1. Product Positioning
Anuradha Sridharan
Product Manager
Cleartrip

5. Think about your product or service

6. Unique position that a product
occupies in the mind of a consumer

7. Web Search
“Reliable” - Google
“New” - Bing
My mind space
E-Commerce
“Reliable” - Flipkart
“Saves time” - IRCTC
“Simple” - Cleartrip
Email
“Emotional” - Yahoo!
“Productive” - Gmail

8. Created using http://www.wordle.net

9. Why?
"Positioning is the single largest influence on the
buying decision.”
Geoffrey Moore in his book “Crossing the Chasm”

10. Who owns positioning?
Product Management
OR
Product Marketing

11. Positioning <> Tagline

12. Positioning
Name
Logo
Creative Message
Requirements
Product Design
Tagline
Brand

13. Pre-Requisites

Segmentation of the market

Identification of Target segments

Competitive Analysis

14. Emergence Growth Maturity Decline
Market Life Cycle
Positioning varies with market phase

15. “It's not enough to invent or discover
something. You must be first to get into
the prospect's mind”
Al Ries and Jack Trout

16. New Product Category
Start with who you are not!
Horseless carriages
Frost-free refrigerators
Tubeless tires
Cashless payments

17. Existing Product Category
Who is your target audience?
What is the one most important problem of your
audience?
What is the one most important benefit of your
product?
Why is your product better than your competitors'
products?

18. Positioning Statement
Sentence #1

For (target customer)

who (statement of the need or opportunity),

the (product/service name) is a (product/service category)

that (statement of benefit).
Sentence #2

Unlike (primary competitive alternative),

our product (statement of primary differentiation).

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Picture Credits: http://www.amazon.com

20. Cleartrip for Business
Problems faced by our target audience
− No transparency in travel costs
− Less control
Positioning: Comprehensive travel management solution
Product
− Ability to define travel booking policies
− Get a snapshot of travel booking trends
− Link travel expenses to departments, cost centers
and projects

21. A few pointers

Keep it short and specific

Stick to one target customer's problem you will
solve and one significant benefit your product
offers in relation to competition

Share your positioning statement with all Internal
stakeholders (customer service, sales, technical
support, design, engineering, marketing)

22. B2B Products

Basic Principles remain the same!

Focus on channel strength (delivery model)
− Reseller capabilities
− Support systems

23. Validation
Does your positioning strategy
− Match with your target customers' needs?
− Compare your product/service with
respect to competition?

24. Expected Outcome

Differential advantage

Distinctive Image

Instant recall from consumers

25. Repositioning story from Jack Trout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YaSF2_K9l4

26. Source: http://www.engrish.com/

27. Thank You!!
Contact me at
Twitter: @anura
Email: anuradha.sridharan@gmail.com

28. References
Positioning: The battle for your mind by Al Ries, Jack Trout
Consumer Behavior 9th
edition by Leon G Schiffman, Leslie Lazar
Kanuk
Crossing the chasm by Geoffrey Moore