Market share grows through mental leadership

By: Martin Leeftlang, CEO and Founder of Validators

For me, the past year has been all about innovation in brand research. This innovation focused primarily on calculating and growing market share. Because building brands is fun, but ultimately, increasing market share is your goal. The AIDA model, the guiding principle for the marketing world for the past, say, hundred years (Strong, 1925), is therefore beginning to show serious cracks, because it says so little about your market position.

Marketers often focus on brand, but it is actually more relevant to focus on market share growth. This is not an easy transition. That is why we launched our partnership with VU Amsterdam. The result is a sponsored PhD position and the Institute for Brand Analytics (launched on November 1, 2018). This represents our scientific deep dive into and validation of marketing principles that are being communicated with increasing certainty by other institutions.

To grow your market share, you must first grow your mental market share. Because if you’re top of mind at the right moments, you’ll be considered more quickly when a purchase is being made. That’s how you ultimately establish mental leadership.

In this article, I’ll share three insights that will bring you closer to mental leadership:

1. Find out how responsive people are to brands in your category

In 2006, German researchers (Fischer, Völckner & Sattler) investigated the importance of a brand across various categories, such as cars, cell phones, and paper tissues. They discovered that people buy brands for two main reasons: risk reduction (“I always buy this brand, so I know it’s good”) and social demonstration (“I feel like I’m part of a group of consumers who choose this brand”). In this same study, they used a Brand Relevance in Category score (the BRiC score) to rank the value people attach to a brand within a category.

We repeated the study in the Netherlands. We found the highest BRiC scores in the categories of beer, cell phones, cigarettes, and charities. Paper tissues, energy providers, and toilet paper scored the lowest. A higher BRiC score isn’t necessarily better than a lower one. It simply requires a different approach when engaging consumers. It is valuable input to incorporate into your strategy.

2. Make your brand relevant in a purchasing situation (within the category)

People rarely think of a brand out of the blue. Thoughts about a brand often need to be triggered by certain cues. It’s important to understand which cues lead to an association with your brand. The stronger this link is, the more likely your brand is to come to mind for consumers. And the greater the chance that your brand will be purchased. The cues that prompt consumers to think of your brand are called Category Entry Points (CEPs), a concept popularized by Byron Sharp and Jenni Romaniuk. Eventually, your brand will secure a permanent place in the mind. Keep in mind, however, that it can sometimes take years to get there.

3. Be distinctive and recognizable

Consumers see and hear thousands of brands every day, which is why it’s essential to ensure they recognize your brand instantly. By using Distinctive Brand Assets—such as colors, logos, a jingle, or a slogan—you can increase the recognizability of your communications. In addition, by using creativity, you must ensure that you stand out from the clutter of the communication deluge. By achieving this, you plant a seed in the consumer’s mind, and your brand is considered more quickly.

In summary: focus on the CEPs that can help you improve your market position, and make sure this is reflected in all your communications. Combine CEPs with Distinctive Brand Assets in your creative work. This will put you well on your way to increasing your mind share.