My next few posts are breaking down the steps to develop a positioning statement (see the very first post on this topic March 1, 2010). Value propositions (see post March 9, 2010) are a part of the positioning statement, and this next post talks about how you map market needs to features and benefits as part of the value proposition.
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As part of the development of any market position or positioning statement, you must understand the needs of your market, then clearly map and communicate how your product or services meet those needs.
Probably the majority of the time that you spend creating any positioning statement will be on understanding and analysizing market needs. This is where many companies choose to either purchase or conduct market research on specific market segments in order to better assess their needs. The reason that needs are so important is that where there is a need there is an implied business pain. Where there is a business pain, there is an opportunity to solve that pain by providing a solution that takes the pain away. This is the market opportunity — and where the potential for profit lies.
Now, since these latest series of posts are focused on the creation of a positioning statement itself, I’m not going to go in to detail about how to collect market needs. That, perhaps, will be the subject of later posts. Instead, I’m going to assume that you have market needs identified already.
What follows here is a critical tool to map market needs to the features and benefits of the solution (or “offering”) that you bring to market. This market needs matrix provides you with a framework to outline the features that meet market needs and the benefits that they deliver, broken down by market segment and component of your offering. This creates a matrix of market needs and their associated products and benefits which can be used to develop value proposition statements.
Let’s go back to our fictional company Cable Company. In previous posts, we identified three market segments that they were targeting: 1) Families, 2) Urban, single, men & women, and 3) Small business. Using those as our segments, here’s a sample of a market needs matrix. Note that the vertical axis outlines the market segments and the horizontal axis outlines the offerings, by component. Within each segment, we’ve presented features and benefits, broken down by component.
Note that some columns have “NA” inserted, meaning “not applicable.” While many components may be applicable to all segments, some components will only be of interest to other segments. Now, you may spot components that you think are applicable for a segment, but I’ve entered “NA.” That’s because sometimes as marketers, we may want to focus on or promote the “best” component for a particular segment. For example, in the Families segment, the component “High Bandwidth Internet Access” may be of interest to them. However, because Families may have more “pain” around family appropriate programming, I’ve mapped out the features and benefits for that section, and completely ignored “High Bandwidth Internet Access.” It’s a judgment call, and you may go into great detail and map every component if you like — it’s up to you and the priorities of your company.
OFFERING |
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MARKET SEGMENT | Component: Family TV & Radio Programming | Component: usic TV & Radio Programming | Component: High Bandwidth Internet Access | Component: Low-cost Telephone Service | Component: Programming for High Definition Television |
Segment 1 – Families | Features (Product or Service):– Family cable channels- Family radio channels- Parental ControlsBenefits:
– Music, entertainment, and educational programming suitable to children – Parents can block channels they deem unsuitable |
NA | NA | Features (Product or Service):– Digital telephone service
Benefits:– Less expensive than traditional phone service, with the same features – One bill, one low monthly rate |
NA |
Segment 2 – Urban, single men & women | NA | Features (Product or Service):– Music video cable channels- Radio channels
Benefits: – Watch your favorite music videos, catch up on music news – Multiple genre radio programming, commercial free – Local radio station broadcast via cable and internet |
Features (Product or Service):– High speed internet access
Benefits:– Faster than DSL – Watch high bandwidth programming online – TV, movies, live streaming video – Faster download speed |
Features (Product or Service):– Digital Voice over IP
Benefits:– Less expensive than traditional phone service, with the same features – One bill, one low monthly rate |
Features (Product or Service):– TV shows and movies in High Definition
Benefits:– The most HDTV programming available – Crystal clear picture, excellent sound quality |
Segment 3 – Small business | NA | NA | Features (Product or Service):– High speed internet access
Benefits:– Faster than DSL – Enables video conferencing – Faster email, download speed – Supports more network users than DSL |
Features (Product or Service):– Digital Voice over IP
Benefits:– Reduce company phone bill – Deliver the same features as the phone company – voicemail, call forwarding, etc. |
NA |
Since March 9 my posts have been discussing how to put a value proposition together, and going into detail about each piece of the value proposition statement. In my next post, I’ll be finalizing this discussion by putting everything together into one value proposition statement. Stay tuned!
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