japanese products as toys, but the scoffing and skepticism were quickly changed. In 1977, the market share of major motorcycle manufacturers in the United States was as follows: Honda 45.6%, Yamaha 18.9%, Suzuki 10.7%, Kawasaki 14.4%, Harley Davidson 5.7%.How did Honda manage to gain market share in a motorcycle-hating America?The answer lies in the precise positioning of Honda motorcycles in the US market. Honda's main target audience for its motorcycles is young people.Honda and Gray figured that as the hordes of babies born after World War II grew up, products that reflected their personalities would be in demand.Honda's new Qingqi is one such product.When one suspects that many parents might object to their children buying motorcycles, Honda believes advertising can change their minds.

The main consumers who buy motorcycles are some young people aged 16 to 26. Among these people, there are college students, young professionals, and some people who have just become white-collar workers.Honda has successfully instilled in people through advertising that people who ride motorcycles are stylish and sophisticated. Guided by the success of its market positioning, Honda entered the US market with a small lightweight (50cc) motorcycle.This bike can be had for less than $300, while most other motorcycles go for around $1,500 or more.And for the special preferences of young people, Honda motorcycles have 6 lively colors and 3 different models for customers to choose from, while the motorcycles of other companies generally only have two or three models and colors to choose from.The little Honda can go 55 mph and go 180 miles on 40-cent regular gas.The quality of its products is impeccable.When Honda motorcycles first took over the U.S. market, it expanded its product line, trying to make the best fit for each potential customer. In 1965, Honda had 14 types of motorcycles, ranging from small 50CC to high-speed 305CC. In 1966, for Harley-Davidson, Honda launched a 450CC large motorcycle.

Through precise market positioning, Honda successfully opened up the sales of motorcycles in the United States.A successful enterprise must have a successful positioning.When positioning for each market segment, the first thing an enterprise needs to decide is which market positioning strategy to adopt. Generally speaking, there are three types: quality attribute positioning, competitor positioning and product category positioning. Brand attribute positioning.Quality attribute positioning is the most widely used positioning strategy for enterprise positioning, that is, positioning is based on quality attributes that are interrelated with a product's characteristics or a certain consumer's interest pursuit.Taking the market positioning of various cars as an example, Hyundai emphasizes low price; Volvo emphasizes safety and durability by demonstrating its crash test in advertisements; The sedan, using European technology; BMW focuses on driving and engineering efficiency, and shows BMW's driving performance on the racing track.

Competitor positioning.The main purpose of competitor positioning is to convince consumers that its brand is the superior brand (or a widely accepted good brand) in the market for important quality attributes.A classic example of competitor positioning is the Avis car rental company's "We're No. 2 in the world, so we work harder" ad campaign.Its positioning strategy was to position Avis as a major rental agency alongside Hertz, and successfully distanced itself from National, which at the time was as large as Avis. Avis car rental company's competitor positioning strategy is quite successful.

Product category positioning.Product category positioning refers to the company's market positioning according to different product categories.For example, some margarines are positioned against buttercream, others against cooking oil.The positioning of Camry soap is classified into the same category as bath liquid, not soap. Each company and each product must represent a unique idea in the target market; each company must envision new features, services and guarantees, special rewards, and make them convenient and enjoyable for loyal users. Enterprises should identify their position in the market according to their own advantages, define their products according to the needs of consumers in the target market, design a position that can bring the product the greatest competitive advantage, and design a marketing mix based on this position.

Southwest Airlines in the United States has firmly positioned itself as a short-haul, no-frills, low-cost airline. Under this positioning strategy, the airline does not provide meals, only peanuts.There is no first class on all the planes, only three seats.At the same time, there is no reservation of seats on the company's flights. Passengers get sorted boarding passes on a first-come, first-served basis, and every 30 people board the plane together.The flight time is only one hour, and the average one-way cost only costs customers $76. Although Southwest Airlines' plane travel is not as comfortable, many travelers still love it, thanks to Southwest Airlines' superiority in getting passengers to their destinations on time. In 1992, Southwest Airlines won the first Triangle Crown Award from the U.S. Department of Transportation for its best on-time service, best baggage handling and best customer service, and won this award for five consecutive years.For more than a decade, Southwest Airlines has been the industry leader in on-time service.

Southwest Airlines owes much of its solid status to its exact positioning: "Uncomfortable...but cheap and fun." Southwest Airlines is a typical example of efficient and low-cost operations.In fact, with its low prices, Southwest entered a new market: It actually increased total air traffic by attracting passengers who would otherwise drive or take the bus.Southwest Airlines, for example, offers a Louisville-Chicago route for $49 one-way, compared with $250 for a competitor.As a result, the total weekly air passenger traffic between the two cities increased from 8,000 to 26,000. However, no unnecessary services and low prices do not mean dull.To lighten the mood, Southwest added another positioning element—lots of fun, wholesome entertainment.Southwest Airlines employees dress up as Irish Patronus elves and Easter bunnies, and on Halloween there's pretty much everything.Stewardesses sing about safety, country, blues and rap, and passengers introduce themselves, hug, kiss and propose.Even Kelleher, the company's chief executive, once greeted customers with makeup as Elvis Presley.Southwest uses these methods to surprise and entertain passengers.

