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Product-Led Growth Go-to-Market Customer Success and Onboarding Metrics &
Measurement AI & Machine Learning Product Leadership Achieving Scale

31 January 2024 6 min read


TOP TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCT POSITIONING STRATEGY

Go-to-Market

MAKAYLA BOWLER

Read More

 1. What is a positioning strategy?
 2. Tip 1: Choose an appropriate market segment
 3. Tip 2: Decide which positioning strategy best suits the product or service
    you’re offering
    1. Product positioning based on product characteristics
    2. Product positioning based on price
    3. Product positioning based on quality or luxury
    4. Product positioning based on product use or application
    5. Product positioning based on the competition
 4. Tip 3: Craft a unique selling proposition (USP)
 5. Tip 4: Develop your product positioning statement
    1. The target market
    2. The category that your product belongs to
    3. The main differentiation from other products
    4. Provide evidence to build customers trust
    5. An exemplar format for a product positioning statement:
 6. Tip 5: Keep the customer at the forefront of every decision

Forming a successful product positioning strategy is one of the most fundamental
elements of marketing because it allows your business to differentiate itself
from its competitors.

However, a big mistake many businesses make is assuming that positioning is
simply just a marketing strategy when, in reality, it should provide the
foundation for the overall business strategy itself.

Positioning is a brand’s unique way of providing value to its customers. A
successful product positioning strategy also relies on a deep understanding of
the marketplace that it wants to compete in. So, what are some top tips to make
your positioning stand out? Let's start with the basics.


WHAT IS A POSITIONING STRATEGY?

A positioning strategy is a set of actions and processes that are designed to
improve the image and visibility of a brand, company, or product.

Product managers should plan for how people in the market will think about their
product, as truly, the only product positioning that counts is what your
customers think. Product managers should plan for how people in the market will
think about their product, as truly, the only product positioning that counts is
what your customers think, as the product has a life of its own. If a customer
isn’t thinking about it, your product doesn’t occupy that position.

Successful positioning strategies not only focus on where the product is today
but how the product could potentially progress to where you would ideally like
it to be in the near future.

Businesses use marketing to communicate their market position to customers and
influence their perception of the brand’s products or services. Marketing
establishes the brand identity, influencing consumer perceptions of its position
in the market relative to the alternatives available from competitors.


TIP 1: CHOOSE AN APPROPRIATE MARKET SEGMENT

Before determining a position in the market, it’s crucial for a product manager
to decide on a segment of the market they would like to target.

This segment of the market should be profitable with either many customers
already available to buy a product within this segment or have its own niche in
the market, which presents an opportunity as a result of a lack of competition.

Product managers need to base their brand decision-making on the group of
customers they would like to target, making the brand as attractive as possible.


TIP 2: DECIDE WHICH POSITIONING STRATEGY BEST SUITS THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE
YOU’RE OFFERING

Whilst some strategies focus more distinctly on the price range of their
products, many others concentrate on the characteristics or the practicality of
the products themselves. Below are five main strategies which businesses can
base their positioning on:


PRODUCT POSITIONING BASED ON PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS

This type of positioning involves associating your brand with a certain
characteristic that would be beneficial to customers.

For example, in the automobile industry, Toyota’s position in the market is
reliability, while Porsche’s position is performance, and Volvo’s position is
safety.

Brands consistently communicate the most unique benefit or characteristic of the
product with consumers.


PRODUCT POSITIONING BASED ON PRICE

In most cases, when it comes to this type of strategy, a brand aims to be the
cheapest or one of the cheapest in the market, and value becomes its position.
For example, supermarket chains such as Morrisons and ASDA have a house brand
with very low-priced products in many product categories.

Their lower logistical and distribution costs allow them to price these products
lower than their competitors. Price-sensitive buyers will often purchase them
without knowing the price because they know it is often the cheapest option.

Alternatively, brands may choose to use the competitive pricing strategy if they
discover a gap in the market at a certain price point. Being the only option in
a certain price range potentially could become your market position as many
brands often extend their product lines to fill a gap in the market.


PRODUCT POSITIONING BASED ON QUALITY OR LUXURY

It's unsurprising that the price and quality of a product usually align as,
certainly in the mind of the consumer, the high price is often associated with
high quality. However, positioning a product based on its high quality or
‘luxury’ is very different from positioning based on price.

Often these brands do not communicate their price point, but instead, entice
their target audience with the high quality or prestige of the product in order
to create a desire for customers to want the product regardless of the price.


