Assignment -
Deciding on positioning requires a frame of reference through: identifying the target market, the nature of the competition, the ideal points-of-parity and points-of-difference, and any brand associations. To determine a proper competitive frame of reference, one must understand the market's consumer behavior, and any considerations consumers use in making brand choices.
"Product" is the first and most important element of the marketing mix. Product strategy calls for making coordinated decisions on product mixes, product lines, brands, and packaging and labeling.
In planning a market offering, the marketer needs to think through the five levels of the product: the core benefit, the basic product, the expected product, the augmented product, and the potential product, which encompasses all the augmentations and transformations the product might ultimately undergo.
A service is any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. It may or may not be tied to a physical product.
Services are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable. Each characteristic poses challenges and requires certain strategies. Marketers must find ways to add tangibility to intangibles; to increase the productivity of service providers; to increase and standardize the quality of the service provided; and to match the supply of services with market demand.
Discuss what you believe to be the most significant differences between "Goods" and "Services" when a company is attempting to "Position" the product for a target market.
The response MUST:
1. Fosters the discussion
2. Presentation of positions
3. Critical thinking
4. Submitted on time
Response/Opinion Factors:
(Remember that your Considered Opinion should include your "final answer" or position on the issue. It should reflect a synthesis of your understanding of the issue and rationale for your position on it. Your Considered Opinion will be evaluated as follows:
5. Quality of evidence used to support final opinion
6. Outside sources (With APA reference)
7. Statement of position
8. Understanding of the issue
9. Awareness of and answer to opposing positions
10. Style