As a result of this solid positioning, the company has successfully overcome the challenges of several major competitors to become the fourth largest airline in the United States. The market positioning of a company is not what you do with a product itself, but what you do in the minds of potential consumers.The essence of market positioning is to strictly distinguish the company from other companies, so that customers can clearly feel and recognize this difference, thus occupying a special position in the minds of customers.In fact, the positioning of enterprises is inseparable from the positioning of products and brands.The realization of corporate positioning must be based on the positioning of products and brands, and based on customer needs, the unique personality, culture and good image of the company must be shaped in the minds of consumers, so as to occupy a certain position in the minds of consumers.

It will be difficult for a company to win if its products or services are similar to those of other companies.Today, however, many companies are subject to a centralization strategy.Companies must come up with meaningful and relevant positioning and differentiation. Kotler gave a definition of product positioning, that is, product positioning is the method by which consumers define products according to their important attributes.In other words, compared with other competing products, our products should occupy a unique position in the minds of consumers.For example, in the laundry detergent market, Tide is positioned as strong cleaning power and thorough descaling; Octo is positioned as "effective bleaching"; Shanft is "an excellent detergent for baby clothes and can protect delicate skin" ,etc.Every product must find its exact position in the market in order to achieve marketing success.

"Volvo Cars" was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden.The production of the products is done in Sweden, Belgium and China.Volvo Cars has established a sales and service network in more than 100 countries around the world, and has more than 2,400 showrooms.Despite the impact of the financial crisis, Volvo Cars' global sales in 2008 were still as high as 380,000. Of course, the value of Volvo Cars is not only reflected in sales volume, but also a huge wealth of brand influence accumulated over the past century.The fame of Volvo Cars is largely due to its achievements in car safety. The cars it produces have always been firmly positioned as "safety".As the first car manufacturer to use seat belts, Volvo Cars has even become a model for global car companies. In 2000, Volvo Cars established the Automobile Safety Center, which is one of the most advanced automobile crash test centers in the world, which can truly reproduce various types of vehicle collision accidents that occur in life.In the latest safety technology, such as collision warning system with automatic braking function, city safety system, etc., are very effective active safety configurations.The use of many advanced safety technologies has earned Volvo Cars the reputation of the safest car in the world. Volvo's success is not accidental, but it is not unrelated to its accurate positioning of products.Marketing scholars believe that product positioning is not a single concept, and a complete product positioning includes three parts: 1.value proposition.When customers buy products, they always want to realize some kind of personal value.Different customers have different interest demands on products and services, and interests are realized by different product and service attributes.Obviously, Volvo's value proposition is the world-renowned "safety" performance. 2.interest positioning.Many health care products such as Chinese Turtle Essence, Majiajun No. 1, Life Nuclear Energy, and Brain Gold have their own value propositions, such as making "100 million people smarter", but the products quickly disappeared from the market. The fundamental reason is that Due to the lack of benefit positioning, target customers do not feel the health care effect of these products.This is like toothpaste without the anti-cavity function, but you desperately shout the value appeal of "no tooth decay, be a good mother", naturally it is impossible to succeed. 