Mental availability (brand salience): brand growth according to Byron Sharp

Introduction

Why do some brands spring to mind first, while others are quickly forgotten? The answer is a powerful psychological phenomenon: mental availability. This concept determines how often and quickly customers think of your brand when faced with a choice -and whether they ultimately choose you or a competitor. Find out how you can cleverly use this principle to embed your brand deep in the memory of your target audience, and how you can use it to demonstrably increase your market share and sales.

What is mental availability/brand salience?

Marketing science professor Byron Sharp (2010) gives us the following definition for mental availability:

"A brand's mental availability refers to the probability that a buyer will notice, recognize and/or think of a brand in buying situations. It depends on the quality and quantity of memory structures related to the brand."

Freely translated: Mental availability represents the probability that a consumer perceives, recognizes and thinks about a brand in a buying situation. This applies both on and offline and also in b2b. Mental availability depends on the quality and quantity of mental structures about the brand in the memory of the consumer or b2b customer.

Byron Sharp put it this way, "Make your brand easier to access in consumer memory in more buying situations and for more consumers."

The concept was introduced in his bestseller How Brands Grow (2010). In it, Sharp describes how brands grow by being automatically recognizable and relevant to consumers in more and more situations. This idea was further deepened and made measurable by Jenni Romaniuk and Byron Sharp in the sequel, How Brands Grow Part 2 (2015). In it, among other things, they introduce the term Category Entry Points (CEPs): specific moments or triggers when consumers think of your product category.

Mental availability is therefore not purely about general brand awareness, but mainly about spontaneous and targeted recall during moments that are decisive for purchases. The stronger your brand is connected to these CEPs, the firmer your position in consumer memory and the greater your competitive advantage.

Mental availability is also known as brand salience. Salience is a concept from cognitive psychology and represents that which is most prominent or striking and attracts attention, such as bright light, loud sound, bright colors and fast movement. Translated to marketing: people find brands that are quickly mentally available - mentally available - more important and are then more likely to buy them.

Why is mental availability important?

Mental availability directly determines which brand consumers think of first when they make a purchase. Research shows that people usually choose the brand they can easily and quickly remember. This is because our brain prefers convenience: the faster something feels recognizable and familiar, the lower the mental effort, and the greater the likelihood of purchase.

According to Sharp and Romaniuk, mental availability has a strong relationship with market share: the more situations that exist in which your brand emerges spontaneously (so-called Category Entry Points), the greater the likelihood of actual purchases and thus growth of your brand. Simply put, brands that are consistently present in consumers' brains benefit from greater market share, stronger brand loyalty and ultimately better financial performance.

So by consciously working on mental availability, you not only improve your brand recognition in the short term, but above all you build a sustainable competitive advantage.

What is the difference between mental availability and brand awareness?

According to Gustafson and Chabot (2007), brand awareness refers to how well customers and potential customers know your company and your products. As we know from Sharp (2010), mental availability refers to the likelihood that a consumer perceives, recognizes and thinks about a brand in a buying situation.

So the big difference is that brand awareness measures whether someone knows your company and product (brand awareness) and mental availability measures whether that person recognizes your brand and thinks of it in a buying situation (do consumers think of my brand in a buying moment).

Core concepts of mental availability: CEPs and KPIs

To use mental availability effectively, you need to understand two core concepts well: Category Entry Points (CEPs) and associated performance indicators (KPIs).

Category Entry Points (CEPs)

CEPs are specific moments, situations or triggers where consumers consciously think of a particular product category. The better your brand connects to those CEPs, the more easily it will emerge in the memory of your target audience. For example:

• Thirst on the go → Coca-Cola
• Quick breakfast → Kellogg's cereal
• Comfortable business travel → NS Business Card

The goal is to link your brand as strongly as possible to specific CEPs, so that it becomes almost automatic for consumers to think of your brand in those situations.

KPI's to measure mental availability

To know how well your brand utilizes mental availability, you can use the following KPIs:

• Mental penetration

What percentage of your target audience spontaneously thinks of your brand in relevant situations?

• Network size

At how many different CEPs does your brand spontaneously emerge?

• Mental market share (Share of Mind)

What is your brand's share of the total number of spontaneous associations within your category?

How do I find CEPs for my brand?

Romaniuk and Sharp (2015) argue that you can find out relevant CEPs for your brand by answering 5 following questions. Romaniuk and Sharp came up with an example for a champagne company:

• Why. For example, to celebrate a promotion at work

• When. At the start of dinner

• Where. Restaurant

• With whom? With your partner

• With what? Along with fish for dinner

Category entry point example

One of the best-known Dutch examples of a brand that has claimed a category entry point is: 4 o'clock Cup-a-Soup. Let's see how they filled in the 5W's.

