Branding, Positioning, and Segmentation

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Branding, Positioning, and Segmentation

1. The firm may rely on certain factors when identifying customer segments for its new brand of peanut butter. For instance, they may segment consumers based on the latter’s current location. If the firm plans to appeal to customers within its reach, it may decide to focus on those that are proximate to its branches. Consequently, the company will segment based on the population’s behavior, especially in consumption and spending. Customers that use the product and spend more on it are more viable for the firm. Additionally, demographics such as the income level and family size may influence the firm to focus more on customers with high income and big families due to the product’s consumable nature.
2. Repositioning a brand is difficult due to the efforts that it will take to avoid alienating customers. Usually, since a brand is ingrained within the customer’s mind, it allows the latter to establish a relationship of trust with the company, based on informed understanding of its product and those offered by the competitors. Hence, repositioning a brand necessitates eradicating such bonds. In this respect, a radical change may create a backlash, leading to high turnover levels among customers, especially those that have identified with the brand for a long time. Consequently, averting this challenge requires a slow approach that will eventually reinforce the company’s relationship with the customer despite being repositioned.
3. Branding enables the company to position a product by establishing mental frameworks for customers. This way, the firm helps the consumers to organize knowledge of the merchandise and that of its competitors. Usually, customers associate goods based on their brands. For this reason, marketers focus considerably on generating brand identities that have a healthy relationship with the consumer. Once the customer has the company’s name in mind, they can make purchasing decisions that are mostly influenced by the brand’s presence or identity. In addition, the consumer is able to decide while still being aware of the product that competing organizations offer in the same market.
4. In respect to the positioning map, the marketing manager can implement two particular decisions. Firstly, they can identify a market opportunity that the product can exploit in respect to the competing brands within the same setting. With a positioning/perceptual map, the marketing manager can find an appealing market segment to penetrate before their rivals do. Secondly, the manager may reposition the brand to retain or attain a competitive edge over other rivals. The positioning map shows how segments change as markets grow. Hence, the tool gives the marketing manager a chance to react in favor of gaining more market share.
5. Normally, brand extensions are used by firms that want to maximize their respective brands. However, introducing new products while using the same brand name/identity tends to fail because customers do not have a strong perception of the brand name. Ideally, the concept of brand equity calls for the attainment of value from the perceptions that consumers have regarding the products’ brand names. Since brand extensions are simply based on the addition of more product lines, sales dwindle, as customers do not recognize these additions. Furthermore, firms are unable to capitalize on the sales of these extensions because they do not create new benefits or worth that will drive consumer attention towards them.