3.attribute positioning.Product attribute positioning largely determines whether product benefit positioning can be realized.Therefore, after studying the interests that customers or consumers care about and value, it is necessary to specifically study which product attributes are used to realize these interests.Product attributes are the conditions to ensure product benefits and must be considered in the production process. Therefore, in the process of communicating with target customers, it is often not necessary to emphasize the positioning of product attributes, but to emphasize the positioning of product benefits and values. Attribute positioning, benefit positioning and value positioning are interdependent and complementary, and enterprises need to consider comprehensively when positioning. Brand is only a means, a means to integrate resources; brand positioning is not the pursuit of "precision", but the pursuit of the best "different values" of resources based on the "value evaluation" of various resources. The essence of positioning is to occupy consumers' mental resources and complete registration in consumers' minds.Colgate's registration in consumers' minds is no tooth decay, Volvo's registration is safety, Dell's registration is computers, and other brands, so they have all succeeded.Brand positioning has already become a consensus in foreign marketing circles, but in my country, it was not until the success of Wanglaoji's brand positioning that the chapter of Chinese brand positioning was officially opened. Before 2002, the red canned Wanglaoji was a well-lived brand with stable sales in Guangdong and good profitability. The sales performance remained at more than 100 million yuan for several consecutive years.After developing to this scale, the management of Jiaduobao naturally wants to make the company bigger and go to the whole country. However, in order to become bigger and stronger, Wanglaoji has to face a practical problem - whether to sell Wanglaoji as a "herbal tea" or a "drink"? In Guangdong, traditional herbal tea is widely used as "medicine" because of its remarkable effect on reducing internal heat. It is not necessary and cannot be drunk frequently.And "Wanglaoji", a brand with a history of hundreds of years, is the synonym for herbal tea.Therefore, Wanglaoji was burdened by the brand name, and it was not easy for Cantonese people to accept it as a drink that can be drunk frequently, and its sales volume was greatly limited. On the other hand, the Wanglaoji formula produced by Jiaduobao originated from the descendants of the Wang family in Hong Kong. It is a food brand product approved by the state. Its smell, color, and packaging are very different from the traditional herbal tea in the perception of Guangdong consumers. Moreover, the taste is sweet, and the medicinal power of "reducing fire" is insufficient.Red Pot Wanglaoji owns the brand of Wanglaoji, the ancestor of herbal tea, but it has a drink-like face, which makes consumers feel that "it seems to be herbal tea, but also like a drink", and falls into cognitive confusion. At the end of 2002, Jiaduobao approached Chengmei Marketing Consulting Company and entrusted it to carry out the brand positioning of Red Pot Wanglaoji.The marketing company found that consumers in Guangdong mainly drink Wanglaoji on barbecues, mountaineering and other occasions. They do not require "treatment" of Wanglaoji, but buy it as a functional drink. The real motivation for purchasing is "to prevent getting angry". Further research on Wanglaoji's direct competitors, such as chrysanthemum tea and herbal tea, etc., due to the lack of brand promotion, only penetrated the market at low prices, and did not occupy the position of "beverages to prevent getting angry".However, cola, tea drinks, juice drinks, water, etc. obviously do not have the function of "preventing getting angry", and are only indirect competition. Therefore, Wanglaoji's identity as the "ancestor of herbal tea", mysterious Chinese herbal medicine formula, and 175-year history are obviously capable of firmly occupying the position of "beverage to prevent getting angry". After more than a month of research, Wanglaoji's brand positioning has basically formed: firstly, it is clear that Wanglaoji is competing in the "beverage" industry, and its competitors should be other beverages; its brand positioning - "drinks to prevent getting angry", the unique value lies ——Drinking Wanglaoji can prevent getting angry, so that consumers can enjoy life without worry: eating fried food, spicy food, barbecue, watching football all night... Once the brand positioning of Wanglaoji is established, the direction of marketing and promotion will be clarified. All marketing efforts will follow this standard, so as to ensure that every promotion will accumulate brand value (positioning).Since then, Wanglaoji has maintained rapid growth for several consecutive years. In 2008, its sales volume exceeded 10 billion yuan, becoming "the first can of beverage in China". There are many high-quality products in the herbal tea industry, such as Denglao herbal tea and many other high-quality products, but only Wanglaoji has succeeded, which is worth our deep thinking.In fact, after the success of "Red Pot