How Can a Product Be Repositioned - Essay Example

and Section # of How can a product be repositioned" Introduction The concept of positioning, targeting, and segmenting are not new to organizations and individuals who are associated to the selling of products or services on national and international levels. As famous and as familiar these concepts are, the 'Marketing Mix' has the same familiarity. All because these are elements and factors that are vital in product or service selling and organization running. All of these factors have to be carefully considered. As swiftly we can see the world becoming a Global village, we should also consider that the markets are a part of this globalization. Organizations, today face tough competition at the hands of their competitors in their respective markets. The vitality of the factors and elements such as Segmenting, targeting and positioning can be analyzed form the fact that these can either make or break the future of your product or service that you intend to provide to your consumers. The concept of re positioning of a product or service in the similar way is not a new one. organizations large or small , are faced with the option of repositioning their products , mostly when the market for their current products has matured , the high flux of changing consumer demands , and also the fact that some organizations are faced with severe losses and in some cases end of the life cycle of their products . Thus by re positioning is meant that the organization decided to fabricate basically upon the core product or service. The basic re positioning idea is applied by organizations both to retain the present market share and customers, as well as bag a high number of future customers of the product or service. It is basically a long term plan, which requires detailed market research, product life cycle analysis, market research, competitor analysis etc. Also this provides the organization to renew the marketing mi and change how they deal wit the four P's of the product or the service i.e. Product, Place, Promotion and price. It is an important aspect for you to know also as to how your organization, product and service are perceived in the market place. This helps organizations build positively. Further more, the concepts of Buyer behaviour and marketing communication also come in. The basic buyer behaviour varies from time to time. And marketing communication on the other hand varies but needs the most attention. Here we also need to mull over an imperative reality that re positioning in point of fact also means there is a calamitous need to apportion resources, which in turn means that you need to augment the quantity as well as the quality of communications. Lucid appearance of ideas and policies lend a hand in establishing the brand. Along with this tag along the incurring of extra new costs like in those of: training the employees, Renewing or merely revising a website, purchase of new sales materials, Publicity campaigning, advertising. There is an assortment of ways to re position a brand. The secret to enhanced communication is deemed as high-quality internal communication .It should be a run through to discuss with the staff of the organization and specific departments involved to make them understand why this 'Re Positioning' is taking place , what does the organization aim to achieve with this re positioning etc . Once this internal sharing of ideas is done with. The organization can now focus on external communication. (Pellow, 1) Main Body: Relationship between the three Concepts : Product Re - positioning , Communications , Buyer Behaviour The relationship between consumer buying behaviour and communications, and product repositioning is very straight and quite comprehensible. The fact that he marketing mix is a very vital attribute of a product. The four P's need to be based first, then the consumer buyer behaviour and communication needs to be settled. In regards o communication, is specific external communication, we can deem that advertising is the most eminent and efficient form. The advertising then again could be in print, through radio, and television etc. the decision of what kind of advertising should be done, and what should the content and visual if any communicate. All of these needs to be carefully considered so that it also made sure that the consumers mind are not too overloaded with information, unnecessarily. As this can greatly hinder the decision power or as a matter of fact defer it or delay it for an infinite number of years or months. Also deciding whether the product would receive greater recognition you team up with some other sponsors. Also another vital issue is what exact brand image do you want consumers to have in min regarding your product. This is vital as the kind of ad's you present consumers will perceive your product in that direction only and not otherwise. Vitality of Segmentation: 'The segmentation literature An interpretation of marketing texts (e.g. Engel et al., 1995; Kotler, 1991) indicates that segmentation is imperative. Dickson and Ginter (1987) give a critical discussion of the different segmentation concepts. However, there appear to be no published examples where different brands have been shown to appeal to very different population subgroups. This is demonstrated particularly by reviews of segmentation over the years, such as Frank et al. (1972), Wells (1975) and Wind (1978) in a special issue of Journal of Marketing Research to celebrate Wendell Smith's original (1956) segmentation article; Beane and Ennis (1987); Lunn (1986); McDonald and Dunbar (1995); also by the more specific studies cited in these reviews. Academic papers on segmentation mostly concentrate on segmentation techniques (at times quite complex). For recent cases see Bucklin et al. (1995); DeSarbo, et al. (1995); Green and Krieger (1991); Grover and Srinivasan (1987); Gupta and Chintagunta (1994); Kamakura and Russell (1989). Most researchers, however, restrict themselves to one illustrative numerical example. No striking and generalizable instances of brand segmentation have been reported. Yet very few authors