CERA × SearchFlex
Proposal · Follow-up to discovery, 21 August 2026

Launching Cera’s new technology business.

Creating and taking a new technology sub-brand to market — naming, domain architecture, website and search foundations, from one accountable partner.

Prepared for Sian Hughes, Cera Prepared by Jack Salmon, SearchFlex 24 August 2026
Today
Cera’s technology
Built for and proven inside Cera’s own care business.
Launch
Target — Oct / Nov 2026
A new B2B sub-brand
Sold to the wider care sector, with its own name, identity and home.
01
The launch opportunity

What this is really about

The sub-brand isn’t the question. The depth is.

Cera is commercialising its technology as a new B2B proposition for the wider care sector. It goes to market as a technology sub-brand — distinct from the care business, but connected to it — supported by the right naming, domain architecture, website and search foundations.

That decision is already made. The question is how much of creating and launching it you’d like SearchFlex to own.

Each of the three routes below creates and launches the sub-brand properly. They differ in depth — from building around a brand you supply, to creating the essential identity, to delivering the full brand system. Post-launch growth is a separate decision, with no obligation attached to the build.

The window
Budget secured with Andy, Ben and the board in September, against an October / November launch.
Fixed date
The constraint
A cost freeze means the investment has to be justified line by line — which is why these routes are priced separately, not bundled.
Cost freeze
Where we come in
One partner across brand, design, build and search, rather than coordinating several vendors.
SearchFlex
02
Section one

What we heard

Six things you told us on 21 August, and what each one changed about how we’ve scoped this.

01

A new sub-brand, not the Cera brand

The technology proposition needs its own identity — partly because you’ll be selling to providers who also see Cera as a competitor, which raises real data-trust and positioning considerations.

Naming and positioning are a workstream in every route, not an afterthought.
02

Don’t start from scratch on domain

A preference to refresh Cera HQ and add the new proposition on a subdomain, rather than stand up an entirely separate site. Cera Care is left untouched.

We agree, and Section four sets out why — including what protects the Cera Care rankings.
03

Design capability has been lost

Following your designer’s departure, you’d rather one partner handled brand, design, build and search than coordinate several vendors.

All three routes are single-partner. The difference is how much design we create versus apply.
04

The budget must be justified

A cost freeze means you need clear, tiered options to secure a dedicated budget with Andy, Ben and the board in September.

Three routes, priced separately, each with its own case — so the board compares rather than approves.
05

A professional shop front

Not e-commerce and no complex logins — a high-quality site to showcase the technology, host video demos and build credibility, replacing the current slow Wix site.

Scoped as a credibility and demo site with a CMS, not a platform build.
06

Success at 12 months

A site that drives sales conversions and gives your team a CMS they can actually use.

Conversion journeys and CMS usability are acceptance criteria, and tracking ships with the build.
03
Section two

Three ways we can support the launch

Every route creates and launches the new sub-brand. The only decision is how much of that you want SearchFlex to own — a depth-of-engagement choice, not three different businesses. Select a route to compare it.

The partnership price applies where SearchFlex is appointed as ongoing growth partner for a minimum initial term — a separate monthly programme from £1,000/mo, set out in Section five. One-off builds are available at the standalone price with no obligation to continue. All prices exclude VAT and are confirmed against final scope.

Included Foundation Launch Complete
Brand approach Foundation: You supply the brand Launch: We build the core identity Complete: We create the full system
Naming consultation Foundation: Focused Launch: Full Complete: Full + positioning
Positioning, messaging & strategy Foundation: Launch: Light Complete: Full
Customer & market research Foundation: Launch: Light Complete: Full
Logo, colour & typography Foundation: Cera supplies Launch: Created Complete: Created
Visual language, icons & guidelines Foundation: Launch: Complete: included
Marketing templates Foundation: Launch: Complete: included
Domain & search strategy Foundation: included Launch: included Complete: included
Search & competitor intelligence Foundation: Core Launch: Full Complete: Full
Search-led architecture & UX/UI Foundation: Focused Launch: Bespoke Complete: Bespoke
Development, CMS & demos Foundation: included Launch: included Complete: included
On-page & technical / launch SEO Foundation: included Launch: included Complete: Full
AI / answer-engine visibility Foundation: Launch: Foundations Complete: Full
Tracking setup — GA4, GTM, GSC Foundation: included Launch: included Complete: Advanced
Route 01

Foundation

Build · you bring the brand, we build around it

The focused route. A new sub-brand is still a given — in this route you supply the brand direction and visual assets, created internally or with another partner, and SearchFlex builds an excellent digital experience around them. It does not include creating a new visual identity or brand guidelines.