Wanglaoji" with the brand positioning of "prevention of getting angry", many herbal tea brands followed suit. They became followers of "Wanglaoji", from the color of the can, capacity The product names are all very similar.Many brands including "Sanjiu", "Coconut Tree", "Dali" and other enterprises have entered the herbal tea industry, and they all focus on the concept of "under fire". However, none of them have been able to propose a brand positioning that is different from "Wanglaoji" in the minds of consumers. So far, they have not been able to shake the strong position of "Wanglaoji", but have suffered losses to varying degrees.The real brand positioning is to find the positioning that distinguishes it from competitors in the minds of consumers, rather than blindly following the trend. Once a company successfully differentiates itself, its differentiation can only be maintained for a short period of time.Competitors will quickly copy the ideas of these numbers.As a result, companies need to constantly think of new value-added features and benefits to capture the attention and interest of consumers who often change choices and are price-sensitive. Enterprises can also refer to competitors for market positioning.The main purpose of competitor positioning is to convince consumers that the company's brand is superior to its competitors' on important quality attributes.Positioning in relation to competitors is a common practice in advertisements that mention rivals and competitors by name.For example, Pepsi and Coca-Cola both advertise comparatively, claiming that their brands taste better than the other. The Burger King ad argues that McDonald's hamburgers have less beef and don't taste as good as Burger King because McDonald's products are not roasted over fire.A company that produces "milk-flavored jelly beans" also benefits from competitive strategic positioning: "Milk-flavored jelly beans" is a kind of caramelized beans that are sold in small boxes. The business expanded to younger, sugar-loving customer groups. After investigation, the company found that the normal expected age of customers for "milk-flavored jelly beans" is 10 years old. For most 10-year-old children, the longing for candy will immediately form the concept of stick candy.For example, Hershey, Snickers and other brands of lollipops, of course, these brands have spent millions of advertising dollars to gain consumer awareness. Due to the limited funds in the hands of "milk-flavored jelly beans", it is obviously unrealistic to build a brand by spending money on advertising.So the company decided that the only way to make "milk jelly beans" ingrained in kids' minds was to try to reposition the candy bar category.In other words, it was trying to position its brand as a superior product to the candy bar, so that the millions of advertising dollars spent by competitors would be used to promote "milk jelly beans". Fortunately, there is a glaring weakness to exploit in the lollipop competition. Candy bars don't last long.A child can devour a candy bar in 2.3 seconds, creating a general feeling of resentment among candy-loving children. "Milk-flavored jelly beans" are different. They are packaged in boxes instead of paper bags, allowing children to eat 15 caramels that cannot be eaten all at once.Compared with candy bars, a box of "milk jelly beans" can last for a long time. Therefore, the new positioning of "milk-flavored jelly beans" is: it is a candy that is more "eatable" than lollipops.This positioning was promoted through TV advertisements, which not only reversed the declining sales trend of "milk flavored jelly beans", but also surpassed any previous sales volume in the following months. When positioning itself, "Milk Flavored Jelly Bean" first starts from its competitors, and fully analyzes its own advantages and disadvantages in dealing with competition, so as to effectively use resources and effectively counterattack powerful opponents. Many marketers understand that market positioning must adapt to the situation of competition, and when companies face competition, there are two main types of market positioning that can be adopted: evasive positioning and conflicting positioning. 