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Research into the differences between higher and lower performing UK companies in terms of their marketing practices (e.g. Brooksbank, 1990) has served to confirm the central principle of textbook marketing strategy; that to be successful over the long term a firm's products and services must be well "positioned" in the marketplace. At the same time, however, it has also revealed that many marketing managers are unfamiliar with either the term, or the concept, of marketing positioning strategy. Consequently, this article aims to de-mystify the concept by outlining the basic decision components, or "anatomy", of positioning strategy formulation and isolating the key ingredients thought to be critical to success. In order to put some "flesh on the bones" the article proceeds to examine how the theory translates into practice. This is achieved by explaining how a small UK-based company put these principles successfully to work in the retail computer market. The article concludes with a six- point checklist for developing a winning marketing positioning strategy.
A DEFINITION OF POSITIONING STRATEGY
In the words of Doyle (1983):
Positioning strategy refers to the choice of target market segment which describes the customers a business will seek to serve and the choice of differential advantage which defines how it will compete with rivals in the segment.
This definition shows that a positioning strategy only applies at the level of a particular product and/or service operating within a particular market, and that it should not be confused with the broader concept of "corporate" strategy, or with the more specific concepts of strategy as it relates to each individual element of the marketing mix, such as a "promotional" or "pricing" strategy.
The above definition also shows that a positioning strategy may be broken down into three interrelated sub-components:
(1) customer targets; (2) competitor targets; and (3) competitive advantage.
In addition this process of positioning strategy formulation demands the ability to build-up a picture of the marketplace and think creatively about the interrelationships between these three sub-components. The idea is to go for a segment of the market where, by virtue of the company's distinctive strengths, it is able to satisfy customer needs better than (or at least as well as) its competitors. This necessitates a thorough understanding of the strengths, weaknesses,...