Every company thinks it knows its competitive position. But when we ask leadership teams to draw a positioning map of their category, they almost always place their brand where they want it to be, not where customers actually put it. That disconnect is costly. It leads to messaging that misses, product launches that overlap with competitors, and pricing strategies built on faulty assumptions about perceived differentiation.
A competitive positioning map eliminates that guesswork. Using data collected directly from your target market, we plot your brand and your competitors on dimensions defined by the attributes your customers use to evaluate and compare options. The result is a spatial representation of your market as your audience experiences it, revealing which companies are clustered together, where white space exists, and which attributes most powerfully drive choice.
At Meraki Research, we build positioning maps that go beyond academic exercises. Our deliverables are designed for boardrooms and planning sessions, not textbooks. We help companies across markets turn perception data into strategic information they can act on immediately.
Our Approach: The Meraki Competitive Positioning Methodology
A positioning map is only as credible as the research behind it. Our methodology is built to produce maps that are analytically rigorous, strategically relevant, and visually clear.
Phase 1 -- Competitive Landscape Definition
We start by establishing the full competitive frame. Your team provides the obvious competitors; we supplement with audience-identified alternatives, often uncovering companies you did not consider direct threats but your customers do. This perspective is critical because the map must reflect the real consideration set, not the one your internal team assumes.
We also define the scope of the analysis: a single product category, a cross-category comparison, or a multi-market study. Each scope has different design and sample implications. For multi-market studies, we produce separate maps for each geography so your team can compare how competitive structures differ across regions.
Phase 2 -- Attribute Discovery and Prioritization
The attributes that form the axes of a positioning map must come from your audience, not your brand guidelines. We identify candidate attributes through qualitative research -- in-depth interviews, focus groups, or open-ended survey modules -- and then quantitatively validate which attributes most strongly influence choice in your category.
This step is where many positioning studies fail. Using internally generated attributes produces a map that confirms existing biases. Using customer-generated attributes produces a map that reveals how the market actually thinks. We always choose the latter.
We also prioritize attributes by their discriminating power. An attribute that every brand in the category scores similarly on -- such as "trustworthy" in financial services -- may be a table-stakes requirement but a poor differentiator on the map. We retain these attributes in the dataset for completeness but focus the map interpretation on the dimensions that actually separate brands in customers' minds.
Phase 3 -- Quantitative Data Collection
We field a structured survey with a sample drawn from your target market. Respondents rate each brand in the competitive set on the validated attributes. We use a combination of scaled ratings and, where appropriate, forced-choice trade-off tasks to capture both absolute perceptions and relative positioning.
Sample composition is carefully managed. We recruit from the actual decision-making population, control for category familiarity, and quota by key segments so the map reflects the full landscape of customer perspectives. For B2B studies, this means targeting specific job titles and decision-making roles; for consumer studies, it means matching the demographic and psychographic profile of your actual buyer base.
We build in awareness screening so that respondents only rate brands they genuinely recognise. Ratings from unaware respondents introduce noise that degrades map quality. Our screening approach ensures that every data point on the map reflects genuine perception, not guesswork.
Phase 4 -- Statistical Modeling and Map Generation
Our analysts apply multivariate techniques -- multidimensional scaling, principal component analysis, or correspondence analysis -- to reduce the attribute data into a two-dimensional map. Each axis represents a composite dimension that we label descriptively.
We generate multiple dimensional solutions and select the one that best balances statistical fit with interpretive clarity. We also produce perception positioning maps that overlay ideal-point data, showing not just where brands are but where customers want them to be.
For complex markets, we create product positioning maps alongside brand-level maps. These show how individual offerings within each company's portfolio are perceived, revealing cannibalization risks and extension opportunities. A consumer electronics company, for example, might discover that two of its own product lines are perceived as nearly identical by customers, cannibalizing each other rather than expanding the brand's footprint on the map.
Phase 5 -- Strategic Interpretation and Action Planning
We deliver findings in a facilitated workshop where your team works through the strategic implications of the map. We address questions like:
- Which competitors are your closest perceptual neighbors, and what does that mean for differentiation?
- Where is the open space on the map, and is there demand there?
- Which attributes would you need to strengthen to shift your position along a specific axis?
- Are there segments of customers who see the competitive landscape differently, and does that create opportunity?
This session transforms raw information into a strategic action plan with clear next steps for brand, product, and marketing teams. We document priorities, assign owners, and establish a timeline for follow-up measurement so the research does not end up as a beautifully designed artifact that sits on a shelf.
When Competitive Positioning Analysis Is the Right Approach
This service is designed for situations where:
- Your company operates in a market with five or more competitors and you need to understand the perceptual structure of the category.
- You are preparing for a major strategic decision -- new product launch, repositioning, acquisition, or market entry -- and need an evidence-based view of the competitive landscape.
- Your brand is losing share and you suspect perceptual overlap with a competitor is the cause.
- You want to track competitive positioning over time and need a baseline study to anchor future measurement.
- Multiple teams within your organisation hold different perspectives on where you stand, and you need a single, data-driven map to align them.
When a different approach is better: If you only need to understand your own brand's strengths and weaknesses without competitive context, a brand health study may be more efficient. If your primary question is about pricing rather than perceptual positioning, Pricing Research methods like Discrete Choice Modeling or Van Westendorp are purpose-built for that. We will help you choose the right tool for your question.
What We Deliver
- Competitive Positioning Map -- A two-dimensional positioning map with brand positions, attribute vectors, and ideal-point clusters. Delivered in interactive and static formats.
- Product Positioning Map -- Where applicable, a separate product positioning map showing individual offerings within each competitor's portfolio.
- Perception Positioning Map by Segment -- Maps broken out by customer segment, purchase behaviour, or geography to reveal how different audiences see the competitive landscape.
- Attribute Importance Analysis -- A ranked list of which attributes most strongly drive choice and therefore represent the highest-value repositioning levers.
- Strategic Workshop -- A half-day facilitated session with your leadership team to interpret findings and develop action plans.
- Tracking-Ready Data Package -- Cleaned datasets, codebooks, and a reproducible analysis pipeline so future waves can be compared directly.
- Executive Briefing Document -- A concise summary designed for senior leadership who need the strategic takeaways without the methodological detail.
Timelines range from five to eight weeks depending on the number of markets, the competitive set size, and whether qualitative attribute discovery is required.
Industry Applications
Technology & SaaS -- Map how enterprise buyers position your platform against competitors on attributes like integration, scalability, support, and total cost, revealing where your messaging should focus. Especially valuable when navigating a category with rapid new entrants.
Healthcare & Life Sciences -- Chart how patients and physicians perceive health systems, payers, or pharmaceutical brands on clinical quality, accessibility, innovation, and trust. Positioning data informs both marketing and clinical service delivery decisions.
Financial Services -- Visualize how customers position banks, credit unions, and fintechs along axes of trust, digital experience, personal service, and fee transparency. Critical for institutions competing against digital-first companies that are reshaping category expectations.
Consumer Goods -- Understand how shoppers see your brand relative to private-label and premium competitors on quality, value, and lifestyle fit. Helps guide shelf strategy and promotional messaging.
B2B Services -- Reveal how procurement teams and Head decision-makers perceive consulting, logistics, or professional services firms on expertise, responsiveness, and cost. Positioning data sharpens proposal narratives and pitch strategies.
Automotive -- Map vehicle brands and model lines on performance, reliability, sustainability, and prestige to guide model positioning and marketing strategy across diverse buyer segments.