Millennium Marketing Research®
Tom Schori DBA Millennium Marketing Research®, 808 Ironwood, Normal IL 61761, 309-532-8466

Statistical model helps position your brand to maximize market share.

By Thomas R. Schori, Ph.D., and Michael L. Garee, Principals,  Millennium Marketing Research®, 808 E. Ironwood, Normal, IL 61761-5239, 

Wouldn’t it be great if it were possible to identify a brand positioning strategy which would result in maximizing that brand’s share potential? Well, we at Millennium Marketing Research® currently have a software-based, proprietary model that is designed to do just that! We call it the Optimal Brand Positioning Model, and it is something that every company that wants to realize their maximum market share potential should seriously investigate.

Employing the OBP Model involves a three-step process:

Step 1

The first step consists of identifying those attributes that are logically thought to drive brand choice. With an established brand, the marketer generally has a very good idea as to which attributes are important to the consumer when making his or her brand choice. Such attributes have typically been identified through a variety of customer feedback mechanisms, trade feedback, and so on. What’s critical here is to identify attributes that the marketer can actually change, if such change is called for.

One can ordinarily uncover myriad such attributes by searching through internal research and pertinent secondary research data. If such a search fails to uncover what appear to be important drivers (and ones which the marketer could manipulate, should it be needed), it may then be necessary to conduct ad hoc qualitative (focus groups) or quantitative research to identify a set of drivers.

After identifying what are believed to constitute key drivers of brand choice, a print survey questionnaire is prepared and administered to a representative sample of the brand’s target market. Survey respondents are asked to do three things:

¨ Importance data. Respondents are asked to distribute a given number of points among all the drivers (brand attributes) featured in the survey, in order to reflect the relative importance of each driver. For example, if there are 25 drivers, the respondents are normally instructed to distribute 25 points among all the drivers in such a way as to reflect which drivers are the most important when it comes to their choosing a particular brand. Say, for example, the respondent thinks just three drivers far outweigh the importance of the other 22 drivers, then he or should would assign all 25 points among just those three drivers, e.g., 15 points to one driver, three points to another and the remaining seven points to the third driver. The remaining drivers would be assigned no points. This approach forces respondents to meaningfully discriminate among the various drivers. Generally, the attribute deemed most important will garner five to seven times the importance (i.e., points assigned) among respondents than will the least important driver.

¨ Brand performance data. Respondents are also asked to rate, usually on a scale of "1" (strongly disagree) to "5" (strongly agree), the extent to which each attribute statement describes the target brand, several competing brands, and their preferred brand (if that brand is not within the set being evaluated). (Of course, respondents are not informed as to which brand constitutes the brand sponsoring the research.)

¨ Ideal brand data. Here, respondents are asked to rate, again on the same 5-point scale, how they think their "ideal" brand would perform on each attribute statement.

Step 2

Having collected the importance data, brand performance data, and ideal brand data from respondents who are representative of the brand’s target market, we then exercise the Optimal Brand Positioning Model. The results indicate the following:

  • Which attributes, if changed even slightly, would be expected to produce the largest net increase in the target brand's share (where net increase is the sum of the "switchers-in" and the "switchers-out");
  • Which attributes, if changed even slightly, would be expected to hurt the target brand's share most;
  • Which attributes, if changed even slightly, for competitors' brands would most enhance or hurt their market share positions.

Step 3

Based upon the analysis and interpretation conducted in step 2, specific, actionable recommendations can then be made regarding the best "next steps" for the marketer of the target brand to take, from a tactical and strategic viewpoint, in order to maximize market share.

Various areas considered in these recommendations include such things as advertising and sales promotional activities, internal cultural influences/inhibitors, and, since no business today operates in a vacuum, other relevant constituencies, e.g., regulators and other governmental bodies, stockholders, stakeholders, et al.

OBP Model no ‘silver bullet,' but..

Is the Optimal Brand Positioning Model some type of "silver bullet" for marketers looking for ways of increasing the numbers of buyers who choose their brands, and by extension, their market share? No, of course not, but to be honest about it, the OBP Model comes about as close to being a "silver bullet" as you’re likely to find¾ if the recommendations derived from the model’s execution are implemented honestly, and then comprehensively tracked for necessary modifications and repositioning from time to time.