1.Avoidance positioning.In a highly competitive market, some smaller companies simply cannot compete with powerful companies. In this case, if a small company wants to gain a foothold in the market, it should look for a market that has been forgotten by the big companies. This is what we call Avoidance positioning. Avoidance positioning, also known as innovative positioning.It means that the company avoids product competition with powerful competitors and uses this strategy to position its products. It requires the company to promote products that are different from competitors' products. Therefore, generally, products with this positioning can be sold in the market Leave a special impression in the minds of customers. For example, automakers in Germany and Japan are examples of successful positioning in the blank market for small cars that serve the public by adopting a positioning strategy that avoids competing with American manufacturers in the market for large luxury cars.After the oil crisis, Americans' love for fuel-efficient cars continued to escalate. As a result, small cars had a broad market in the United States, prompting Germany and Japan to succeed in marketing in the American auto market. 2.conflicting positioning Conflicting positioning The firm chooses a market position that is similar or overlaps with its competitors and competes for the same customers.Because of this positioning of the product, there is little difference between competitors in terms of price, distribution, and promotion.Therefore, companies have to take great risks.But this kind of positioning can make the company stand on the same level as the powerful opponent from the very beginning, and it can motivate itself to make progress. Once successful, it will gain a huge market advantage.For example, the "milk-flavored jelly beans" in the above case established its position in the candy market through conflicting positioning. Once a company successfully differentiates itself, its differentiation can only be maintained for a short period of time.Competitors will quickly copy these good ideas.As a result, companies need to constantly think of new value-added features and benefits to capture the attention and interest of consumers who often change choices and are price-sensitive. Once the positioning is determined, it is not static.Marketers sometimes have to reposition a product, store, or organization to change the image or status of the product, store, or organization itself in the minds of customers.As Kotler said, companies must monitor and adjust product positioning from time to time to adapt to changes in consumer demand and competitor strategies. DuPont is one of the oldest and most diversified multinational technology companies in the world today.With the development of market economy, DuPont decided to become a sustainable company based on science.According to a survey by the corporate image project team, DuPont is currently perceived as a "chemical company" that invented great raw materials and produced traditional chemicals.The corporate slogan "Produce high-quality products and create a better life" that has been used since 1935 focuses on DuPont products.In order to better reflect the future development direction of DuPont, DuPont decided to adjust its corporate positioning. DuPont realized that a new corporate identity that uniquely expressed the essence of the company was extremely important to accelerate the company's development process.Therefore, DuPont specially invited four agencies to design for DuPont's new positioning.The relevant companies have done a lot of market research and put forward corresponding suggestions.In the end, "Creating a Scientific Miracle" came to the fore. In the development process of nearly 200 years, the technology created by DuPont has had a revolutionary impact on human production and life.Such as nylon, which set off a revolution in modern materials, the first synthesis of neoprene in the 1920s, the invention of Lycra elastic fiber, NOMEX and Kevlar high-melting aromatic polyamide fibers in the 1960s, and the introduction of environmentally friendly pesticides sulfonylureas in the 1980s , In 1998, the once-daily anti-AIDS drug SUSTIVA was launched, and so on. The new positioning of "creating scientific miracles" enables DuPont to keep its traditions and future in line, and aligns the company's strategic direction with its mission of sustainable development. In order to launch the new positioning of the company, DuPont has adopted a series of publicity steps to cooperate with the implementation of the new positioning.The most prominent thing is that before the start of all external publicity activities, the company communicates with employees so that every employee understands the company's new positioning and new development direction.In addition to holding staff meetings, relevant content is published in the staff newsletter and the company's intranet.DuPont's glory for more than two centuries is inseparable from its positioning strategy. With the development of the market economy, the positioning of enterprises cannot be static or too blind, because repositioning is much more difficult than initial positioning.As a large multinational technology company, DuPont is not repositioning itself blindly, but has conducted a series