STATE INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT

MARKET POSITIONING
[Type the document subtitle]
BY SAHIL PATEL

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 INTRODUCTION OF MARKETING

Marketing is an essential element in running any business. Even though it is proven to be an

important factor which determines the success of any hotel unit, yet it is a phenomenon which is
often taken for granted.

Marketing started as a result of economic and business pressure due to a need which arises to
focus on embracing a set of managerial measures in order to satisfy customers’ needs. The
evolution of marketing in the hotel industry is similar to every other industry.

The main reason for the marketing in the hotel business is because of the growth in the number
of guests who are in need of accommodation and the increase in competitions by the accom-
modation service providers. Moreover, the hotel industry is becoming a more and more ma-ture
market whereby the competition is increasing globally and winning customers becomes a
problem. Therefore, there is a huge shift to marketing.

MARKET POSITIONING
DEFINITION - Market positioning is the key to building a strong brand and gaining
competitive advantage. Using the standard market Positioning statement format brings discipline
to the process and ensures that all possibilities are considered and fully evaluated.

Positioning is without doubt the most important element of your brand strategy. If your brand
position is clearly and definitively selected and communicated (internally to your organization
and externally to the market), your marketing program becomes more focused, effective and
efficient, yielding an improved return on your marketing spend.

WHO FIND MARKET POSITIONING STRATEGY

Positioning is a concept in marketing which was first popularized by Ries and Trout in 1981,
their book “Positioning - a Battle for Your Mind” and then subsequently by Trout and Rivkin
in “The New Positioning : The Latest on the World’s #1 Business Strategy.”

There are many definition of market positioning from which few is given following –

• “The message a company wants to imprint in the minds of customers and prospects about its
product or service and how it differs from and offers something better than competitors.” –
Copernicus Marketing

• “Product positioning tells us how effectively we can compete within a target market.” – Urban
and Star

• “The part of the brand identity and value proposition that is to be actively communicated to the
target audience. Thus the brand position, which should demonstrate an advantage over
competitor brands, represents current communication objectives.” – David Aaker
 DEVLOPING A MARKET POSITIONING

Most would agree that positioning is creating a distinct place for your brand in the mind of the
consumer and that key messages are derived from that position. Further, most would also agree
that your distinct place in the consumers’ minds should be different from your competitors. Most
simply, positioning is “what you want to be known for.”

Our goal in developing a brand position is to define a specific place that the brand will occupy in
the mind of the consumer. The first step is understanding what makes up a brand position. The
classic statement format that is usually the starting point for positioning is:

Let’s consider the four elements of the positioning statement separately:

Target Market: Simply, who are you trying to attract?

Without a defined target market (either singularly or in combination, if appropriate), completing

the rest of the positioning statement is impossible. Brands are positioned in the mind of the
consumer and, therefore, ”Which consumer?” is the initial question you must answer to develop
a clear and strong positioning for your brand.

Your brand may appeal to more than one target market, but may need different positions against
each of them. While these market-specific positions will be different from one another, they must
also be harmonious, to avoid creating brand dissonance.
Category, Frame or Reference or Competitive Set: In order to determine what category, frame
of reference or competitive set you will use to define your position, you need to understand, from
the consumer (target market) point-of-view, the relevant options that they believe to be available.
If you are a breakfast cereal, are you competing only with other breakfast cereals? Or are you
competing with bagels, freezer pastries, and other bakery delights? What about bacon and eggs,
omelets, and other hot breakfasts? The frame of reference further defines the market space in
which you position your brand and facilitates clear definition and differentiation.

Differentiation: Sometimes called USP (unique selling proposition), brand promise or value
proposition, differentiation is simply what makes your brand different and unique to other brands
in the frame of reference, and the reason why consumers choose to purchase your brand. This is
the key element of brand positioning, but can only be defined if you have good information on
the other three elements. This is also where many brand positions come undone. A strong
differentiation that clearly separates your brand from the competition is an asset that pays great
dividends, a decision guide that increases operational efficiency and a behavior standard for your
entire organization.

It may be true that your brand is an undifferentiated commodity. However, before you resign
yourself to a life of price competition as your only marketing option, think about other ways that
your brand might be different from other brands in the frame of reference for your target market.
What about your brand relationships: are your customers more loyal? Were you the first-to-
market? Often, even in an undifferentiated market, you can create a differentiation by identifying
a very compelling and desired attribute and building a competitive advantage through your
delivery of that attribute to consumers. For example, Volvo wasn’t always known as the safest
car—they built their ownership of that attribute over years of product development, innovation
and communications.

Proof or Supporting Points: Why should the target market believe that you are the best or only
brand that can deliver on your differentiation? What attributes do you have or benefits can you
deliver to support your claim? In short, why should we believe you? Often, organizations can
point to a myriad of details to support their differentiation claim. In the positioning statement, we
want to pick the three to five points that most strongly support the claim and that are unassailable
by competition. These key points then become key messages in your marketing communications.
 Possible Brand Positions

So what is the best position for you? Start with research so that you have a clear and focused
understanding of the market, your target market(s) and your competitors. Then, bring together
internal staff from different functions within your company so that you can get different
perspectives. Bring in agencies and consultants who are familiar with your company and your
industry. Brainstorm. Then evaluate each position using the filters above, and test those that
survive with the target market.

