1. Crafting the Brand Positioning and Dealing with Competition Key Concepts

2. What is Positioning? The act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market. Result is the creation of a customer-focused value proposition: A cogent reason why the target market should buy the product.

3. Competitive Frame of Reference Category membership—the products or sets of products with which a brand competes and which function as close substitutes. Need to understand consumer behavior and the consideration sets consumers use in making brand choices.

4. Points-of-Parity and Points- of-Difference Points-of-difference (PODs) Attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe they couldn’t find to the same extent with a competitive brand. Points-of-parity (POPs) Associations that aren’t necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands. Category points-of- parity Competitive points-of- parity

5. Establishing Category Membership Announcing category benefits Comparing to exemplars Relying on the product descriptor

6. Key Criteria for Points- of-Difference Desirability Criteria RelevanceDistinctivenessBelievability Deliverability Criteria FeasibilityCommunicabilitySustainability

7. Differentiation Strategies Competitive advantage—a company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors can’t or won’t match. Few are sustainable, but a leverageable advantage can be used as a springboard to new advantages. Focus on building competitive advantages as customer advantages.

8. Product Differentiation FormFeaturesCustomization Performance quality Conformance quality DurabilityReliabilityRepairabilityStyleDesign

9. Service Differentiation Ordering ease DeliveryInstallation Customer training Customer consulting Maintenance and repair Returns

10. Other Dimensions of Differentiation PersonnelChannelImage

11. Five Forces that Determine Marketing Attractiveness Industry competitors Potential entrants SubstitutesBuyersSuppliers

12. Threats Posed By These Forces Threat of intense segment rivalry. Threat of new entrants. Threat of substitute products. Threat of buyers’ growing bargaining power. Threat of suppliers’ growing bargaining power.

13. Industry and Market Views of Competition Industry—a group of firms that offers a product or class of products that are close substitutes for each other. Classified by: Number of sellers Degree of product differentiation Presence or absence of entry, mobility, and exit barriers Cost structure Degree of vertical integration Degree of globalization

14. Analyzing Competitors StrategiesObjectivesStrengthsWeaknesses

15. Competitor Strengths and Weaknesses Share of market Share of mind Share of heart

16. Selecting Competitors Strong vs. weak—most companies aim at weak competitors. Close vs. distant—most companies compete with the rivals that resemble them the most. “Good” vs. “bad”—good competitors play by industry rules, make realistic assumptions, set reasonable prices, and favor a healthy industry.

17. Competitive Strategies LeaderChallengerFollowerNicher

18. If you are a Market Leader, you will want to Expand the total market Defend market share Expand market share

19. If you are a Market Leader, how to expand total market? Market-penetration strategy New-market segment strategy Geographical-expansion strategy

20. If you are a Market Leader, how to defend your market share Position defense Flank defense Preemptive defense Counteroffensive defense Mobile defense Contraction defense

21. If you are a Market Leader, how to expand your market share Factors to consider before pursuing: The possibility of provoking antitrust action Economic cost Pursuing the wrong marketing activities The effect of increased market share on actual and perceived quality

22. Other Competitive Strategies Market-challenger strategies Market-follower strategies Market-nicher strategies

23. Market-Challenger’s Strategies Define the strategic objective and opponents. Decide who to attack: Market leader Market equals that are underperforming Small local and regional firms

24. Market Challenger’s Attack Strategies Frontal attack Flank attack Encirclement attack Bypass attack Guerilla warfare

25. Market-Follower’s Strategies CounterfeiterClonerImitatorAdapter

26. Specialized Niche Roles End-userVertical-levelCustomer-sizeSpecific-customerGeographical Product or product-line Product-featureJob-shopQuality-priceServiceChannel

27. Balancing Customer and Competitor Orientations Competitor-centered company Looks at what competitors are doing and then formulates competitive reactions. Customer-centered company Focuses more on customer developments in formulating its strategies.