Term
| Competitive positioning: concerned with how customers perceive the alternative offerings on the market, compared with each other, e.g. how do Audi, BMW and Mercedes medium-price saloon cars compare in value, quality and ‘meaning’ or image? |
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| Market segmentation: described as how we as marketers can divide the market into groups of similar customers, where there are important differences between those groups, e.g. what are the characteristics of medium-price saloon car buyers that relate to their product preferences and buying behaviour? |
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| Customer needs: while positioning and segmentation are different concepts,ultimately they are linked by customer needs, in the sense that the most robust form of segmentation focuses on the customer benefits that matter most to different types of customer, while the strongest competitive positions to take are those where customers recognise that a supplier or product is the one they choose because it best meets their needs. |
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| Market segmentation– identifying the most productive bases for dividing a market, identifying the customers in different segments and developing segment descriptions. |
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| Choice of target markets: evaluating the attractiveness of different market segments, parts of segments (niches) or groups of segments, and choosing whichshould be targets for our marketing; |
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| Competitive positioning: identifying the positioning of competitors (in the market and in target segments or niches), to develop our own positioning strategy |
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| Iteration: understanding competitors’ positioning and the possible positioning strategies open to us should influence our thinking about the attractiveness of different market segments and the choice of market targets, and may change the way we segment our market, leading to revised target choices and positioning approaches. |
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