Simulation Using Perceptual Maps in Marketing Writer #1497 Essay

Simulation Using Perceptual Maps in Marketing Writer #1497 - Essay Example The purpose of this report is to describe the actions taken by the student during three phases of the simulation and to discuss important marketing concepts such as differentiation, positioning and product lifecycle. The purpose of the simulation is to develop a positioning strategy for the company. The first phase of the perceptual map simulation involves selecting the parameters related to the motorcycle industry that aligned with the product the company is offering. The simulation taught me that the optimum amount of parameters that should be chosen for a particular product is four. Choosing more than four does not allow the marketer to highlight the product’s strengths in order to create effective marketing campaigns. The nine parameters I had to choose from were: lifestyle image, product design, cool, product uniqueness, service offering, price, engine capacity safety, and quality engineering. Based on the company’s status as a provider to motorcycle in the high-end of the marketplace I choose these four parameters: lifestyle image, product design and styling, price and product uniqueness. The result of my selection was that I ended up choosing three of the four optimum parame ters for this particular product. The parameter that I should not have selected was product uniqueness. In this case quality engineering covers the important aspects of product uniqueness. An important parameter that I failed to choose was service offering. Service offerings are utilized to ensure loyalty among customers and distribution channels which include club memberships, maintenance training, and financial services (Perceptual Maps in Marketing Simulation, 2008). The second phase of the simulation involved making a decision about the company future positioning in the marketplace. Tough economic times along with an aging focus group of customer were endangering the company solid 40% market share. The two primary choices were repositioning the CruiserThorr model or