of investigations and studies and weighed various factors before establishing it. Product repositioning can also be called secondary positioning or repositioning.It refers to the change of product characteristics of the enterprise, the change of the original impression of the target customers, so that the target customers have a new understanding of the new image of the product. It must be pointed out that product repositioning not only needs to find out the reasons for the mistakes in the initial product positioning, but also find reasonable factors in the initial product positioning.Mining these reasonable factors is also of great benefit to product repositioning.That is to say, product repositioning is a process of sublation. It negates the unreasonable factors in the initial product positioning, but this does not mean that all the factors in the initial positioning should be negated. Repositioning is a good strategy for expanding your potential market.However, Kotler also reminded companies to carefully consider product repositioning, because changing the original positioning is more difficult than positioning a new product.We must proceed with caution as the case may be. Every brand should be "number one" in terms of its chosen benefits. The positioning of "No. 1" includes "best quality", "best service", "best design", "safest", "fastest", "most customized", "most Innovative", "Most Reliable" or "Best Known", "Lowest Price", "Best Value".If a company relentlessly reiterates a position and communicates it convincingly, it can become famous and gain an advantage. For what is positioning, people's opinions are basically the same.Positioning is to determine the image and status of a company or product in the minds of customers or consumers, and this image and status should be distinctive.However, as for how to position, it can be said that the benevolent sees benevolence, and the wise sees wisdom.The vast majority of people believe that positioning is to position the product. Since the establishment of the first joint venture company, Shenyang China Resources Snow Beer Co., Ltd. in 1993, after more than ten years of development, it has rapidly developed to 36 factories and has more than 20 local brands.The output has grown from less than 200,000 tons to more than 3 million tons. In January 2004, Kotler Group and China Resources Beer announced cooperation to promote Snow Beer nationwide.At the beginning of the cooperation, Kotler pointed out that Chinese beer brands lack "stories with emotional value" and have weaknesses in unclear positioning. After the cooperation, the project team jointly established by Snow Beer and Kotler Marketing Group conducted research and investigation on Snow Beer's brand positioning process and methods.The project team conducted a survey on the brand performance of "Snowflake" beer in various markets and consumers' perception of it.Specifically, it includes the definition and perception of the "Snowflake" brand in the local market and in the minds of consumers.The survey was conducted in 10 cities across the country, including Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Wuhan, Hefei, Chengdu, Guangzhou and other cities. "Survey shows that there is still relatively little awareness of Snow Beer in the East and South China markets; Shenyang is the hometown of Snow Beer. In this city, it is an old brand with deep feelings for many consumers, and it is with them every step of the way. Growth; in Heilongjiang, consumers think it is an old brand from Shenyang, and the company is very powerful; surveys in Beijing and Shanghai show that although Snowflake has developed rapidly in the country, it is rare in these two markets; However, surveys in Wuhan, Chengdu, Hefei and other cities have shown that Snow Beer has grown rapidly and has strong strength, which can be combined with 'growth'." On the basis of the brand survey, the project team conducts a qualitative survey to dig deep into the brand stories in the hearts of consumers, find out consumers' awareness of the beer brand and the "Snowflake" brand, and the correlation with the concept of growth, including The degree of emotional connection between "Snowflake" and competitors. The project team conducted 12 consumer qualitative research seminars in 6 cities.After the launch of the brand positioning process, tests were carried out in 5 cities across the country, and 20 seminars were held.To test whether the positioning of "Snowflake" can be recognized by consumers, as well as the emotional stories in consumers' minds. After surveys in various cities across the country, the consumers of "Snowflake" beer are positioned at the age group of 20 to 35 years old.Their biggest feature is that they are growing every day, and their