Analysis of Brand Positioning based on Customer Value

Overview

Analysis of Brand Positioning based on Customer Value product line is a consultancy tool that describes the relative positioning of each brand in industry from consumers' angle by analyzing customer valued of major brands in the industry. The analysis result of the tool can, from customers' angle, disclose the major competitor of different brands, their strength and weakness so as to find a benchmark to improve their customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, it can also discover the positioning adjustment of different brands or positioning of newly-developed brands.

As a customer awareness-based concept, customer value represents the contrast between all awareness interests and costs when customers purchase products or services.

If awareness interests equal to costs, it is worthwhile; if awareness interests are higher than costs, it is a windfall; if awareness interests are lower than costs, it is a loss.

Customers are the final purchasers of products and services, so their awareness is everything to enterprises. No matter how the actual situation of products or services is, customers' good feelings are the most important.

Therefore, from the angle of customer value, if customers feel that an enterprise's product is very valuable, the product is competitive.

Customer value is a balancing relation between all awareness interests and costs when customers purchase products or services. Customer value is formed by awareness interests and costs. Then what elements form these two parts respectively? Marketing master Philip Kotler believes:

Customer interest includes product value, service value, personnel value and image value;

Customer cost includes money cost, time cost, physical cost and spirit cost.

Basic Model

Model Application

Customer value plays an essential role in helping enterprises to obtain and maintain their competitive advantages.

First of all, customer value is the starting point of enterprises obtaining competitive advantages. To obtain such advantages, enterprises must optimize their skills and resources so as to provide customers high-value products or service (Porter, 1985). Therefore, enterprises have to listen patiently "voice of customers" when they develop a new product.

Meanwhile, enterprises should also know their competitors' performance on these elements so as to develop competitive products with high customer value (Hauser and Urban, 1993).

Products with high customer awareness value are also very attractive to customers. The result is that products will attract more new customers and retain more loyal customers so as to bring larger sales volume, lower management and higher profit(Reichheld, 1996).

Because the positioning of different brands is different in different consumers, each brand has different competitors. Brand positioning analysis based on customer value can help enterprises to recognize their major competitors so as to know who they should compete with when they try to promote their customer satisfaction and loyalty. Otherwise, brand positioning adjustment or new brand development can help enterprises enter an advantage vacuum in the customer value positioning map.