Category Entry Points and Reasons To Buy are both building blocks for brand growth. In practice, organisations do not always distinguish between them correctly. Ask a team about their brand’s CEPs, and they will come back with reasons to buy the product. The difference lies in the timing. CEPs come into play at the start of the buying process, when someone first thinks of the category. RTBs come later, when someone is weighing up options and making a decision. If you confuse the two, you communicate the wrong thing at the wrong time. Here, you can read where the difference lies and when to use which.
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Both Category Entry Points and Reasons To Buy are important building blocks to focus on when you want to grow as a brand. However, you must be able to distinguish between them properly. We do not always see this happening within organisations. When we ask them to think about possible CEPs for their brand, they often formulate potential reasons to buy their product.
What are Category Entry Points?
CEPs are triggers; specific situations or moments recognisable to your target audience that bring your category to mind. In communication, CEPs therefore represent situations at the start of the buying process that your brand claims. As a result, more people are likely to think of your brand, expanding the top of your marketing funnel.
What are Reasons to Buy?
RTBs are reasons to buy a product. These occur much further along in the buying process, when you are no longer just browsing or orienting yourself but perhaps already making a decision. This is when you talk specifically about the benefits of your product; for example, how high the quality is or its best features.
CEPs are important at the start of the buying process
At Blauw, we are convinced by Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow market philosophy. This focuses brands on brand growth. As a brand, you want to generate as much revenue as possible. To achieve this, you simply need to reach as many consumers as possible with your product. CEPs are one of the ways to ensure that consumers think of your brand within your category. The more people who think of you at the start of a buying process, the more people will choose your brand at a later stage, and the more revenue you will generate.
Funnel filling versus funnel optimisation
Getting as many people as possible into the start of your funnel is what we call funnel filling. If you miss opportunities here for example, by highlighting RTBs when people are only just thinking about the category you are communicating the wrong message. After all, they are not yet ready to make an immediate purchase. And that would be a missed opportunity. Most consumers begin a buying process intuitively, and therefore subconsciously. This creates a great moment to get people thinking about your brand. It is only further along in the buying process that people often make more rational decisions. That is when they are more likely to look at product specifications or the pros and cons compared to various providers. That is when you want to be focused on conversion or funnel optimisation, and RTBs become important.