have explicitly questioned whether brand segmentation exists, with Dibb and Simkin (1994), Paltschik and Storbacka (1992), and Weilbacher (1993) among the exceptions, and Kassarjian and Sheffet (1991), claiming for brand segmentation by personality variables that "if correlations [with brand choice] do exist they are so weak as to be questionable or meaningless". (Hammond, 30, 12) Most of the journals, or articles, or texts we will review we would realize al lay stress on segmenting, targeting and positioning. All of these need marketing research which should be conducted prior to making of decisions. Importance of Corporate concepts There's is no denying from the researches conducted that since the past 50 years the scholars of marketing and the marketers have comprehended the fact that there is crucial importance which is attached to the corporate level of concepts. It begins with the building of the corporate image. The revolutionary work of the English economist Kenneth Boulding is recognizable Marketing functions at various levels, in an organization both at individual as well as corporate level. The levels at both jauners need to be planned and coordinated. Researchers have long used Delphi technique, to identify consumer buying behaviour. Factors that need to be considered for the consumer buying behaviour. In order for organizations to evaluate consumer buying behaviour they need to be aware of the Maslow's Hierarchy of needs theory which specifies the following: The basic aim of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of needs theory , was to identify and also explain the fact of what actually is the motivating force behind every individual's target's and achievements in life . This is how he puts the needs in a hierarchy: 1. Physiological Needs : wherein he works towards satisfying his needs of food and water 2. Safety Needs: Here is when they look for job security, and security of the fact that they would be earning a probable sum of money. 3. Social Needs: the desire of being loved, the sense of belonging in the individual. 4. Self esteem Needs : the need of achieving status in society 5. Self Actualization Needs : The need of felling content , fulfilled He places the physiological needs on the top where in this is the need of every human to be able to quench his thirst, and fulfil his hunger. The two major factors needed to survive and stay alive in other words. He then laments that after the individual has realized that he has been successful in achieving the Physiological needs for himself and his family , the next thing he looks at is his Job security , security of the fact that he would earn a good amount of salary each month , in order for him to run his household . It is only after the successful satisfaction of these two, that an individual has the spare time and brain to think about the Social needs he has. The self Esteem need tends to encourage the fact of analyzing ones self if you have been able to achieve a probable status in society. As explained, there is dire need of individuals now at this stage to be satisfied; if not then it would become hard to make sure how the individual can achieve it. How this Theory Helps Marketers Another very vital issue now is how marketers do and organizations use these concepts in their product placement, targeting and etc. What Maslow basically pointed out also was the fact that the needs tend to vary from time to time but the nature of the needs remains the same. Every individual tends to go through the same procedure. Recognition of the various types of buying behaviour It is also vital for marketers to be aware and be able to identify each type of buying behaviour a consumer demonstrates. And in this way the marketer can market the product in the manner that it would convince the consumer, that it satisfies his need. 1. Complex Buying Behaviour: herein the individual making the purchase, collects a lot of prior information, also herein the consumer is making a high value purchase. 2. Habitual Buying Behaviour: Herein the consumer repeatedly buys the same product, which is out of habit. For example, the daily newspaper, eggs and milk etc. herein the consumer does not collect information each time that he purchases, the one time he did do the research he perceives was enough to help him identify the actual goods that satisfy his daily needs. 3. Variety Seeking Buying Behaviour: Herein, the consumer has a variety seeking frame of mind when making the purchase. He looks for a different brand each time he goes to shop. And thus is ready to experiment, and take the risk of using a fresh product each time. For Example buying Audio Cassettes. 4. Dissonance reducing Behaviour: Herein the consumer is highly involved in the purchase of the product because, there can be two reasons. One that the purchase is once in a lifetime or the other that it has a very high value. How does the recognition of Buyer Behaviour help an organization to position or reposition a product If organizations would be able to identify the consumer buying behaviours. All respectively. They would be in a better position to evaluate and analyze and then make the decision of how to place and position their product. Along with what attributes to design the product with. This also helps organizations decide their advertising Campaign, target Markets, and also what segment of the market can they actually cater to. If, Re Positioning a product is an organizations aim, then also the recognition of these will further help the organization build upon a better product, refresh their targets, their target markets and plan new strategies in order to achieve organizational objectives both short term and long term. How is communication Vital to a product Re Positioning Better communication both internally and externally to an organization aids the success of organizations in the market place. The realization of costs involved is also vital. When a product is being re positioned. The one very vital issue to be kept in mind is the fact that it is in one sense the renewal of the same base product line, the organization is basically re Positioning Literally the same