Marketing Applied Part 2: What You Need to Know About Mental Availability

What you need to know about mental availability

Welcome to the second part of our series on Marketing Applied to the insights sector. In part one we looked at why marketers are obsessed with brand awareness. Now, we're diving deep into another core principle: mental availability.

Mental availability is key to success, especially in a B2B context. Although they go hand in hand, it shouldn’t be confused with brand awareness. While brand awareness is about your audiences' familiarity with your brand; mental availability is about increasing the probability that your brand comes to mind in different buying situations^1. This means that when it’s time for your prospects to start their buying journey you will be top of mind, and when it’s time for them to draft the first list of potential partners, you will be on it (more on this in pt1).

So, the key word (or three key words!) here is top of mind. Your potential client might have heard of you; they might have seen you speak at an event, and they might be familiar with your company. Which is the first step. But if you don’t keep reminding them about who you are and how you can help them, you won’t be remembered AT THE RIGHT TIME.

If you want to ensure that your company is easily recalled by your target audience when they are making relevant business decisions, this is what you should do:

1. Build a distinctive brand 

A strong brand identity supports mental availability by increasing brand recall, making it more likely for customers to choose your brand when making purchasing decisions. And, yes, brand identity is as important in B2B as it is in B2C – if not more. Findings from the Brand Finance ranking show that although B2B brands contribute less to the total business value compared to B2C brands (12% vs. 19%), B2B brand value is growing much faster: 16% from 2016 to 2020, outpacing the 9% growth in B2C brands².

We’ve all heard the popular saying “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”; B2B buyers have more at stake when picking their supplier than regular shoppers when deciding between Coke or Pepsi – so, building a trustworthy and credible brand is even more crucial. This is confirmed by last year’s GRIT report which showed that with their reach, resources, and reputations, industry giants Ipsos, Kantar, and NIQ continue to be the ones to beat in terms of mind share in the industry.

As explained in the Harvard Business Review, “90% of B2B buyers choose a brand they already have in mind at the beginning of the sales process³.” To be in the buyers’ consideration set you need broad reach and a strong brand.

2. Re-evaluate your approach

But creating a strong identity – as you all know – is no easy feat.

Often companies in insights are product or sales-oriented, focusing on the features of a product or their sales process rather than on the needs and preferences of their target market. Both are inward-looking approaches, which neglect to communicate distinctive benefits to clients.

[related-article title="Marketing Applied Part One: Why We’re Obsessed with Brand Awareness" url="https://www.greenbook.org/insights/mastering-insights-communications/marketing-applied-part-one-why-were-obsessed-with-brand-awareness"]

Have you ever noticed how similarly insights companies talk about themselves? Distinctiveness is lacking; most often, particularly in a tech space, your products or methodologies are not what makes you different. Your philosophy, point of view, and solutions to customer challenges is what sets you apart, but many insights businesses struggle to communicate these effectively.

A market-oriented approach is outward-focused, aiming to align offerings with market demand and customer preferences. The deep understanding of your target audience and their needs helps you answer key questions like: “what challenges do I solve and for who?”, “what benefits do I provide that others don’t?”, “why should clients buy from me?”. These answers are what will make your proposition distinct and memorable, not your brand tracking features.

3. Consistency Across Channels

A strong brand identity isn’t only made of a good value proposition. It also includes recognizable logos, colors, and messaging that helps your brand stand out in the cluttered marketplace.

All these elements need to be clear and consistent across all communication channels, from your website and social media to presentations and marketing collateral. Consistency helps reinforce your brand in the minds of your audience.

4. Create Valuable Content

There’s no good marketing without good content: create valuable and relevant content that positions your brand as an industry leader. Regularly share insights, thought leadership, and case studies that demonstrate your expertise and provide solutions to your audience's challenges. Repurpose this content on all the channels available to you, including your website, newsletter, LinkedIn, the media, and industry events.

5. Get talking

Attend relevant industry events, conferences, and networking opportunities. Not only to speak on platforms, but also to establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and decision-makers. These are also opportunities to form strategic partnerships which can increase your brand's exposure and credibility.

Networking is key to build trust; faces, and good conversations, are often more memorable than brands.

6. Don’t neglect your database

Work towards building your database and implement a robust CRM system to track interactions and communications with your clients or prospects.

Build tailored and regular communications to stay top of mind, use this as a channel to share thought-leadership, and company updates – not sales pitches.

As I said at the start the keyword is “top of mind”. Start with a strong, consistent brand, create good content, and use all the channels available to tell your story. Don’t put a time limit on this; people have short memories! We often use the adage “when you are bored of repeating something, only then will your audience have heard it”.

References 

1. https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/b2b-institute/how-b2b-brands-grow

2. https://www.ie.edu/insights/articles/the-strength-of-a-b2b-is-in-its-brand/

3. https://hbr.org/2022/09/what-b2bs-need-to-know-about-their-buyers