Brand positioning as the basic factor of competitiveness provision

The modern stage of economic intercourse is characterized by the high level of competition among economic market agents. Competition is becoming more and more intense and tough in most consumers’ as well as business markets, and the problem of retention of market share is becoming more and more essential. The companies expand serious effort to affect the consumers and motivate them to buy. The current companies’ demand to retain their market share is becoming the departure of searching the most advantageous strategy of positioning. Positioning is one of the long-term factors of enterprise development and its competitive growth.

It was first announced about positioning by Jack Trout and Al Ries in 1981 when their book “Positioning: The battle for your mind” was published. Since that time a lot of research studies have been devoted to the concept of positioning and to its areas, methods and models. The theory of positioning takes the considerable place in foreign marketing literature. The importance of positioning of trade names is accentuated in the works of such well-known marketing specialists as D.A. Aaker, P. Kotler, J.J. Lamben, F. Le Pla, T. Nilson, L.M. Parker, L. Persy, M. Porter, A. Ries, S. Rivkin, J.R. Rossiter, P. Temporal, J. Trout and others. Problems concerning positioning of trade names are also discussed in the works of domestic specialists. Among them should be mentioned the works of V.V. Bakaeva, V.N. Domnin, M.N. Dymschitsa, M.O. Makashev, A. Nadein, J.K. Pirogova, V.V. Saliya, V.M. Tereschenko, E.V. Tunukova and other authors.

“Position” is the main concept in positioning. Jack Trout understands it as “a rightful place in consumers’ mind” (1), that is the steady stereotype and therefore stable and unattainable for competitors. Philip Kotler understands position as the “place in consumers’ mind taken by the given goods in comparison with like competitive goods”(2). Thus the position of goods is formed in consumers’ mind. In such a case it must be significantly different from the competitors’ position, only in this instance the consumers will single the enterprise and its goods out of a big number of analogous ones in the market.

The search of the vacant position, its capturing, retention and forming in the target consumers’ mind is virtually the process of positioning. In this regard it’s necessary to mark out a problem most companies face – that is how to reveal the company’s goods differences from the competitors’ goods for specific customer attraction and more full satisfaction of the certain fraction of market’s needs and requirements. To answer the given question the companies must determine the direction of positioning.

Positioning can have different directions in the enterprise marketing activity – the tradable, the pricing, the service, the marketing, the advertising. There’re following kinds of positioning the brand depending on the object view:

• positioning on the goods usage (here the basic characteristics of the given tradename’s goods or substandard usage of standard goods are accentuated);

• positioning on the goods’ specifics (it is used when the new goods different from the analogous ones by their qualitative characteristics are introduced to the market);

• positioning on the profit (it is performed on the basis of promises of specific interest and benefit given to the consumer):

• positioning on the consumers (it considers sociodemographic situation in the society and is performed on the basis of segmentation of the market by geographical, sociodemographical and psychological features);

• positioning on distribution (is based on the electivity of channel of distribution and sales promotion);

• price positioning (it uses substandard overpricing and undercharging for the particular goods in comparison with the price for the usual goods)(3).

J.Trout and A. Reise offer some other successful variants of brand positioning:

• contraction of the target audience’ focus of attention;

• creation of the new product category;

• leading in the category;

• brand history or legacy;

• peculiarities of the product vision;

• preference;

• recent development (4).

Inspite of the great choice of positioning brand variants there is a stable view point that when the goods are positioned to the target market only one of their difference-characteristics should be marked. Customers tend to memorize exactly the statements about number one especially in the society suffering from information oversupply. The real practical necessity in the goods positioning on several differences in the market is about to happen with the complicacy of the market environment. This method is effective in the cases when two or more companies are laying the claim to the lead in the selected pointer. The object of positioning is to find a special niche in the target segment. In case of choosing the wrong direction of positioning the company doesn’t only suffer losses of resources (financial, timing, labour), omissions of fortune of market environment but also the extension of risk probability of business activity.

Goods positioning on two differences in the market is effective in the cases when two or more companies are laying the claim to the lead in the selected pointer. The object of positioning is to find a special niche in the target segment.

The Volvo company positions its automobiles in the Russian market as the safest and the most timeproof - as these two pointers are compatible, this is because the consumer can reasonably suppose that a safe automobile will also be a very timeproof one.

Different tendencies in the choice of positioning strategy are showing up depending on the market of goods and services. The tendency of language educational institutions positioning on the goods specifics and pricing positioning has been shown up due to the data of the author’s undertaken study of educational services market in the teaching English language curriculum. Language schools in the English-speaking countries offer more and more new programs, trying to stand out among the analogous competitors. For example programs that offer English language with in-depth study of medicine, business, and sport have appeared in the Canadian language schools market. Different winter and summer camps for teenagers have also appeared in the market. Every language school tries to position itself as the school that offers programs for the specific target audience and to stand out among the other language schools.

Success in the market of everyday goods depends on the production range positioning, width, length and depth of the business product offering. The original creation of the recognizable and qualitative product brand in the consumer group gives a great support in this case.

The high level of consumer incomes and expenditures in postindustrial economics assumes the potentiality for the whole company’s production range offtake in the international market. To this effect it’s necessary to create the extra demand in the market on account of forming consumers’ beliefs in the necessity of shopping. The basic object of positioning in the conditions of modern high competitive struggle in the goods and services market is to make the goods noticeable for consumers and to show them up among the great range of substitute products. This essentially rises prospects of the goods’ success and consequently the company’s success in the market.

List of reference

1. Marketing [Text]: translation from English. – 2^nd Europ. ed. – Moscow: Williams Publishing house, 2006. – p. 17.

2. Gary Armstrong. "Marketing: Introduction/ G. Armstrong, P. Kptler. - 5th ed. – Moscow: Williams, 2000. - p. 423.

3. Marketing while playing: text edition/ E.G. Popkova, O.E. Akimova, T.N. Mitrahovich [etc.]. – Moscow: KNORUS, 2011. – p. 128-129.

4. Marketing while playing: text edition/ E.G. Popkova, O.E. Akimova, T.N. Mitrahovich [etc.]. – Moscow: KNORUS, 2011. – p. 129.

5. Bun, L. Modern marketing/ L. Bun, D. Kurts. – Moscow: UNITI-ANA, 2005. – p. 531-534