Concept of positioning

According to the Peter F. Kotler, positioning defines as an act of designing image and offering of the company so that a distinct and meaningful competitive position can be occupied by them in the mind of the target customer. The foremost principle of the positioning to gain the competitive advantage in the market is that it should be concerned with how the end-users in different market segment perceive the competing companies, brands or products/services. In addition, positioning is an aid to the planning of the product which shows where present and or proposed brands are situated in the market. Moreover, the process of positioning can be defined as the process of recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of the product, wants of the market segments and the extent at which the product can be achieved demands of the customers. The process of positioning is done by effectively used of positioning map which is shown below:

[Source: http://www.sanandres.esc.edu.ar/secondary/marketing/page_63.htm]

Further, positioning is the most effective tool in the marketing and is the final and last step of the STP approach. There are two main platforms; the consumer and the competitor on which the product of the company can be positioned i.e. when the positioning is done on the basis of the consumer, the message and campaign are always targeted to the consumers whereas it is based on the competitor the messages and campaigns are targeted towards competing with another player in the market.

 There are several strategies of the positioning the product that are; positioning by product attributes and benefits, price and quality, use and application, product class, product user, competitor and cultural symbol. The positioning strategy comprises of four major steps, the first steps of the positioning is to identify a set of possible advantage on which a product position can be built (Wood, 2011). The second step is to choose the right comparative advantage which is followed by selecting an affecting an overall positioning strategy. The last stage of the positioning incorporates delivering and communicating the chosen position to the target market. 

[Source: http://teawater-fci.blogspot.com/2011/05/market-positioning-strategy-and-how.html]

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF POSITIONING

The utmost benefit of the positioning strategy is that an effective strategy can develop a competitive advantage. In other words, if an organization is succeeding in establishing its product unique valuable then it would be very difficult for the competitor to match that. The second strength of the positioning is the perception, in which an organization can use the variety of marketing techniques to the position rather than creating objectively better products.

The major drawback of this strategy is the high competition because every company wants to position their products favourably in the consumer’s mind so it is common that they will face high competition. The inevitable change is the biggest weakness because maintaining a competitive position in a market in very problematic. An organization can face numerous changes from radical shifts in technology to economic distress which can be a hurdle in growth.

Concept of Targeting

"The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” – Peter Drucker

Targeting is the process immediately followed by the segmentation which actually demonstrates the elect markets and planning the promotional and advertising media which is used by the marketers to make the market segment appealing. The way of targeting is continuously changing with the environment as traditional targeting practices incorporated print and other media source whereas nowadays social media presence has changed the way of targeting completely which is now completely web focused. Moreover, the targeting of the market is the process of deciding to target one or more segments because the company cannot satisfy each segment i.e. only limited segments are targeted. Generally, the targeting is the selected target market which consists of a group or groups of buyers to whom the organization wants to concentrate.

Further, the targeting can be used as the major tool in analyzing and selecting the most profitable market for the business because the targeting is all about the attracting the consumers considering their wants and needs because they are the potential customers who will purchase the products. In addition, it can be stated that target marketing is the most current process or method of marketing to customers which is completely based on research into their needs, hobbies and interests of the customers.

[Source: https://marketing-insider.eu/market-targeting/]

Any business organization can easily target their market using mentioned four stages; define the target market, reach the target market, recognize the type of consumers and tailor the organization’s marketing to the consumers. The initial step includes defining the target market in which there should be a clear profile of target customers. The three major constraints that should be considered about the customers are demographics, psychographics and behavioural aspects of the customers. After defining the target market, the second step involves reaching to that market wither via online or offline advertising according to the profile of the readers. Further, the third stage incorporates recognizing the type of customers, for example, are they new or existing, repertoire or lapsed etc. finally, the last stage of the targeting include tailoring the marketing of customers in which marketers ensure that all the communications of the organization are on message and communicated via the right media and channels.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF TARGETING:

Initially considering the benefits of targeting, it allows the organizations to focus on and prioritize consumers because by evaluating segments one can prioritize which states which consumers would be most valuable. Further, it helps in building the marketing calendar around the seasonal offers in which markets can begin to demonstrate the types of customers for targeting at a different time of year. Furthermore, the method of market targeting the most cost-effective method organizations would be wasting money on the other than the target segment. At last, the targeting helps in increasing the ROI and results of the organization in terms of productivity and profitability.

Initially, the major drawback of the targeting is that it is quite a time consuming because it takes the considerable amount of time to recognize the target audience, research the data and create the advertising campaign. The second drawback of the targeting is that there may be an omission of other customers because focusing on specific customers may overlook other users. At last, there may be some ethical issues so all the ethical ramification should be considered by the organization while targeting the customers or markets.

Concept of Segmentation

“Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing.” - Mike Volpe

According to the Kotler, strategic marketing or marketing strategy is a long-term approach to planning with the objective of achieving the sustainable competitive advantage in the market. Over the years, the process of segmentation has been widely debated as various scholars have argued regarding the variables that should be considered while segmenting the market. 

SEGMENTATION

Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market into subgroups of similar consumers where the groups comprise with several differences or market segmentation is the process of identifying the most industrious base for developing the segment description on the identification of the different segments. Through effective utilization of the segmentation, marketers can identify mature markets to discover unexplored consumers, niches with explicit needs and deliver more effective and focused marketing message. The consumer markets or market can be divided into three main classes named background consumer characteristics, consumer attitudes and consumer behaviour. 

Further, these three classes can be expanded into some subclasses which can be the most useful base for segmentation; demographics, psychographics, lifestyle, beliefs and value, life stages, geography, behaviour and benefit. The demographics segmentation involves the break down of the market by any combination; education, marital status, household, ethnicity, income, gender, age, occupation and many more where psychographic segmentation refers to the emotions and personality which is completely based on the behaviour.

Furthermore, the lifestyle segmentation refers to the vacation, entertainment, recreational; hobbies and other non-work time pursuits whereas the segmentation on the basis of values and beliefs involve cultural, nationalistic, political and religious values and beliefs. Lastly, the life tags involve chronological benchmarking of life so the people; geographic segmentation involves division on the basis of country, region, area, population density etc. and behaviour segmentation refers to the distribution channel, benefits sought, usage level, brand loyalty and the nature of the purchase.       

Segmentation is considered the most important tool in the market to specify the different customer base of the company. This tool helps the organization in creating the small subgroups or segments with an extensive market for selecting the adequate market for various brands in the market. Market segmentation is the tool which helps the marketers and owners of the organization in implementing and devising relevant strategies for promoting the products among the potential target market.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE MARKET SEGMENTATION

Considering the advantages associated with the market segmentation is that it enhances the choice of target market because market segmentation divides the heterogeneous market into some small homogenous segments. Further, the segmentation allows the marketer to acknowledge the needs of the customers and helps in saving them in an effective manner.in addition, market segmentation enables the marketing efforts to make both economic and efficient as it tries to fulfil the needs of each different segment. At last, it is also benefited the customer as it distinguishes one end user group from another.   

The major drawback of the segmentation is that it becomes an expensive proposition because a marketer faces several considerable difficulties because he/she had to develop various marketing mixes for the different segments. Further, the profitability is eroded because it is quite difficult to manage the promotional expenses and cost of keeping adequate inventory. At last, the administrative expense increases because marketers have to device varying marketing programs which suit to different segments.