Research has identified ten bases for positioning commonly in use:

 Premium – quality, exclusivity

 Value – cost effective, more for less
 Traditional – proven, stable, often evokes another time or place
 Innovative – new ideas, advances in technology or business practices
 Lifestyle – current or aspirational
 Problem-solver – satisfies unmet needs
 Ease of Use – convenient, simple
 Stylish – aesthetics
 Performance – excels in a critical area, out-performs competition
 Biggest – largest, most comprehensive

While these are not the only possible positions available for your brand, they do make great
trigger suggestions for brainstorming. I recommend that you conduct a free-form brainstorming
session, then introduce this list of positions, and then refine and augment your brainstorming.

Marketing Research for Developing Strong Brand Positions

Marketing research can be helpful in developing improved brand positions in many ways. Having real
information (as opposed to hunches or guesses) can assist the organization to come to the decisions
needed to build the brand positioning statement, clearing the way to resolve internal political battles.
Some of the brand positioning elements where marketing research is helpful are:

 Defining the target market.

 Understanding the target market’s current perceptions of your brand and competitive
brands.
 Understanding the frame of reference — from the target market’s perspective.
 Defining your brand’s differentiation.
 Understand which proof points are most compelling for the target audience.
 Testing position statements.
 Ensuring that positioning materials are communicating effectively.
 PERCEPTUAL MAPPING

The perceptual map is a highly utilized tool to analyze brand positioning. As such, it is
included in marketing courses, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Even though it is widely taught in academia and utilized in corporate marketing

environments, the procedures to build it are not provided and their use is restricted to
professional training for marketing research firms and practitioners. The methods to
produce maps are rather complicated for company managers and marketing students and,
consequently, marketing textbooks dealing with this matter are used to present the map
itself without explaining how it was produced.

[Example of a perceptual map]

Perceptual mapping is very important part of market positioning because when you enter your
product in market, you can see where you are in between competitors and this giver detailed
explaination that in which category you are belonging from and where you have to go with
different things like value, expence, comfort and many more.

With the help of perceptual marketing you can easliy identify your competitors and you can
make your product like what customer really needs and you can place your brand as solving all
the needs of the customers.

DESCRIPTION OF A PERCEPTUAL MAP

One way to visualize the positioning of a brand and its competitors is by using a perceptual map,
which is a graphic representation of the relative perceptions of customers according to relevant
attributes. An example from Ferrell is shown in Slide 4, where the attributes chosen for the axes
are construction style and economic value. According to the map, Porsche and BMW are
competing for similar clients, while Toyota and Honda are close competitors. The closer two
brands are together in the map, the more similar they are perceived by customers, and, therefore,
are more direct competitors.

The map summarizes how customers perceive each brand on each attribute. For example,
Porsche is perceived as the sportiest car, because it is farther away from origin than any other
brand, along the direction of axis X. This also means that, as one moves in the opposite direction
away from the origin, the cars become less sporty. Thus, Lincoln is the least sporty model.

If there were only one brand in some quadrant, this would have very little direct competition, and
there would be a gap in the market with no other brand located close to it. This would indicate
potential opportunity for a new model positioned in this quadrant. Of course, before positioning a
brand in this quadrant, it would be necessary to first assess whether there would be a sufficient
number of customers who would prefer such a car

Benefits:

Clear to understand; provides insights into the market structure for a defined set of competing
alternatives; suggests which attributes of a product the firm should modify in order to effect a
desired change in the product’s position; indicates market gaps that could offer business
opportunities to be filled in with new brands or products

Limitations:

Maps do not offer indication of segment size, only preferences and positioning of brands; field
surveys and management judgment are needed to build maps properly, which require the
researcher to predetermine the set of attributes

CONCLUSION
Positioning permeates the fabric of a company. Wal-Mart has adopted a positioning strategy as a
highly effective logistics company, which results in a low-cost provider position for its products.
Mercedes Benz has adopted a positioning strategy as a manufacturer of highly reliable and safe
automobiles, resulting in a price premium relative to similar international competitors.

There are many other examples of companies who have adopted similarly effective positioning
strategies. Through constantly monitoring customer wants, companies are able to evaluate and
measure their segments, and prepare products that profitably serve their segments, while
differentiating from their competitors as well.

QUESTIONS FROM REPORT

1. INTRODUCTION OF MARKET POSITIONS
2. WHAT IS DEFINITION OF MARKET POSITIONING & DESCRIBE IT.
3. WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF MARKET POSITIONING
4. WHAT IS PERCEPTUAL MARKETING, DESCRIBE IT IN SHORT
5. DESCRIBE PERCEPTUAL MARKETING WITH EXAPLE OF GRAPH
6. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF MARKET POSITIONING