136 8.2 Defining Positioning and Differentiation
Learning Objectives
- Define positioning and differentiation
- Explain the relationship between positioning and value proposition
- Explain the importance of positioning in executing segmentation and targeting strategy
- Define product positioning and differentiation, and explain why they are important to marketing a product or service
Positioning addresses an important question: What do you want to be known for?
Positioning provides the basic foundation for effectively marketing any product or service to a target audience. Positioning goes hand in hand with differentiation (in much the same way that segmentation and targeting work together). Differentiation is the process of figuring out what will make your product different and better in ways that matter to customers–and ways that are not easily replicated by competitors.
Positioning and differentiation offer something of a road map for marketing a product or service to the customers you’re targeting. Read on to learn more.
Learning Activities
- Reading: Defining Positioning and Differentiation