Post a meaning ful question or comment to the each discussion

150 word each

Discussion 1

Positioning in a marketing context refers to dominance and influence in interpersonal relations. Social influence techniques have been developed to allow influencers to exert influence over the decisions of others. Social influence relates to a change in a person which is provoked by an actual or imagined presence of another person or institution. This influence occurs when the influencer’s behavior triggers a desirable change in another person’s actions.

Positioning effectiveness relies on the relationship between the influencer and the influenced and reflects their current identities. The influencer offers a potential customer or follower with a subject identity resulting in a natural, desired behavior. By exerting their influence, the follower willingly fulfills the request of the influencer, and the resulting transaction feels natural to the follower.

A basic assumption is that for one to increase his or her social influence, he or she must increase the strength of his or her positioning. Individuals may assume a position to allow them to influence others. This positioning may lead the follower to assume a position of an influenced individual. The influencer maintains their position by emphasizing competence, privileges, or other advantages that allow them to maintain their position as an influencer. The interaction between the influencer and the influenced is dynamic. The influencer may offer the other party the position of the influenced through interactive positioning. The influencer’s positioning increases when the influence is in line with the intention of the influencing subject.

The “foot-in-the-door” influence technique is based on two inter-related requests that are directed toward the prospect. The prospect is first presented with a less relevant request. The fulfillment of the less relevant request increases the probability that the more relevant request will be fulfilled. This technique works with greater efficiency when the first request is uncommon. Once the individual fulfills the uncommon request, the person justifies their actions on their self-perception. This does not mean that the first request should be difficult, but rather an uncommon request. By activating a positive response toward the first request, the probability of the person to complete the second request increases.

The initial request may be something as trivial as “May I ask you a question?” Once the influencer gets an affirmative response to this question, he or she may continue along a line of questioning that leads to a natural “yes” response to purchase the product or service being offered. The “may I ask you a question” request is common. To enhance the chances of an affirmative response to the second request, a more uncommon request should initially be utilized. For example, an initial uncommon request may be to ask the prospect to close their eyes or to hold out their hand. The second request might involve them seeing themselves utilizing the subject product or service and being surrounded by adoring friends and family, and subsequently asking “If your friends and family are so excited about you having XYZ product or service, you would want to purchase it today, correct?” By answering the second request and answering in the affirmative, the prospect has now indicated their willingness to purchase the desired service or product offered by the influencer.

Discussion 2

Marketers have been moving away from mass marketing endeavors, as they are increasingly targeting smaller segments with customized marketing programs. This research paper clarifies how business could select the most profitable segments as they employ market coverage and positioning strategies to attract them. Furthermore, it succinctly and clearly explains the three stages of target marketing namely; market segmentation, market targeting, and market positioning (STP) and their mutual relationship and subsets (Camilleri, 2018).

Customer segmentation enables marketers to adopt a more systematic approach when forecasting. This leads to better exploitation of marketing resources, resulting in the development of a more finely-tuned marketing program. Within the customer segmentation category, there are five main categories: demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioral, and product-related factors (Camilleri, 2018).

There are multiple approaches that a market can be segmented (Camilleri, 2018). The market segments must possess the following characteristics: measurability (measure the size and purchasing power of the segment), substantiality (the degree to which segments are profitable enough to be worth pursuing with “tailored” marketing programs), accessibility (the degree to which one may reach and serve segments), and actionability (the degree to which effective programs can be redesigned to attract and serve relevant segments).

After the completion of the market segmentation, the company should be aware of the needs and wants of its selected segments. It is here where target marketing comes in as the protagonist in the marketing strategy (Camilleri, 2018). There are three market coverage alternatives which can be applied in this marketing targeting section; undifferentiated marketing strategy (a strategy that ignores any differences in the market), a differentiated marketing strategy (will usually involve targeting a number of segments), and a concentrated marketing (companies with limited resources will usually target one or a few sub-markets. It is considered a higher risk than the rest).

In the spectrum of targeting there are a couple of other methods that have taken precedence based on advances in technology. Optimizing digital consumer targeting with advanced algorithms, allows the digital giants to know precisely what type of ads ought to be consumed by which customer. However, business intelligence and predictive analytics have already opened the controversial topic of privacy concerns and consumer protection (Camilleri, 2018).

The final stage in target marketing is product positioning. Here it is where firms formalize positioning statements which specify the position; they wish to occupy in their target customers’ minds. Some examples of product positioning include Dove as the beauty soap for women or Southwest Airlines as a low-cost, punctual, friendly airline. The main two types of product positioning in marketing include head-to-head positioning which focuses on the comparison (very prevalent when there is hardcore competition, and the benefits are in your favor) and differentiation which emphasizes your product’s unique qualities (unlike head-to-head it avoids mentioning the competition). Businesses should underline their product’s unique attributes, features and value propositions to differentiate themselves from to other competitors in the marketplace (Camilleri, 2018).

As previously mentioned, this research paper effectively exhibits the S-T-P process by explaining strong correlations and clear marketing workflows.

Reference:

• Camilleri, M.A. (2018). Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. In travel Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product. Springer, Cham, Switzerland.