MKTG2023 Chap.4 Positioning Services and Value Propositions
Positioning Services and Value Propositions
From analysis to a place in the customer’s mind
Positioning creates a distinctive place for a service relative to competitors, and it must be meaningful to the target, defensible against rivals and based on real differences in delivery.
The route there starts with a 3 Cs analysis of company, customers and competitors, then segmentation on service-relevant bases, targeting and a deliberate level of focus, from fully focused to unfocused.
Maps and promises
A positioning map plots rivals on two determinant attributes and exposes crowded positions and white space.
The workshop handout warns that choosing attributes that are merely important is the most common error. A value proposition then states who is served, the outcomes they gain and why this provider is the better choice, in plain language.
Platforms with two sides
Digital services can compete on personalisation, network effects or ecosystem breadth.
Two-sided platforms must position themselves to both sides at once, and drawing a rider map beside a driver map shows whether a ride-share promise holds together or is only advertising.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The 3 Cs and the STP sequence
- 02
Service-relevant segmentation bases
- 03
Fully focused, market focused, service focused and unfocused
- 04
Important versus determinant attributes
- 05
Building and reading a positioning map
- 06
Value propositions and two-sided platform positioning
Worked example · free
Read the white space on a four-gym positioning map
- 1Clubs B and C both sit high on flexibility and low on coaching, so they compete head on.
- 1Studios A and D both sit low on flexibility and high on coaching, so they are the second pair of direct rivals.
- 1No gym sits above about 6 on both axes at once, so the upper-right corner is white space.
- 1An entrant there offers the coaching Studios A and D sell without their fixed schedules.
- 1Studio A is most threatened, because its customers value coaching most and gain flexibility by switching.
Key terms
- 3 Cs Analysis
- Analysis of the company, its customers and its competitors that opens customer-driven services strategy and feeds segmentation and targeting.
- Fully Focused Strategy
- Focus strategy in which a firm offers a narrow range of services to a narrow target market, the highest level of focus.
- White Space
- Unoccupied combination of attribute levels on a positioning map that no current competitor offers.
- Indirect Network Effect
- Rise in a platform’s value to one side as more users join the other side, as drivers and riders do on ride-hailing services.
Positioning Services and Value Propositions FAQ
What is the difference between important and determinant attributes?
Important attributes matter to customers but may not separate the options, because every provider offers them. Determinant attributes are those on which customers see real differences and which decide the purchase. Segmentation and positioning maps should use determinant attributes; the workshop handout calls confusing the two the most common error.
How many competitors should a positioning map show?
The Week 2 workshop asks for your brand plus three to five competitors, plotted on two determinant attributes. You then mark a white space opportunity and name the rival your move would threaten most, so the map supports a decision rather than simply describing the market.
What makes a value proposition strong?
It names the needs it meets, the way it meets them and why it beats the alternatives, and it rests on determinant attributes. The seminar slide breaks it into the target customer and their pain points, the outcomes they gain and the difference rivals miss, written simply and without jargon. The strongest ones are credible and hard to copy.
Why do two-sided platforms need two positioning maps?
Because they must win both sides at once. Riders choose on price, waiting time and convenience, while drivers choose on commission, flexibility, support and incentives. Drawing both maps shows whether promises conflict, such as the lowest fares for riders against the best earnings for drivers, and whether a repositioning can work for both.
Assessment move
Choose a service category you know well and list six attributes customers mention. Strike out any that every provider claims, since those are important rather than determinant, then plot four real competitors on the two strongest survivors. Write a one-sentence value proposition for the white space and name the touchpoint most likely to break that promise.
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