product base. But with new innovative design, and features. All of these to attract the consumers, that they believe were being missed out previously. This communication internally means that the staff and all employees and administration involved should be aware that Re positioning of a product is being Planned and decided. It is because; this individual staffs are the ones who will be working towards making those changes in the product and its market / brand Image. Thus, they need to be told clearly. Also they should be clearly told why the organization thinks a re positioning at this point in time would help, and how would it actually help boost profits. The staff should also be asked for feedback on the issue. They should be inquired about what new attributes they think looking at the market should the new product entail For this the staff at the sales department should be inquired, because they have been physically going back and forth in the market with the organizations products. They will be better able to judge of what new changes the product direly needs. Critical Analysis: Reviewing all the theory above, all concepts aside. There is no doubt that factor's like the marketing mix , the four p's , the basic concepts of segmentation , targeting and marketing are all vital to the success of an organization . Theory has laid down for all organizations, all of these concepts in a very friendly manner and it has become easier for organizations to, actually carry on with all of these processes. But in, actual if we look at the picture of a Market and The buyers. Despite, the fact that the identification if the consumer buying behaviour helps position and subsequently re position the products in the markets. There are no specific rules to the perfect Re positioning, the perfect targeting, and the perfect segmenting of any product. Or the perfect marketing Mix. Along with using the theoretical knowledge managers and staff today need to have and make that extra effort and use their intelligent minds to be able to read the minds of the consumers, be able to forecast changing market trends. One element that can always help keep organizations and staff along with their management updated on the developments in the market, changing market trends, is research. It is the most effective tool that can aid all organizations of today always, towards success. "Conclusion" Marketing communications And Brand Identity : Vitality There are numerous facets encompassing the individuality or uniqueness of a brand. These facets are what actually contribute to the development of a Brand Image .Besides the fact that these are vital; the role of marketing communications cannot be ignored. And it particularly helps a brand achieve the image it targets within the consumer market. If we take Advertising in specific as a case there exist two most vital elements, which are: The Message and The Medium. Both of these amalgamate together and bring into being Brand Image values. But if we tend to debate on Sponsorship only both medium and the message are considered one and not distinct from each other. These are associated very intricately. (Meenaghan & Shipley, 328) Segmentation: Smith pioneered the concept of Market Segmentation and it has been since that time that all marketers, whether they own businesses or firms in particular, whether they are researchers or into academics, they all have absorbed in them the concept and its vitality. They have realized how crucial it is to segment right. And, so its vitality seems to mesmerize every marketer, every practitioner, and every teacher. (Hoek, Gendall and Esslemont, 25) Astrology, Segmentation and Targeting It was very recent that a surprising, concept in regards to targeting and segmentation was floated in the market. It was by Mitchell, who narrates that the art of astrology could actually in reality be used for the purpose of segmenting in the market. Initially, if we read this it would startle us for sure. Along with amusing us. His real argument is more restrained than we as individuals can assume. This theory can be claimed but with a lot many criticisms. The broader issues of segmenting and targeting are entailed herein. If we presume that we wish that Mitchell's theory be completely rejected the real problem for him will not be the fact that the foundations for the notion of Astrological segmentation are true but the problem that will tend to develop is that these assumptions can usually be false . This is irrespective of how they segment or target the consumer Market. (Wright, 1) All the concepts explained, above are important for organizations to consider and spend money on. Another key towards the success of organizations as described by experts is, that with routine research, analysis, of the changing market and consumer buying trends the organizations can better position and re position their products. By examples we know, that there are organizations, who do not keep frequent checks on the product life cycle, of the product, which means some organizations pay attention to everything but the fact that even products which are making constant profits tend to mature the market after a certain while. And before they drop down from the maturity level, they should consider Re positioning the product. Theories undoubtedly aid in making decisions, but the research the organization conducts on their own level is what is vital information for all in the organization. Works Cited 1. By Barbara pellow Copyright 2003 - 2007, All Rights Reserved, OnDemandJournal.comSpecial Feature Market Repositioning Done Right 2. Kathy Hammond London Business School, London, and A.S.C. Ehrenberg and G.J. Goodhardt South Bank Business School, London Journal of Marketing 30, 12 Market segmentation for competitive brands. 3. Tony Meenaghan and David Shipley, Media Effect in Commercial Sponsorship European Journal of Marketing, 33, 3/4 4. Janet Hoek, PhillipGendall, and Don Esslemont, Market Segmentation A search for the Holy Grail 5. Malcolm Wright, The dubious assumptions of segmentation and targeting Management Decision 34/1 [1996] 18-24 MCB University Press [ISSN 0025-1747] Read More