Positioning Canvas and Competitive Positioning Map
Fill in the positioning canvas, alternatives first, then see which of your claims only you make, which competitors share, and which are table stakes. Plot everyone on a two-axis map, find the open space, and turn it into a positioning statement and homepage copy. Free, no account, no AI.
Press Analyse.
What this positioning canvas does differently
A positioning canvas is usually a set of empty boxes on a whiteboard. Filling them in is useful, but it is easy to write “fast, secure and easy to use” in the unique attributes box without noticing that every competitor says the same. This canvas checks. Paste what your competitors claim on their own sites, and every attribute you list is sorted into uncontested, contested or table stakes, with the competitor and their wording shown. It also checks that each attribute has a value and each value has proof, places everyone on a two-axis map, and turns the result into a positioning statement and homepage copy.
| Templates and map makers | This canvas | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Empty boxes or a blank map | The canvas, filled from your inputs, with gaps flagged |
| Competitor claims | Not compared | Every attribute sorted against every competitor claim |
| Value and proof | Up to you | Flags attributes with no value and values with no proof |
| Positioning map | Drawn by hand; downloads often paid | Plotted, most open area marked, correlated axes flagged, free SVG |
| Statement and copy | Fill in the blanks | Statement, elevator pitch, homepage hero and message hierarchy |
| Account | Usually required | None; share by link |
Reviewed in October 2026: Miro’s Dunford template, eCornell’s positioning tool, Superframeworks, Creately, Visme, ClickUp and Strategyzer.
The positioning canvas, box by box
The canvas follows the components April Dunford sets out in her book Obviously Awesome, as laid out in Miro’s template of the canvas and Heinz Marketing’s summary of the book: competitive alternatives, unique attributes, value and proof, target customers, market category and relevant trends.
- Competitive alternativesWhat your best customers would do if you did not exist. Include the status quo, such as a spreadsheet, an existing system or hiring someone, not just named competitors.
- Unique attributesWhat you have that those alternatives do not: a feature, a method, data, expertise.
- Value and proofWhat each attribute lets a customer do, and how you can show it: a customer result, a figure, a certification.
- Best-fit customersThe characteristics of the customers who care most about that value. Specific enough that a salesperson could recognise one.
- Market categoryThe category that makes your value obvious to those customers, so they compare you with the right things.
- Relevant trendsOptional: trends that make your value matter more now. Leave it empty rather than add one for the sake of it.
Uncontested, contested and table stakes claims
The uncontested list is the material that separates you: no competitor in your list says it. Lead with it. Contested claims are said by some competitors too; they still matter, but they need proof attached, or they are your word against theirs. Table stakes are said by two thirds or more of your competitors. Buyers expect them, so mention them, but a homepage built on them sounds like everyone else’s.
Claims are compared on shared words, ignoring filler words and plural endings, so “approvals in minutes” and “get approvals done in minutes” match. Two wordings with no words in common, such as “SOC 2 certified” and “bank-grade security”, do not. The more of each competitor’s homepage you paste, the more reliable the sorting.
How to make a competitive positioning map
A positioning map, also called a perceptual map, places you and your competitors on two axes. Pick axes your best-fit customers actually weigh when they choose, and that vary independently. The tool warns when positions on the two axes move together: for example, if the competitors you place higher on price are also the ones you place higher on quality, everyone sits on one diagonal and the map shows one dimension drawn twice.
The tool also marks the most open area, the point farthest from everyone plotted. Open space is a question, not an answer: it may be open because nobody wants what sits there. Check it against your best-fit customers before you aim for it, and use the claims view to see whether you can actually say something there that nobody else does.
From canvas to positioning statement and homepage
The Statement view turns the canvas into four drafts: a positioning statement, an elevator pitch, a homepage hero and a message hierarchy. Each leads with your uncontested claims and uses your proof. Other formats exist; eCornell’s positioning statement tool, for example, uses “For [target customer], [brand] will [differentiation]. [Brand] is [evidence]. Our [frame of reference] promises to [promise].” Whatever the format, the inputs are the same: who it is for, what it is, and why it is different, with proof.
A positioning canvas and Strategyzer’s Value Proposition Canvas answer different questions. The value proposition canvas maps a customer’s jobs, pains and gains against what you offer. A positioning canvas sets you against the alternatives a buyer is weighing. For founders, the Founder Bio Generator applies the same idea of checkable claims to how you describe yourself.