In today's competitive market, where consumers are bombarded by endless options and messages, it's essential to ensure your brand stays top of mind. Amid the hustle and bustle of marketing strategies, storytelling efforts, and identity-building exercises, a critical aspect that is often overlooked is measuring mental availability.
A brand is more than just a logo or a product; it is a representation of culture, a promise of value and a unique identifier in a sea of offerings. It represents the culmination of efforts to create something different and memorable. Therefore, knowing where your brand stands in the minds of consumers within your product category is not only advantageous, but essential.
Last year 2023, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute professor Jenni Romaniuk published a book detailing a new way to measure brand health.
Mental Availability Method
This method addresses the need for physical and mental availability that a brand has to provide for its audience. And if the physical availability means that a brand is easy to find and buy at points of sale or e-commerce, the mental availability means that a brand comes easily to mind in a crowd of so-called Category Entry Points (CEP), which are all situations (e.g., occasions, time points, need states) in which a person begins to think about purchasing a product from the category.
To create the mental availability assessment, only 4 key factors are needed:
Mental Market Share
the size of the brand in the minds of category buyers, relative to all competitors and in all CEPs.
Mental Penetration
the proportion of category buyers who link a specific brand with at least one CEP.
Network Size
the average number of CEPs associated with a specific brand.
Share of Mind
is the size of the brand in the minds of category buyers, relative to all CEPs.
Mental availability isn't just a metric, it's a guiding principle that shapes brand strategy. Knowing where your brand stands in the minds of consumers and actively working to reinforce its position will pave the way to sustained success and meaningful connections with your audience. So, the next time you embark on crafting your brand story or defining your identity, remember to prioritize measuring your mental availability.
Request Mental Availability SubmissionIt could be the missing piece that propels your brand to new heights.
February, 2024
