Use of Projection Research Methods in Determining the Key Characteristics of Service Positioning

In modern conditions of a dynamically changing market, growing competition, understanding consumer behavior, preferences and needs is of paramount importance for the development of effective marketing strategies, as well as the formation of the right brand of the company that meets the expectations and preferences of consumers. The vector of attention today is primarily aimed at studying the deep characteristics of the preferences of the target audience, potential consumers in order to create a highly effective marketing strategy for promoting goods and services, as well as targeting and PR. Traditional research methods, such as surveys and focus groups, are often insufficient for in-depth understanding and analysis of motivations and emotional factors influencing consumer decision-making. In this regard, the projection method, which is a set of certain projective techniques and aimed at identifying hidden attitudes and associations, is becoming increasingly relevant in marketing research. In this article, the authors consider the educational services market, which currently has a high level of competition, which may complicate the effective positioning of universities. To avoid this situation, it is necessary to understand the deep attitudes and motives of the target audience, which can be helped by projective techniques that allow you to identify hidden aspects of brand perception. The purpose of the author's research is to study the application of the method of unfinished sentences to analyze the positioning of the university and identification of an associative series associated with the university brand in the student environment.