It depends upon what you are trying to find put and is also dependent on what data you have available.

If you are a marketing undergraduate student, who is seeking to show a perceptual map for a marketing plan or other marketing assignment, then you probably only need the standard two-axis (four-quadrant) perceptual map. This type of perceptual (or positioning) map is the one most commonly shown and discussed in Principles of Marketing textbooks.

To use this map you will need to identify most the likely determinate attributes that consumers use to make their purchase decisions. Determinate attributes are discussed on this site and there are plenty of axis ideas available as well. If you don’t have any formal data, provided that you have a good understanding of the brands in the marketplace, you should still be able to produce a reasonable perceptual map based on your own knowledge.

There is a Excel spreadsheet template available on this site that allows you to map up to 50 brands on the two-axis type of perceptual map. It is free and available for immediate download without any registration requirements.

If you need to review and analyze a number of perceptual maps, as you have image data on a range of attributes, then you will benefit from the Excel template that allows you to review up to 300 maps within a few minutes. Great for your initial analysis phase. Check out the multi-map template here.

If you are a student of marketing research or involved in a commercial image/brand research study, then you will probably benefit from using a multidimensional perceptual map. This type of allows you to map up to 12 brands and up to 12 product attributes onto the same map.

To produce is map you will need the product attributes scores of each of the brands. This is generally obtained through a formal survey, but you may estimate these scores based upon your understanding of the marketplace.

There is another free Excel spreadsheet template that is also available on this site that allows you to produce a multidimensional perceptual map, along with instructional videos of how to use the template and how to interpret the output.

If you are a student of new product marketing, or interested in gaining greater insight into customers for a consumer behavior report, or even a professional business looking to identify potential gaps in the marketplace, then the overall similarity perceptual map (sometimes known as an OS gap map) is probably for you. The OS gap map allows you to map up to 12 brands on a distant style mapping system, which helps determine how consumers perceive the relative competitive brands based upon their overall assessment of each brand.

Like the multidimensional perceptual map, the overall similarity map usually relies on a consumer study to provide the input. However, you may be able to estimate how consumers see the marketplace based upon your own knowledge

There is also a free Excel spreadsheet template available to enable you to produce an overall similarity perceptual map very quickly. And there is also help videos available to show how to interpret the map and how to use the template.