Product Positioning
Initially, Xerox positioned itself as the king of copiers.
As the copier market became glutted, they repositioned themselves
as "The Document Company" -moving into a broader, growing
market.
Product Life Cycle
To position a product, the product's stage in the life cycle
and its classification must be understood.
- Introductory (pioneering) stage
Costs are incurred for product development, initial advertising,
promotion to educate
- Growth stage
Market expansion
- Maturity stage
Saturated market with competing products
Competition intensifies and profits dwindle as sales reach plateau:
Selective demand -ads emphasize subtle advantages of brand over
others
Conquest sales -sales are increased at the expense of competitors
Strategy of price promotion
- Decline stage
Obsolescence, changing technologies and changing tastes.
Classifications of Advertising by:
- Target audience
- Consumers
- Business advertising (industry, trade, professional, agriculture)
- Geographic area
- Local, regional, national, or international
- Medium
- Purpose
- Product (goods and services) or Non-product (ideas: company
mission or philosophy)
- Commercial (profits) or Non-commercial (donations, volunteers
or change in behavior
- Awareness (create image or interest) or Action (immediate,
direct response)
Products can be positioned by:
- Differentiation
- Perceptible differentiation
- Hidden differentiation (if a product is low-fat, uses artificial
sweeteners, etc.)
- Induced differentiation (through branding, distribution,
dealer services and advertising)
- Benefits product offers
- Market segment (strategy of identifying groups w/ shared
characteristics within the broader product market, and aggregating
these groups into larger market segments according to their mutual
interest in the product's use).