8When you are developing and implementing a B2B strategy, you need clarity on three things: where you are now, what the competitive landscape looks like, and where you want to go.
For specialist manufacturers - whether EMS providers, CDMOs, toll manufacturers, or contract packers - this clarity is increasingly difficult to achieve. Buyers face many technically capable suppliers, and without clear differentiation, brands blur together.
A brand positioning map acts as a strategic lens. It helps you visualise how your brand is perceived relative to competitors, identify where differentiation is weak or overcrowded, and define a credible route to a stronger market position.
What is a brand positioning map?
A Brand Positioning Map is a chart used by marketing teams to determine the position of their brand and competitor brands against key attributes.
Typically presented as a simple two-axis chart, it allows manufacturing leaders and marketing teams to:
- See how buyers currently compare suppliers
- Identify areas of perceived parity or disadvantage
- Define a target position aligned to business strategy
Crucially, it turns abstract brand discussions into something concrete and commercially useful.
Why brand positioning maps matter in B2B manufacturing
For specialist manufacturers, positioning maps are not branding theory. They help address real commercial issues:
- Price pressure driven by perceived sameness
- Long sales cycles caused by buyer uncertainty
- Overreliance on legacy accounts or personal relationships
Left unaddressed, these issues compound quietly. Margins erode, differentiation weakens, and growth becomes harder to sustain - even in growing markets.
Brand positioning map vs brand perception map: What's the difference?
The terms brand positioning map and brand perception map are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle but important difference.
A brand perception map shows how your audience currently perceives you and your competitors.
A brand positioning map adds strategic intent. It overlays your current perception, your desired future position, and your competitive context.
It reveals the gap between reality and ambition, and forces an important question:
Is this gap something marketing can close, or does the business itself need to change?
Brand perception map example
Let's start with an example of a brand perception map. We'll take two typical attributes of quality and price and make these your axes. Based on market data and research, you map out where your audience sees you and your competitors’ brands on those two axes.
Are you high quality, high price? Or low quality, low price? Or maybe you are high quality, medium price? And where do your competitors appear on this map?
Figure 1: An example Brand Perception Map (aka Brand Perceptual Map).
In the example above, figure 1, Competitor A is perceived to provide the best quality at a premium price. Our brand is currently perceived to be relatively expensive and low on quality. Currently, Competitor B is perceived as better quality, for a lower price, leaving our brand in a difficult position. (Remember, this is measuring perception and may not reflect reality – you may have a high-quality offering, but you haven’t communicated that effectively).
This brand perception map only shows you the current state of affairs. It does not guide you or show you how to make changes. It can surface some useful information, but it is only the starting point for a brand positioning strategy.
For that, you need a brand positioning map. On this map you could plot where you wanted your brand to be against those same axes - where your ideal audiences' perception of your brand would lie.
Figure 2: Target position – how you want your brand to be perceived.
On its own, this tells you nothing, so add in the brand perception map – and you can see the gap between your audience’s perception and where you want to be, along with your competitors’ positions. This then informs your marketing efforts.
Brand positioning map example
Figure 3: Brand Positioning Map.
From this, you can see that a perception map and a positioning map share similar characteristics. However, a brand perception map shows you where you are now, and a brand positioning map shows you where you want to be and how to get there.
In our example here, figure 3, the marketing strategy for the brand would be to increase the audience’s perception of quality, so the brand is perceived as an equal (or better) quality than Competitor A, but at a better price.
Note that, if your brand is high quality, but you have not communicated that, then this strategy becomes a marketing strategy to better communicate the quality of your offering.
If however, the reality does not match the brand position you are aiming for, you can still try a marketing campaign, but this may backfire and lead to a loss of trust in your brand. Another solution would be to alter your business strategy to dedicate resources to improving your offering’s quality, combined with a marketing campaign when ready.
As with any model, it is what the model means to you and how you use it that’s important.
Brand reality vs brand aspiration
For some attributes, there may even be a real-life value that you can measure against perception.
For example, you may have just three customer service centres – two in Europe and one in America. You could create a map with an axis which is country coverage and set that up against customer service performance.
You could plot the level of coverage on that map which shows the actual situation – a brand reality map, if you like.
Then you could look at your customers’ perception of your coverage – maybe they only think you cover Europe?
Your customer’s perception may be that you have excellent customer service, whereas you have the true figures from your customer service department KPIs, which indicate that it is failing. (Which means that your customers' positive perception is likely to disappear over time).
Finally, you have targeted a brand position where you want to be perceived as serving all the regions where you operate with a high level of customer service.
Figure 4: Brand Reality Map
It might be possible to improve your brand’s perception over the reality with extensive marketing campaigns, but there is a danger that this will lead to a loss of customer trust as they experience the reality of your coverage.
This demonstrates that:
- brand perception does not necessarily relate to reality
- your brand positioning goals can be unrealistic
- some perception gaps are just too big to be closed with marketing alone
Having a Brand Reality Map can be a useful check on your brand aspirations and can help sound an early warning on things like customer service – giving you time to address the issue before your brand perception suffers.
Bear in mind only certain attributes can be mapped in this way.
How to create a brand positioning map in 5 steps
1. Start with business strategy, not marketing outputs
Identify the attributes that genuinely matter to your buyers when selecting a manufacturing partner, such as:
- Risk management
- Technical depth
- Scalability
- Responsiveness
- Regulatory strength
Avoid generic attributes that don’t influence buying decisions.
2. Select meaningful attribute pairs
Choose two attributes that:
- Buyers actively trade off
- Differentiate suppliers
- Reflect real competitive tension
Examples for contract manufacturers might include:
- Flexibility vs scale
- Innovation vs reliability
- Speed vs compliance
There is no universal list. The right attributes are market-specific.
3. Plot current perception
Using customer interviews, sales insight, and market data, plot:
- Your brand
- Key competitors
This gives you your brand perception map.
4. Define your target position
Overlay where you want to be perceived.
This is your brand positioning map - and it should align with:
- Operational reality
- Long-term growth goals
- Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
If the position is aspirational, be honest about what must change internally to support it.
5. Repeat regularly
Perception changes over time. Reviewing positioning maps periodically helps you:
- Track progress
- Detect drift
- Adjust strategy before issues become commercial problems
What do brand positioning maps tell you?
These maps can help you in a number of areas.
- They help monitor the perception gap between an audience’s perception of your brand and what you would like that perception to be. Over time, they can show you just how well your marketing is doing in closing that gap.
- They can help uncover areas where you didn’t know you were strong in the eyes of your audience.
- They can show you where your competitors stand.
- If there are many competitors all fighting over the same attribute, you may want to consider highlighting niche areas, or areas where you know you are strong, with your marketing.
- If the gap between your brand’s perception and where you want to be is too large, then you may want to reassess your goals and strategy to be more realistic.
How to use a brand positioning map to position yourself in the market
Using the brand positioning map, you can:
- Spot potential gaps in the market and then position your brand to take advantage of those.
- Identify areas where you are strong and areas where you are weak, allowing you to position your brand to make the most of your strengths.
- See how much work there is to get you to the brand position you want to be in, versus where you are now.
- Highlight unrealistic brand positioning.
- Identify areas where competitors are weak so that you can target them in those areas.
- Monitor progress towards your ideal brand position.
Conclusion
A brand positioning map is a useful visual model that helps with your strategic marketing decisions. It can help you plan a strong brand positioning strategy that will resonate with selected target markets. Ultimately, it can help you out manoeuvre competing manufacturing brands in the bid for relevance and attention.
