Differentiation ,

Competition and
Positioning
By Shivank goyal
 Differentiation Marketing

 Differentiation is the act of designing a set of meaningful differences to

distinguish your company’s offering from that of the competitors.
 The process of dividing the market into various homogenous groups,
identifying the specific requirements of the said homogenous groups and
coming up with meaningful and distinct offering for each of the target groups
is called differentiated marketing.
 Different offers to different groups.
Undifferentiated Marketing

 It is also called mass marketing .mass means for everybody

 Not differentiating between one segment and another segment equivalent to
a single segment focus or focusing on the whole market with one strategy.
 Undifferentiated marketing assumes lack of significant differences among the
consumers and develops one offering 4p’s for the whole market.
 No major differences in spite of having different brands, packages , colors
etc.
 No need to differentiate extensively for items like pulses or salt , etc
 Treat the whole market as one
 Use the resources for supply chain or backend activity.
Niche Marketing

 A Niche market is the subset of an identified segment on which a specific

product is focused.
 In this the market is divided into different segments, now in these segments
finding the small pockets which have specific needs.
 By providing the different offering company will be able to satisfy the
consumer more.
 Marketers cater to these market with their specific offerings often with a high
price. Because people are willing to pay it
 Examples – Most of the luxury market are on niche marketing.
Differentiation Parameter

 Product Differentiation
 Service Differentiation
 Personnel Differentiation
 Other Differentiation
 Channel and Image Differentiation
Product Differentiation

 The Product differentiation is related to the concept of how marketers can differentiate
based on the product attributes.
 Product differentiate parameters are -:
Form, features , performance ,Conformance , durability, reliability , repairability ,style
 Form – Size , shape or physical Structure of a product
 Features –Attributes of the product
 Performance –Working of the product
 Conformance – Conformance to quality , specification or promise of marketer
 Durability – Measure of product’s expected operating life
 Reliability – Indication of consistency
 Repairability - Ease of fixing a malfunction
 Style/ design – Product’s aesthetics , look and feel
Service Differentiation

 Service refers to the intangible part in the purchase process that satisfies some
needs and wants of the customers.
 Some parameter of service differentiation are -:
Ordering ease , Delivery , Installation , Customer training , Customer Consulting ,
Maintenance and Repair
 Ordering Ease – How easy it is for the customer to place an order.
 Delivery - How well the product or service is brought to the customer
 Installation – The ease of making the product usable once purchased
 Customer Training – Educate the customer regarding the effective usage of the
product /service under consideration
 Customer Consulting – Give expert advice to customer
 Maintenance and Repair – Keep in good condition
Personnel Differentiation

 The third important stakeholder in the whole process is personnel

differentiation.
 Recruiting the right people and provide them with excellent training is very
essential because they are the face of the product or they are the face of the
brand.
 Many companies have realized this and they have now started differentiating
their brand by showing the skills and good behavior of the employees , of the
salespeople.
 Better trained salespeople exhibit six significant characteristics like
competence , courtesy , credibility , reliability , responsiveness and effective
communication.
Channel and Image Differentiator

 Channel is through which the product or the service that reaches you.
 For example – you want to buy a perfume and if the perfume is available to you online versus
you have to go in the market to buy it .which perfume you will prefer or which channel you
will prefer.
so increasingly when the consumer are time constrained and they are looking at more
convenience, the channel has turned out to be one of the very significant differentiation
parameter.
 The image refers to an image of an offering as perceived by the consumer now , the image
can be created through effective communication and brand building .
 Effective communication that is advertisement or any other kind of promotion
versus another , where the product is great but the communication is not all that great . That
makes a big difference in the consumer mind .
 So marketers can use different communication media and different communication tools to
create a compulsive image for any product or service that could be the major differentiator.
 Example- Apple products or Bose systems
Competition

 Different types of competition are -:

 Brand level
 Industry level
 Form level
 Generic level
Brand level competition

 Two Brands offers similar products at comparable prices using the following :
 Similar distribution network
 Similar communication media
 Same set of target consumers

 Examples - Coke and Pepsi , head and shoulder with Sunsilk , Apple with
Samsung , one brand versus another brand
Industry level Competition

 Each Aerated soft drink will compete against each other.