emotional life has the joy and satisfaction brought about by growth.But there is still no beer brand for this age group, and they hope to find products that can pin their emotions in their lives.Therefore, "Snowflake" is defined as a partner who grows with these consumers. With accurate positioning, Snow Beer cooperated with the advertising company to launch an advertisement with the theme of "growth".The entire project lasted for nearly a year, and ended with the story of "Snow Beer, Enjoy Growth". Kotler's brand positioning is by no means as simple as an advertisement and a story.He helped "Snow Flower" find a state of brand positioning, which is to meet the emotional needs of consumers.Kotler pointed out that at present, many domestic brands are still busy pursuing material value, and do not realize the importance of brand spiritual value.Once the emotional needs of the spiritual level form a fixed impression in the minds of consumers and are recognized, it will deepen consumers' brand loyalty to it. So, how to find a positioning for the brand that satisfies the spiritual value of the brand?The practice of marketing competition shows that product positioning alone is no longer enough, and must be extended from product positioning to marketing positioning.Marketing positioning needs to solve three problems: whose needs are met?Whose needs are met?How to meet these needs?We can summarize it as a three-step marketing positioning method. Step 1: Find a seat: Whose needs are you meeting?the process of selecting a target market In today's market differentiation, it is impossible for any company and any product to target all people, and not every customer can bring him positive value.In fact, the marketing costs of many companies are not spent on customers who bring value, wasting a lot of money and manpower.Therefore, cutting customers is as important as cutting costs.Snow Beer targets the 20- to 35-year-old crowd, abandoning customers of other age groups and maximizing the value of excellent customers.After that, we need to proceed to the second step - positioning. Step 2: Positioning: Who needs what?the process of product positioning The product positioning process is the process of subdividing the target market and selecting submarkets.The segmented target market here is different from the segmented market before selecting the target market. The latter is the process of subdividing the overall market and selecting the target market. The former is to segment the selected target market and select one or several targets. Submarket process. For example, the Kotler Group's positioning of Snow Beer and the subdivision of the target market are not based on product categories, nor are they based on the superficial characteristics of consumers, but are subdivided based on customer value.When customers buy products, they always want to obtain the value of a certain product.Product value combination is realized by product function combination. Different customers have different value demands on products, which requires manufacturers to provide products with different demands. Step 3: Put it in place: How will the need be met?the process of marketing positioning After determining to meet the needs of target customers, you need to design a marketing mix plan and implement this plan to make the positioning in place.This is not only a process of brand promotion, but also a process of organic combination of product price, channel strategy and communication strategy.It can be seen that the entire marketing process is the process of positioning and positioning, and positioning should also become one of the contents of broad positioning. In fact, the process of being in place is also a process of repositioning.Because when product differentiation is difficult to achieve, it must be positioned through marketing differentiation. Today, if you launch any new product that sells well within a month, imitations will appear on the market immediately, and marketing differentiation is more important than Product imitation is much harder.Therefore, product positioning alone is far from enough. Enterprises must expand from product positioning to the entire marketing positioning. Once a company has defined its positioning statement, it must communicate that positioning effectively.Assuming that the company chooses the positioning strategy of "best quality", its communication can choose some signs and clues that people usually use to judge quality. The positioning of an enterprise is not simply positioning the interests of products and markets, but more importantly, how to better communicate the positioning in the marketing process of the enterprise.At this point, the famous American beer company Miller has set an example for us. In the 1970s, the "Health Protection Movement" was in the ascendant across the United States. Miller Beer Company noticed that the customer base who were sensitive to diet was expanding, and even those who loved beer were concerned that drinking beer would make people fat The problem. At that time, low-heat beer had appeared in the United States, but the sales were not good.