Do you know what makes your food business different than your competition? Do you know why customers will buy your product over the others? This is called product positioning.
We’ve written about product positioning before, including giving you a list of possible terms used to describe your food product. We are huge fans of having this knowledge. Knowing your product positioning can make marketing SO much clearer.
Marketing geeks rely on different exercises to visualize product position. Here are a couple of tools we use in our food business marketing work that will hopefully help you.
Iron Triangle
The Iron Triangle is a concept used in design and project management as well as in marketing. The idea is that you can only pick two of the three bubbles.
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_triangle
The theory is that you CANNOT make a fast, good, and cheap food product, but you can get two of the three. You choose which two.
Product Position Matrix
Here you have a product position matrix (sometimes called a product positioning map) with four quadrants representing price and quality. You mark your spot and your competitors’ spots to see where everyone lands on the matrix, which gives you another perspective on the space you own. Consumers want high value and high quality products. What would it take for you to get there?
These are only two visual product positioning exercises. There are certainly others. Care to share your favorites?
About Sara Lancaster
Sara is The Condiment Marketing Co.’s founder and creative director. She oversees client relationships, strategic marketing plans, as well as a bit of copywriting and social media management.
