Find your Category Entry Points (CEPs)

This is every marketer & founder's dream...

A potential customer has the exact problem your product solves → they immediately think of your brand → go to your website → convert → 🤑.

But it’s rarely that simple - especially for new brands with very little awareness.

That's because it takes time to build up what are called ~Category Entry Points~, but boy are they powerful when you do.

Your 1% startup marketing challenge: Figure out your Category Entry Points (and help your customers find you when they need you).

But what are CEPs anyway?

They're the mental triggers that make people think of your product category.

The concept comes from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, and it's basically why you think of Uber when you need a quick ride across town, or how "setting up a Zoom" became the default for video calls.

Your 15-minute marketing mission

→ List 5 situations when your ideal customer would need your product

→ Pick the 2 most common/valuable ones

→ Plan one piece of content or campaign around each situation

If you don't intentionally create these associations, your customers will just... forget you exist when they actually need you.

Instead of saying "Our project management tool has great Gantt charts!" (yawn), you create content around the moments people actually realise they need project management, e.g.:

"When your CEO asks for a project update and you panic"

"When you miss an important deadline and realise you need a better system in future"

"When you’re scaling your team (e.g. from 2 to 5) and you need everyone on the same page”

Now you're not just another PM tool. You're the solution that pops into their head during that specific nightmare moment. Your competitors are probably still banging on about features whilst you're talking about the exact moment someone realises they need those features.

The best CEPs are situations your competitors aren't owning yet. Everyone talks about "streamlining workflows." Less people are talking about "that sinking feeling when your project is definitely going to be late and you don't know how to tell your boss."

Obsessed with this concept? Read our longer deep-dive about CEPs and how to find your own (with examples plus a ChatGPT prompt to help you get started).