PRODUCT POSITIONING BASED ON PRODUCT USE OR APPLICATION

This strategy focuses specifically on the practicality of the product, seeking
to actively associate a product with a particular use.

For example, meal replacement supplements can be used to target anyone lacking
time or needing a quick convenient meal. Alternatively, they can target a more
specific audience such as people who are searching for supplements that are much
lower in calories for dieting purposes.


PRODUCT POSITIONING BASED ON THE COMPETITION

Competitor-based positioning focuses on using the competition as a reference
point for differentiation.

In this particular strategy, the brand highlights a key difference their product
or service offers in their marketing to make it seem more favorable and unique
in comparison to other options in the marketplace. The competition, in this
particular case, can also be used as a reference point to follow a similar
strategy.


TIP 3: CRAFT A UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP)

The result of effectively positioning a product or service gives it a Unique
Selling Proposition (USP). A USP is an attractive feature or characteristic of a
brand that differentiates it from similar alternatives. In other words, it
provides a unique benefit that encourages customers to purchase your brand over
another.

In a modern world cluttered with an overwhelming amount of choices with similar
benefits, you want your brand to stand out from the rest. Product managers must
seek to craft a memorable brandits that has competitive advantages over
alternatives.

McDonald’s is a notable example of using a USP to help position its brand. They
are the world’s most widely known fast-food brand and compete with hundreds of
other fast-food outlets.

However, despite their competition, they do not try to position themselves as
the fastest, cheapest, or best-tasting. Instead, their USP targets families. The
brand focuses on the fact that they are a family-friendly restaurant with the
children’s menu items, the free toy with a kids meal and the playgrounds all
contributing to the company’s success.


TIP 4: DEVELOP YOUR PRODUCT POSITIONING STATEMENT

Upon crafting a successful USP, a positioning statement should be used to
further communicate the brand and its intentions.

Although a USP and positioning statement are quite similar, the biggest
difference is that a USP is product or service-centric and focuses on what sets
your product or service apart from competitors. Whereas a business creates its
positioning statement after the USP, focusing on the primary benefit of the
product or services for its target market.

When it comes to developing a successful positioning statement, product managers
should ask themselves, “How do I want our brand to be perceived?” Once you can
answer this question in a clear and precise way, it becomes much easier to
communicate these intentions with your target audience.

After all, how can you expect potential customers to understand the practicality
and intentions of your business if you are unable to outline them yourself?

Once the product manager has a clear idea of how they would like their brand to
be perceived, it can be put into a positioning statement. A positioning
statement should be no longer than a paragraph that outlines the following:


THE TARGET MARKET

The positioning statement should begin with describing your target market and
what the specific needs or goals of that target market are.

Market research is essential for product managers to carry out to successfully
understand their market and customers much more intimately.


THE CATEGORY THAT YOUR PRODUCT BELONGS TO

The statement should define the category to which your product belongs and how
it meets the needs of consumers.


THE MAIN DIFFERENTIATION FROM OTHER PRODUCTS

The statement should additionally highlight what differentiates your product
from the alternatives. It is best to only include one point of differentiation,
stating your difference from the customer’s perspective.


PROVIDE EVIDENCE TO BUILD CUSTOMERS TRUST

It’s important to explain why consumers in your target market should believe
your brand’s claims. Consumers must see credibility in your positioning through
the evidence that justifies your claims.

For example, it would not be wise to just say how your product or service is the
fastest or the best quality without also stating how.

Below is an example of what a product positioning statement may look like:


AN EXEMPLAR FORMAT FOR A PRODUCT POSITIONING STATEMENT:

For (target customer) who (statement of need or opportunity), the (product name)
is a (product category) that (key benefit, reason to buy).

Unlike (primary competitive alternative), our product (statement of primary
differentiation).


TIP 5: KEEP THE CUSTOMER AT THE FOREFRONT OF EVERY DECISION

Finally, and considerably, the most important thing is to keep the customer at
the forefront of every decision you’re going to make. Successful strategies
always put the customer first and use their opinions as a way of creating the
ideal image for the brand’s product.

Remember, positioning is all about defining how the brand's offering is unique
and how it provides a distinct benefit to customers.


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Written by:

MAKAYLA BOWLER

Makayla is a freelance writer who enjoys gathering research on product-led
related topics in order to create informative, engaging content.

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Product-Led Alliance | Product-Led Growth
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Top tips to improve your product positioning strategy


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