3. Your Business Strategy Has Evolved with New Offerings

A significant shift in your internal business strategy often necessitates a corresponding change in your positioning. This is particularly true if you’ve introduced a new, complimentary product or solution. What was once a stand-alone product might now be part of a larger, integrated offering, requiring your positioning to tell a more cohesive story. After all, you’re no longer just selling a component. You’re now providing a comprehensive solution.

4. The Market Itself Is Undergoing Fundamental Change

External market forces can dictate a positioning change regardless of your internal strategy. As industries evolve, new applications emerge and opportunities shift, your company needs to adapt its perception. For example, a company previously known for cloud computing might need to reposition itself for edge computing, aligning with advancements like AI at the edge to capture future growth. This isn’t just about what you offer, but where the market opportunity is moving.

5. Your Current Positioning Isn’t Resonating as Desired

Resonance isn’t always positive. It can be either good or bad. If your positioning isn’t eliciting your desired response from the marketplace, you have a problem. This lack of the desired type of resonance isn’t always immediately obvious, often requiring deeper investigation. You might need to conduct a content audit of your website, perform more VoC research, or organize focus groups to uncover why your message isn’t landing as intended.

6. You’re Expanding Into New Geographic Markets

Entering new regions, such as the European or Middle Eastern markets, almost invariably requires a different positioning strategy. Cultural nuances, regulatory environments, and local market demands mean that a message that works well in one territory will fall flat, or even be misunderstood, in another. You must adapt your positioning to be culturally relevant and effective for each new market you enter.

7. You Need to Adjust Perception of Your Brand, Product, or Sub-Brands

Positioning isn’t just for your overall corporate brand, either. It applies to individual products as well as sub-brands and sub-offerings. A large B2B manufacturer might be known globally for its robotics, but people in that space may not realize its strength in offshore wind farms or asset performance management software. Similarly, Amazon is known for retail, but Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a completely different positioning in cloud computing. If you have distinct offerings that appeal to multiple market segments, you likely need tailored positioning for each.

8. Sales Are Drying Up or Growth Has Stagnated

While not an immediate cause, a sustained decline in sales or a plateauing of growth can be a symptom of outdated positioning. The cost of not changing your positioning is being left behind. This typically doesn’t happen as an overnight crisis, but as a gradual erosion of market share. It’s easy to look back two years later and wonder, “How did we get left behind?” Your stagnant positioning will tell you.

9. You Realize You’re Unsure Which Marketing Efforts Are Working

A famous industrialist once said, “Half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is, I don’t know which half.” This highlights the cost of not knowing. If your marketing efforts feel disjointed, or if you can’t clearly tie them back to your desired market perception, it might be because your underlying positioning is unclear or misaligned.

The Cost of Inaction: Why B2B Manufacturers Can’t Afford to Wait

The bottom line is that ignoring these signals hurts your bottom line. A lot. The cost of not changing your positioning can be substantial, leading to a much harder, more-expensive shift later on.

RH Blake Case Study: Repositioning Global Semiconductor Manufacturer

The Challenge

A leading semiconductor manufacturer faced a critical positioning challenge. Despite its growth into new product categories, the company was still primarily associated with its legacy strengths. This outdated perception created a gap between how the market viewed the company and where its innovation strategy was headed.

Inconsistent messaging compounded the problem. Communications about its future direction, particularly in next-generation technologies, were competing with narratives tied to legacy offerings. This diluted the company’s ability to establish itself as a forward-looking leader in the space.

Our Approach

Working closely with leadership, we helped the company reframe its positioning around a unified corporate messaging platform. The core strategy focused on “skating to where the puck is going” — aligning brand identity with emerging growth opportunities, while tactically supporting legacy products as part of a measured transition.

Central to the repositioning was the creation of a new market-defining concept. This concept allowed the company to differentiate itself from competitors who were retrofitting AI onto existing platforms.

The Outcome

This statement unified the company’s story, leveraging its proven heritage in innovative technologies while positioning it successfully for the future.

With a clear and future-focused positioning strategy, the company was able to:

• Shift market perception away from legacy associations.
• Establish ownership of a new, differentiated category.
• Build stronger alignment between corporate messaging, product strategy, and customer needs.

This repositioning created the foundation for sustained growth and positioned the manufacturer as a trusted partner for companies building the next generation of devices.

At RH Blake: Building Bridges to Your New Position

So, how do B2B manufacturers and suppliers navigate these waters? At RH Blake, we guide B2B manufacturers and suppliers through this critical process. And it is a process. Changing positioning isn’t just about announcing a new tagline. It’s about building a bridge to where you want to go. This is where thought leadership becomes invaluable.

Instead of merely stating your new direction, we help you introduce thought leadership focused on the market problems and customer challenges that your new positioning enables you to solve (read our 2025 Thought Leadership in Manufacturing Report to learn how and why). This strategic approach helps align your audience’s perception with your future trajectory, demonstrating your relevance to new applications and opportunities.

Some of these positioning shifts are immediately obvious (like a new market entry), while others demand deeper investigation through content audits, VOC research, and focus groups. Understanding the impact of all these factors—whether it’s one reason or a combination—is crucial for a successful repositioning.

By proactively monitoring these signals and strategically building a new narrative through robust thought leadership, B2B manufacturers and suppliers can ensure their positioning remains a powerful asset, driving growth and securing their place in the market for years to come.