Work With Us
We build evidence-based strategic frameworks.
Designed to provide for the long-term needs of the brand, and the short-term objectives of the business.
To find out more get in touch.
Specialising in Mental Availability Research and Analysis along with Category Entry Point Identification, we ensure your brand comes to mind more often across the buying decisions that exist for your category.
Our offer includes in-depth brand health assessments, competitive analysis, and targeted brand positioning strategies. Focusing on mental and physical availability, we guide brands towards significant growth and a strengthened market presence.
SmilingCFO is your ally in crafting strategies that not only expand but also safeguard and define your market share.
Evidence-based strategic frameworks
Designed to provide for the short and long-term objectives of both the brand AND the business.
- Category orientation and assessment of how likely your brand is to be thought of in buying situations.
- Evaluate results in light of the expected correlation with Market Share and develop hypotheses for remedy or acceleration
- Set clear objectives for how to grow, what to fix and where to defend.
- Support the brand and commercial teams to build the appropriate Mental and Physical Availability plans
“Brands grow by building Mental & Physical Availability” Byron Sharp
Mental Availability Brand Health Assessments
Our mental availability assessments give you the most accurate prediction of how likely your brand is to be thought of in buying situations
- Snapshot of current performance, benchmarked against the category and best in class brands.
- Review of how likely your brand is to be thought of in buying situations
- Optional Distinctive Assets assessment
- Evaluation of competitor landscape
“The single most important factor influencing brand preference is Mental Availability.” Binet & Carter
Category Entry Point identification:
CEPs are the mental shortcuts the brain uses to link buying situations to brands.
We show you how to get your brand thought of in more buying situations.
- Identification of the CEPs for your Category
- Assessment of which are most important
- Evaluation of your brand’s areas of advantage and disadvantage
- Review white space and key messaging opportunities which can be used for agency briefs
- Setting clear goals that can be incorporated in Brand Plans.
“Most category buyers use multiple CEPs to enter the category. Therefore it is valuable for a brand to have links to multiple CEPs, rather than just one.” ‘Better Brand Health’, J Romaniuk.
Brand Positioning
Having completed a Mental Availability Assessment for clients we often find tweaks to Brand Positioning are required to be, well, better positioned to get after the most important Category Entry Points.
We look at the CEPs (those towards the top) and see are most appropriate and set a course to get after those.
There are two ways to do it.
- Go after those CEPs that you are already aligned to
- Or tweak the brand’s Positioning.
Positioning should focus on the three Cs: 1) Customer desire – does the customer want this? 2) Company capability – can the Company deliver on this proposition? And 3) Competitive advantage – can we outperform or do this sufficiently differently to our competitors in this area? – Adapted from Mark Ritson’s Mini MBA programme in Marketing.
Market Share / Mental Market Share Workshop
Help you raise awareness and understanding of the growth opportunities with your wider team and stakeholders, including commercial colleagues and those leading brand planning.
Mental Availability Workshop
Help you raise awareness and understanding of the Mental Availability Assessment results and implications with your wider team and stakeholders.
Category Entry Point Workshop
Help you raise awareness and understanding of the CEP results with your wider team and stakeholders, including Agencies.
