Positioning

Positioning is how the product or service is to be perceived by a target market with respect to the competition. It answers the question "Why will someone in the target market(s) buy my product or service instead of the competitions?". Alternatively: "What should be the perceived value of my offering compared to the competitions?". Related positioning questions are:

• What the unique features differentiating characteristics of my products or services as perceived by the customers in the target segment?

The italics in perceived are to illustrate that the job is not done until the targetted people actually perceive the differences between their product and competition.. Most humans can only perceive two or three differentiating attributes at a time. It is important that these attributes are easy to remember.

A big mistake is to position based on features. Customers don't buy features they buy perceived benefits

• Features: High-quality technical features are not enough – typically, only tech enthusiasts are interested in the technology itself.
• Benefits: Customers look for benefits, not features.
• Perceived: Not the real benefit matters for the purchasing decision, but the perceived benefit. (Of course, the real benefit must not be such that

customers are disappointed after purchase.)

Part of M6-S7 - Reading - Lodish - Positioning, Targeting and Segmentation