 Even fruit juice or soda will also compete against Coke and pepsi.
 The level of competition is going up , more players are getting included in the
competition
 Differentiation parameter has to changed to survive in the market.
Form level

 Companies compete with each other by satisfying the same need of customers
but use different forms.
For example
 Need satisfied by coke or pepsi is quenching thirst
 All products that claim to quench thirst will compete .
 Fruit juice, water , tea, and coffee , coconut water etc will also compete
against these brands
Generic level Competition

 The resources used by the consumer to buy a bottle of coke and pepsi ,
 Suppose it is 10 rupees , then anything that the consumers can buy with that
10 rupees will compete against coke or pepsi.
 It could be some snacks like samosa , it could be net surfing or even doing
nothing just sleeping comes under this category.
Learning of different level of
competition
 While developing the differentiation in the target segment,
 Define the level in which the competition is significant.
 Differentiation depends upon the level of competition.
 New or emerging market – Brand level market is good enough ,as no too many
brands are there.
 Market is cluttered with too many brands , or developed market –firm level or
generic level competition
 Positioning

 The effectiveness of the positive imagery will eventually be converted to

positive predisposition towards the product or service.

PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

The creation of positive imagery in the mind of the target consumer is called
positioning.
Positioning is the act of designing a company’s offering and image to occupy a
distinctive place in the minds of the target market.
Positioning and Value preposition

 For successful positioning , marketers should define and communicate similarities

and differences between their brand and its competitors.
 More specifically , deciding a positioning requires –
 Frame of reference
 Identifying the optimal
 POP and POD- point of parity and point of differences
 Creating a brand mantra
 VALUE PROPOSITION indicates , “what value are you proposing to the target
market”
 Why the target market should buy your product . Successful creation of a value
proposition is the result of an effective positioning
 Communicating the concept of differentiation of your product or service
effectively so that consumer get a logic That why I ‘m going to buy this product.
Frame of Reference

 Frame of reference specifies the various other brands with which a brand
competes and defines which brands should be the focus of competitive
analysis.
 Frame of reference requires identifying the competitors and analyzing the
competitors.
 Identifying the similarity and identifying the differences , what essentially
you are doing, is you telling who are my competitors?
POP and POD

 POP- points of parity

 POD – points of difference
 Identify the similarities and dissimlarties between your brand and
competitors.
 In the two wheeler or bike points of parity are –
 Mileage ,Brand Name ,Service Network , Cost
 In two wheeler Points of Difference are –
 Best in class speed , Best in class style , Best in class design
 PODs are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a
brand.
 Customers feel that such benefits will not be found in competitive brands.
Brand Mantra

 The last stage of positioning is creating a brand mantra to summarize the

positioning.
 Brand Mantras are short , 3-5 word phrases that capture the essence or spirit
of the brand positioning.
 Purpose of Brand Mantra-
 To ensure that all employees and all external partners understand what the
brand represents with consumers – to allow them to adjust accordingly.
 For examples – Mc Donald’s brand philosophy ; food , folks and fun
This captures its brand essence of , it is for younger people, it is food and it is
about fun.
Brand mantra of dove , real beauty for real people
Alternative Approaches to Positioning

 There is a different approach to developing a positioning theme. Instead of

highlighting the attributes that is attributes based positioning.
 Highlighting the benefits of a brand ,some of the experts , they develop a
story or a narrative regarding a product or a brand
 They build characters or situations
 Allow the consumer to connect to the brand through captivating imagination,
through the story . This is called narrative based positioning or narrative
based branding.
Elements of Narrative Branding

 Brand story in terms of words and metaphors.

 Consumer journey or the way consumers engage with the brand or various
touch points
 Visual language or expression for the brand
 Manner in which the narrative is expressed
 Role of the brand in the lives of the consumers
Analysis of Advertisements
What is the product / Who is the target Why will they buy?
service? consumer

Hamara Bajaj Bajaj Scooters Anyone who needs a Bajaj has been
two wheeler on associated with
Indian roads Indian two wheeler
riders for a long time
on various occasions
and situations and
has grown with them

The Incredible India Indian Tourism Foreigners who want Amazing and breath –
to travel in India, taking experiences,
could include Indian culturally and
too who are emotionally diverse
interested for tourism involvements ,
prevalence of the
extremes in tourism
Conclusion

 The companies try to do in positioning is basically they try to create a

difference in the consumer’s mind about their product , or their brand
 It can be done on the basis of certain attributes.
 It can be done on the basis of trying to own a certain benefits.
 One way doing positioning is on the basis of competition .