米勒公司断定这一情况的出现并不是因为人们不能接受低热啤酒的概念，而是不当的定位所致，他们错误地把这种啤酒向那些注重节食但并不爱喝啤酒的人推销。 米勒公司看好这一市场。他们花了一年多的时间来寻找一个新的配方，这种配方能使啤酒的热量降低，但其口感和酒精度与一般啤酒无异。1973年，米勒公司的低热啤酒——“莱特”牌啤酒终于问世。 对“莱特”牌啤酒的推出，米勒公司可谓小心翼翼。他们找来一家著名的广告商来为“莱特”啤酒设计包装，对设计提出了四条要求：第一，瓶子应给人一种高质量的印象。第二，要有男子气。第三，在销售点一定能夺人眼目。第四，要能使人联想起啤酒的好口味。为了打好这一仗，他们还慎重地选择了四个城市进行试销，这四个地方的竞争环境、价格、口味偏好都不相同。 广告攻势自然也很猛烈，电视、电台和整版报纸广告一块上，对目标顾客进行轮番轰炸。米勒公司用的广告主题是“您所有对啤酒的梦想都在莱特中”。广告信息中强调：第一，低热度啤酒喝后不会使你感到腹胀；第二，“莱特”的口感与“海雷夫”一样，味道好极了。 1975年，米勒公司广告攻势在美国各地展开，当年广告费总额达1100万美元。公众对“莱特”啤酒的反应之强烈，就连米勒公司也感到意外。各地的“莱特”啤酒供不应求，米勒公司不得不扩大生产规模。 起初，许多啤酒商批评米勒公司“十分不慎重地进入了一个根本不存在的市场”，但米勒公司的成功很快堵上了他们的嘴巴，他们也匆匆忙忙地挤进这一市场。不过，此时米勒公司已在这个细分市场上稳稳地坐上了第一把金交椅。 米勒公司靠精准的产品定位，赢得了细分市场上的成功。企业在定位的营销传播过程中，应当向米勒公司学习以下几点： 第一，一个公司的营销优势可能是一个公司最根本的竞争优势。米勒公司正式充分运用自己营销方面的特长，转化为自己的竞争优势。 第二，恰到好处的市场细分是定位乃至整个营销成功的关键。米勒公司对啤酒市场的准确细分，大大增加了米勒公司对消费者的了解，提高了营销的针对性，也有利于其找到对手的弱点，为准确的定位创造了条件。 第三，广告在实现产品的定位中起到了重要作用。产品定位不但需要好的产品、合适的价格，更需要与之相配合的广告和包装。同时必须能有效地实现产品与顾客的沟通。 第四，一流的公司应该具有大规模促销的魄力。应该指出，从1974年到1980年间，米勒公司平均每箱啤酒的广告费用是3美元，而同期啤酒行业的平均广告费用每箱仅1美元。米勒公司在1979年前，赢利很少，其中1972年赢利20万美元。但是，若米勒公司不敢大胆地甩出广告，其净利不会在1980年就能达到1.5亿美元。 消费者对产品的重要特征进行定义的方法，即与竞争产品相比，本产品在消费者心目中的地位。 两位美国人弗雷德·克劳福德和瑞安·马修斯，通过对世界著名成功公司的研究，总结出他们成功的共同特征：产品稳定、价格诚实、距离便利、独特体验和服务践诺。这基本上与营销的4P要素相吻合。更令人惊奇的是，调查结果显示：最出色的公司也只是在5个属性中的一个属性方面有绝对优势，在另一个属性上保持领先，而在其他3个属性上保持平均水平。 换句话说，每一家公司面临着选择：把哪一个属性做得最出色，把哪一个属性做得优秀，而把哪三个做成平均水平。这是一个取舍的过程，也是营销定位的过程。营销定位成功的例子比比皆是，戴尔电脑成功于易接近性，星巴克成功于独特体验，沃尔玛成功于天天低价，而他们的产品并非与别人有多大的不同。 宜家（IKEA）自创建初期，就与家居用品消费者中的“大多数人”站在一起。这意味着宜家要满足具有很多不同需要、品位、梦想、追求以及财力，同时希望改善家居状况并创造更美好日常生活的人的需要。针对这种市场定位，宜家的产品定位于“低价格、精美、耐用”的家居用品。 在欧美等发达国家，宜家把自己定位成面向大众的家居用品提供商。因为其物美价廉，款式新，服务好等特点，受到广大中低收入家庭的欢迎。 但到了中国之后，因为中国市场普遍消费水平低，原有的低价家具生产厂家竞争激烈接近饱和，市场上的国外高价家具也很少有人问津。于是宜家把目光投向了大城市中相对比较富裕的阶层。宜家在中国的市场定位是“想买高档货而又付不起高价的白领”。宜家通过在卖场的各个角落和经营理念上传播异国文化，并免费赠送大本宣传刊物，提供免费拼装、自由选购的商品，巧妙地满足了目标市场的需求，获得了较好的效果。 宜家通过精准的定位吸引了不少知识分子、白领阶层的眼球，加上较出色的产品质量，让宜家在吸引更多新顾客的同时，稳定了自己固定的回头客群体。如今，很多中国白领们把“吃麦当劳，喝星巴克的咖啡，用宜家的家具”作为一种风尚，可见宜家的产品定位及品牌推广之成功。 在现在这个技术高度发达、高度转移的经济时代，企业要当全能冠军几乎是不可能的，因此企业应该朝着某一两个方面发展自己的优势。我们可以认为，企业市场定位的全过程就是不断挖掘自己竞争优势的过程。一般来说，企业挖掘竞争优势可通过以下三大步骤来完成： 1、识别可能的竞争优势。消费者所选择的总是那些能给他们带来最大价值的产品和服务。因此，赢得和保持顾客的关键是比竞争对手更好地理解顾客的需要和购买过程，以及向他们提供更多的价值。通过提供比竞争对手较低的价格，或者提供更好的质量和服务，企业需要找到机会使自己的营销区别于其他企业，从而赢得竞争优势。企业一般从产品差异、服务差异、人员差异和形象差异等方面进行区别。 2、选择合适的竞争优势。对企业而言，并不是所有的品牌差异都是有意义或有价值的，也不是每一种差异都能成为很好的区别因素。每一种差异都有可能在给顾客带去利益的同时增加企业的成本。因此，企业必须仔细地挑选区别于竞争对手的竞争优势。一种竞争优势是否值得企业去建立应看它是否能够满足以下几条： 重要性：该差异能给目标购买者带来高价值的利益。 专有性：竞争对手无法提供这一差异，或者企业不能以一种更加与众不同的方法来提供该差异。 优越性：该差异优越于其他可使顾客获得同样利益的办法。 感知性：该差异实实在在，可以被购买者感知。 先占性：竞争对手不能够轻易地复制出此差异。 可支付性：消费者有能力支付这一差异。 可赢利性：企业能从此差异中获利。 (3)显示独特的竞争优势。企业要通过一系列的宣传促销活动，使其独特的竞争优势准确传播给潜在顾客，并在顾客心目中留下深刻印象。 首先，企业应使目标顾客了解、知道、熟悉、认同、喜欢和偏爱本企业的市场定位，在顾客心目中建立与该定位相一致的形象。其次，企业需通过各种手段来强化目标顾客形象，保持对目标顾客的了解，稳定目标顾客的态度和加深目标顾客的感情，以巩固与市场相一致的形象。最后，企业还应注意目标顾客对其市场定位理解出现的偏差或由于企业市场定位宣传上的失误而造成的目标顾客模糊、混乱和误会，及时矫正与市场定位不一致的形象。 当公司为其产品推出较多的优越性时，可能会变得令人难以相信，并失去一个明确的定位。一般而言，公司必须尽可能地避免定位错误。 产品需要定位，但绝对是科学的定位，而不是对于产品营销没有任何益处的错误定位。错误的定位将给企业带来的不是利益而是巨大的损失。在这一方面，我国的红旗轿车就曾有过前车之鉴。 在国人心中，红旗一直是高档轿车的代表，是中国自主轿车品牌的代表，就连当年外国官员来中国的三大心愿是“见毛主席、住钓鱼台、坐红旗车”。从红旗的成长历程来看，“红旗”应该是尊贵、安全、权力和大方的象征，自然也是最高档的轿车。 然而，随着市场的发展，丧失竞争力的红旗车开始以低价进入市场。最便宜的红旗车现在只要十几万，许多城市随处可见外观陈旧的红旗品牌的出租车。红旗轿车的品牌定位越来越模糊，原因就在于一汽主动放弃红旗多年来形成的高档车形象，进入所谓的中档车市场，模糊了自身的定位。 在汽车市场上，世界著名品牌都有自己的定位。宝马强调驾驶的乐趣；奔驰强调成功人士的坐骑；沃尔沃强调安全；劳斯莱斯则强调自己的贵族血统，是豪华、尊贵的房车；宾利则是集跑车与房车为一体的大型跑车；远远看去，你就能知道它们分别是什么车。 红旗则让人联想到什么呢？十年、二十年前还可以提到红旗就让人想起它的高贵、大方、威严以及代表中华民族自强不息的精神。而如今红旗的产品线从130多万的大红旗到13万多的普通红旗轿车，品牌跨度大，且因销量不好频繁降价。满大街外观陈旧的红旗出租车，因质量问题被出租司机和车主抱怨。 事实上，红旗这几年的表现也再一次证明了这个观点，高档品牌向低档延伸一开始会很成功，但以后这个品牌会逐渐沦落为中低档品牌，销量的增加是以利润和品牌价值的丧失为代价的，长远而言得不偿失。 轿车史上，因为定位不清导致的品牌价值丧失的例子太多了。通用轿车的旗下几大品牌就是明显的定位混乱。雪佛兰是低价便宜的家用车，但又想朝中高档进军；别克是中档车，偏偏又想抢占豪华车市场……品牌专家已经在很久前提醒过他们，可他们并没有听。最终的结局，只能由市场来判定。 当然，因为品牌定位错误而影响品牌价值的事例绝不仅止于轿车市场。无论在哪个市场，定位的倾向直接决定企业影响的成本。科特勒告诫说，定位不当甚至于错误的定位，对产品来说是很危险的。企业在为自己的产品定位时应该避免以下4种主要的错误倾向： 1.定位过低。如果企业发现目标顾客对企业产品只有一个模糊的印象，顾客并没有真正地感觉到它有什么特别之处，这种现象就是企业产品定位过低。这种典型的定位失败究其原因就在于企业没有准确地把握消费者最感兴趣的产品的独特属性，或者过于草率地宣传而没有精心突出本企业产品的与众不同，从而给目标顾客留下了“一般”、“不过如此”等的模糊印象。 2.过分定位。消费者可能认为蒂万尼公司只生产5000美元的钻石戒指，而实际上，它同样生产900美元的普通戒指。消费者可能认为黑莓手机只生产价格昂贵的高端手机，然而，它的产品其实也包括大量的中低端手机。企业或产品的营销表现，使购买者对品牌形象的认识过于狭窄，使消费者的需求得不到真正的满足。 3.定位混乱。上例中的红旗轿车就是一个典型。企业产品定位混乱，使得目标顾客对企业产品的印象模糊不清。这就是这种混乱可能是由于奉行多元化经营策略的企业，把过多的精力放在了每一个品牌或每一个品种的定位上，从而忽略了去保持企业产品整体形象的一致性，也可能是由于产品定位变换太频繁所致。 4.定位怀疑。顾客可能很难相信该品牌在产品特色、价格或制造商方面的一些有关宣传。当通用汽车公司的凯迪拉克分部导入悉米路车时，它的定位是类似于豪华的宝马、梅塞德斯和奥迪。该军用皮座位，有行李架，大量镀铬，凯迪拉克的标志打在底盘上，顾客们把它看成只是一种雪佛莱的卡非拉和奥斯莫比尔的菲尔扎组合的玩具车。这辆汽车的定位是“比更多还要多”，但顾客却认为它“多中不足”。