• Why. As a pick-me-up at the end of your workday

• When. At 4 p.m.

• Where. At work

• With whom. With your colleagues
• With what? Short break/intermission

Since corona, we have been working from home more and more. This hasn't escaped Cup-a-Soup's marketing department. They have a revamped approach and thus a new 5W's:

• Why. As a pick-me-up at the end of your workday

• When. At 4 p.m.

• Where? Home

• With whom? Only
• With what? Short break/intermission

Practical steps to increase mental availability

Building mental availability goes beyond increasing brand awareness. Here are five practical steps to ensure that consumers spontaneously think of your brand in relevant moments:

1. Identify relevant CEPs

First, make a list of key situations or moments when customers need your product category. For example: hungry during a workday, needing energy while exercising, or looking for reliable business software. To do this, ask your customers when they think of your category or use market research.

2. Consistent and recognizable branding

Use clearly recognizable visual and aural brand assets (such as logo, colors, jingles, or slogans) in all your communication channels. Repetition ensures that your brand pops up more and more easily in customers' memories at decisive moments.

3. Create targeted content around CEPs

Tailor your marketing content to specific CEPs. Think for example of social ads in which you respond to recognizable situations ("late home, still in the mood for good food?") or blogs that provide solutions to problems that your target audience regularly faces.

4. Use emotions

Combine rational benefits with emotional triggers. People remember brands more easily if they associate positive emotions with them. Think humor, nostalgia, convenience, security or trust, for example.

5. Ensure sufficient reach and frequency

You need to be visible on a regular basis to build up permanent mental availability. Therefore, ensure a steady presence through various channels and formats, such as social media, online ads, emails, blogs and physical media. Repetition reinforces memory.

How to measure mental availability? Tools and methods

To work effectively with mental availability, you need to know how to measure and monitor it. Here are the key methods and tools you can use to make mental availability concrete and insightful:

1. Surveys and research on CEPs

The most direct method of measuring mental availability is through consumer research. Ask targeted questions asking customers what brand they think of in specific situations (CEPs). For example:

• "Which brand first comes to mind when you think of 'quick meal'?"
• "What provider do you think of when you think of 'reliable cloud software'?"

This measures directly which brands are top-of-mind with consumers and how your brand scores compared to competitors.

2. Mental penetration analysis

Determine what percentage of your target audience thinks of your brand at all in relevant situations. This can be done through representative online panels or interviews. This will give you a reliable picture of your spontaneous brand awareness within specific CEPs.

3. Network size analysis

Use quantitative research to see how many different CEPs your brand is currently activating among your target audience. The larger your "network size," the better positioned your brand is to achieve growth.

4. Measuring mental market share

Calculate what proportion of all brand associations within your category goes to your brand. You can do this through market research platforms such as:

• Quantilope: specialized in mental availability measurement and analysis of mental market positions.
• Qualtrics: offers extensive panel research capabilities on mental associations.

5. Longitudinal monitoring

Make mental availability research part of ongoing brand research. Measuring your brand position periodically will give you insight into trends, growth, and effectiveness of marketing efforts.

By measuring mental availability in a structured and continuous way, you can better manage the growth of your mental market share and focus on brand recognition at decisive moments.

Conclusion

Mental availability determines not only how visible your brand is, but especially how well your brand is anchored with consumers at decisive moments. Consciously working on mental availability ensures that your brand becomes top-of-mind, leading to higher brand preference, better conversions and sustainable growth.

To successfully build mental availability:

• First, identify relevant Category Entry Points (CEPs).
• Use recognizable brand assets consistently.
• Create targeted and emotionally charged content.
• Measure and optimize your mental market share regularly.

Want to get started on strengthening your brand position right away? Contact our marketing agency for strategic advice, practical tools, and effective methods to structurally anchor your brand in the memory of your target audience.

Resources

Sharp, B. (2010). How brands grow: What marketers don't know. Oxford University Press.

Gustafson, T., & Chabot, B. (2007). Fire awareness. Cornell Maple Bulletin, 105(1).

Romaniuk, J. & Sharp, B. (2015). How Brands Grow: Part 2. Oxford University Press Australia

Sharp, B. (2011). Mental availability is not awareness, brand salience is not awareness. https://byronsharp.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/mental-availability-is-not-awareness-brand-salience-is-not-awareness/

Romaniuk, J., & Sharp, B. (2016). Mental availability: The key to brand growth. Journal of Advertising Research, 56(1), 27-31. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2016-008

Keller, K. L. (2020). Consumer memory dynamics in branding: Theory and applications. Journal of Consumer Research, 46(5), 967-989. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucz037

Sharp, B., Romaniuk, J., & Anesbury, Z. (2022). Better brand health: Measures and metrics for a how brands grow world. Oxford University Press.