When you think of a good quality, cheap chocolate bar – what comes to mind?
A Cherry Ripe? A Polly Waffle? A Cadbury Dairy Milk?
What if you need to get a quick bite of lunch on the go; where do you stop?
Subway? Grill’d? Nando’s?
Those three chocolate bars and three fast-food chains are at the top in their categories among hungry Aussies.
Our buying habits and their brand positioning have placed them at the top of the pile. So, choosing any of those three when asked about a quick bite or sweet treat puts you in very good company.
Do you know where your business stands with your customers? How do your customers view you, your brand, your product or service? What’s your market positioning?
We marketers use a handy tool to find out just those very metrics to help you market your business better.
This tool is called a perceptual map (or a positioning map). It maps perceptual ideas customers have about a brand or product.
Today, we’re going to examine the perceptual map in detail.
When determining a new product, pricing out an existing product or devising how to market a product or service – you may feel the need to be a mind reader. Or worse yet, like you’re on a journey without a map guiding you to your destination.
What do your customers think? How do they really feel? What are the perceptions of customers about your brand?
One thing that can help in this domain is perceptual mapping (or positioning mapping).
Called perceptual maps or positioning maps, these visual representations of those very consumer perceptions are vital to your marketing efforts.
Simple Perceptual Maps
A perceptual map in its simplest form is an X-Y axis graph that shows how customers view a brand in comparison to the competition.
The two dimensions (X and Y) on a perceptual map represent two factors – preferably the most important – that potential customers use when determining whether or not to buy. Each axis is given two opposing attributes of the given factor, one on each end.
In the case of our candy bars, we can make a perceptual map with the price on one axis and quality of chocolate on the other.
Our top 3 are placed in the low price, high-quality quadrant, and the critic who claims no one over 10 would eat a Chomp bar would place that option in the low price, low-quality quadrant.
And that’s how perceptual maps work.
You gather data from various customers and possible future customers and score it on your graph. Where your brand falls can be considered a true perception of how customers see your brand.
Our Very Own Example Perceptual Map
Article by:
Chris Harris
Creative Director & Senior Brand Designer
Chris brings over a decade of industry experience to Red Kite working at design agencies in both the UK and Australia. Over the years he has accumulated a wealth of graphic design, strategic identity design and marketing experience. Chris is a hugely passionate identity designer endeavouring to offer the highest quality branding and logo design Brisbane and Australia wide. Chat to Chris about your branding.
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