According to the prestigious consultant and professor Al Ries, the battle for the success of brands associated with products / services is generated and won in the minds of consumers. This is an irrefutable truth, since the complex behavior of the human being to exogenous stimuli is a consequence of the mechanisms of sensation - perception and human behavior, outlined as a learning process in the life of the individual.
The human race decodes symbolic promises of offers that companies constantly bombard.
The art of positioning is therefore to associate our offer with the symbolic promise that is most compatible with the ideal expectation of the potential consumer.
Is there a practical application methodology to plan a positioning?
Yes, indeed, the compatibility matrix or perceptual maps give us this real possibility.
In order to have a fluid handling of it, we will explain the concepts that are involved in the matrix.
Optimal representational unit (URO): it is the set of ideas that are formed in us of how we want to perceive the satisfaction of a need
It is the ideal way of how we would like to satisfy that need (it is a specific satisfier). To exemplify, let's take the basic biological need (primary need) for food. For some the specific satisfier will be a juicy roast, for others a good pasta dish, and for others perhaps a casserole of lentils.
Offer Structures: It is the Marketing mix that companies send to the market, made up of: Product, Price; Plaza and Promotion (the 4 P's of P. Kotler)
Perception Unit (UP): These are the responses produced in the consumer to the stimuli generated by the different offers from companies.
Continuing with the example of food, the options suggested by companies will awaken in the consumer perceptions that will move closer or further away from the ideal way to satisfy that need (food) for that particular moment and situation of the individual. In the individual, a map of options will be generated closer to or further from his ideal at that time and situation. Note that the moment and situation factors are determining factors, and make the individual conform to these parameters, change the perception of the same offers.
Compatibility: It is the greatest coincidence that can occur between the Unit of Perception that is formed in the consumer and the ideal way in which he would like to satisfy that need (optimal representational unit)
With which we can say that positioning a product in the market is to ensure that the company's offer structure is perceived, interpreted, recognized and decoded with consumer expectations.
What are the steps to follow to position my product / service?
1) Identify the URO to which we are going. In other words, through motivational analysis techniques, we must specify the 4 or 5 ideal attributes (reasons) for which the final consumer activates his decision mechanism for the satisfaction of that specific desire.
2) Adapt the company's offer structure so that those 4 or 5 attributes are clearly perceived
3) Exploration Groups by comparatively measuring the degree of compatibility (percentage of coincidence between the URO and the UP) of our offer and that of direct and indirect competitors. (on a 100 basis)
4) According to the results, modify some of the variables (4P) of the marketing mix, enhancing the best perceived attributes and improving the little perceived ones.
5) Have the possibility of detecting in advance, changes in consumer behavior reflected in a new attribute that affects the final purchase decision (systematic Exploration Groups (at least every six months)
Let's now see through a real life example the use of this evaluation matrix: compatibility matrix:
Let's take the case of the product: DAILY, and suppose that the target audience to be addressed are: individuals with business decision-making capacity or with the potential to have it.
Motivational analysis through the following five attributes were detected by which this audience identifies with its reading:
• Extensive information on economic and financial analysis
• Good dissemination of business activities
• Objectivity in international politics
• Non-sensationalist information criteria
• Few news from the police chronicle
Below we will show the results in a perceptual map of the different compatibility achieved by the brands, assuming that our brand is X:
Attributes explored:
- Non-sensationalist information criteria Objectivity in international politics Agile reading With orderly information Handy format Extensive information on economic and financial analysis Good dissemination of business activities Little news from the police chronicle Politicized approach Air and maritime traffic information
|
Attributes |
Perceptions of brands in the market (in%) | |||
| W |
AND |
Z |
X |
|
|
one |
70 |
twenty |
70 |
80 |
|
two |
80 |
twenty |
70 |
80 |
|
3 |
fifty |
fifty |
fifty |
70 |
|
4 |
70 |
70 |
70 |
70 |
|
5 |
40 |
60 |
70 |
60 |
|
6 |
70 |
60 |
60 |
80 |
|
7 |
60 |
fifty |
fifty |
80 |
|
8 |
40 |
twenty |
40 |
80 |
|
9 |
60 |
80 |
60 |
80 |
|
10 |
80 |
60 |
60 |
80 |
|
Weighted average |
62 |
49 |
60 |
72 |
As can be deduced from the matrix, our brand X, with respect to the chosen target audience, is the one that has the best position in the minds of consumers. However, it can also be deduced that it presents a degree of inefficiency of 28%, with respect to the ideal perception of the market. The latter means a strategic window for the entry of new potentials, of which we must be alert.
In the main decision attributes (1,2,6,7,8) the average percentage of perception is 80%, being that of its closest competitor 60%.
Every six months, the evolution of these percentages should be monitored, and the appearance of a new attribute not considered now, due to the change in the behavior of the final consumer (reader), should be explored.
Final reflection:
In a simple way, it is possible, with a strong landing in reality, to make tangible the world of symbolic promises that enclose the products / services offered in the heads of consumers.
The systematization of the use of motivational groups, and the statistical analysis of the percentage quantification of the attributes, allows to have the tool to see the evolution (in numbers) of a variable as complex as the change in the behavior of the target markets in its decision of final purchase..
Therefore, the highly theoretical concept of positioning, transcendental when imposing a brand, has a practical vehicle to handle, measure and monitor it.