  • Brand approach — we apply the direction and assets you supply, consistently across the new site. No new identity or guidelines are created in this route.
  • Domain & search strategy — the evidence-led domain and naming direction in Section four, plus a clean migration off the current Cera HQ site.
  • Website — sitemap and information architecture, focused conversion-led design, build on a modern CMS, video/demo capability, and demo/contact conversion with GA4 and GTM.
  • SEO — on-page optimisation across the launch site, plus technical and launch foundations: speed, mobile, crawlability, indexation and Search Console.
Choose Foundation if the brand is genuinely covered elsewhere. It is the fastest route to a credible, fast, search-ready site, and it spends nothing on identity work you are already paying someone else to do.
OutcomeA credible, fast, search-ready website built around your brand, live within budget.
Investment£10,000
Scope depth
Route 02 · Recommended

Launch

Brand + build · we create the essential identity

SearchFlex creates the essential sub-brand identity and takes the strategy deeper — the minimum viable brand needed to launch professionally, on one accountable partner across brand, search, design and build.

Everything in Foundation, plus:
  • Core sub-brand identity — creation of the essential visual identity: logo / wordmark, colour palette and typography, giving the business a distinct, consistent identity across the website and launch materials.
  • Market, naming & search intelligence — ICP definition, search demand analysis, competitor and SERP landscape, category terminology, naming for the company and platform, and core positioning and messaging — including the data-trust question.
  • Search-led website — a keyword universe, page strategy, URL structure and conversion journeys informing bespoke UX/UI, a full responsive build, CMS, product and video demos, and lead capture with CRM integration.
  • Launch SEO — core commercial pages with initial content, metadata and schema, technical QA and indexation, AI and answer-engine visibility foundations, and a measurement framework with a 6–12 month organic roadmap.
Why we recommend this one: it resolves naming, domain and search demand before those decisions get baked into design and development — which is where launches usually go wrong. It buys the identity you need to sell credibly without the cost and timeline of a full brand system.
OutcomeA properly positioned B2B sub-brand with a distinct identity and a website engineered around discovery, credibility and sales.
Investment£20,000
Scope depth
Route 03

Complete

Brand system + build · we create the full brand

The full route. SearchFlex creates the complete brand system and the deeper research and strategy behind it, then builds a platform designed to scale — the strongest answer to your lost internal design capability, delivered by a single partner.

Everything in Launch, plus:
  • Full brand identity & guidelines — a complete identity system: logo / wordmark, colour, typography, visual language, imagery direction and iconography, with comprehensive brand guidelines, plus core marketing templates — deck, social, one-pagers.
  • Brand & positioning strategy — customer and market research, competitive intelligence, and full positioning and messaging architecture.
  • Scalable platform — a website architected to grow into the full platform, AI agents, future products, resources, case studies and industry / use-case hubs. Built once to scale, not rebuilt in 18 months.
  • Full launch SEO — everything in Launch, plus fuller commercial content and deeper AI-search visibility.
Choose Complete if the lost design capability is a standing gap rather than a one-off. It is the only route that leaves Cera with guidelines and templates the team can use without coming back to us — and the only one that assumes the platform grows.
OutcomeA complete brand and digital platform for the new technology business, built to scale.
Investment£30,000
Scope depth
04
Section three

Domain & naming

Common to all three routes — the same strategic workstream whichever you choose. Brand independence and domain independence are different things: you can have a new sub-brand with its own identity living neatly on a subdomain.

Subdomain on Cera HQ

[name].cerahq.com

Refresh Cera HQ off Wix and add the new proposition on a subdomain. Avoids starting from scratch, keeps everything under one roof, and gives the product a clean, modern home. Your stated preference, and we agree with it.

Recommended

Separate domain

[name].com

Maximum separation from Cera, which helps most with the data-trust question. But it starts the domain from zero and splits attention and budget across two properties during launch.

Possible

On the care site

ceracare.co.uk

Cera Care is the care and recruitment site. It carries real search equity and will not be touched — leaving it alone is precisely how those rankings stay protected.

Not advised

Cera HQ (cerahq.com) is the B2B and investor site this project replaces. Because neither the company nor the platform is named yet, the exact address depends on naming — naming leads domain, in that order. The one thing to weigh is trust: selling to providers who also see Cera as a competitor means the naming and positioning work has to make the product feel like its own proposition, even while it sits under the Cera HQ umbrella. That is exactly what the brand and naming workstreams are for.

What we’d confirm in discovery

A technical crawl of Cera HQ

A clean rebuild off Wix, with the subdomain set up correctly and redirects mapped.

The real demand landscape

The keyword and demand picture for the product’s category, before naming is fixed.

Naming, then availability

Naming for the company and platform, then trademark and domain availability on the chosen names.

Your international ambition

Which settles .com versus .co.uk, and the wider approach.

05
Section four

Our recommendation

We recommend Launch.

It creates the essential sub-brand identity — name, logo, colour and typography — and does the naming, positioning and search work needed to launch credibly, without the cost and timeline of the full brand system.

And it resolves naming, domain and search demand before those decisions get baked into design and development, which is where launches usually go wrong.

Foundation is a legitimate lower-cost route if you’d rather own the brand yourself. Complete is the natural step up if you want the full system and collateral in one place.

06
Section five

After launch: search growth

The launch project installs the infrastructure — brand, naming, domain, search intelligence, architecture, website and tracking. Once live, Cera chooses how aggressively to invest in acquisition. These programmes are independent of the launch route and can be activated individually or together.

SEO

£1,000/mo
Long-term discoverability and category authority — technical SEO, commercial landing pages, content, demand capture, AI visibility, CRO and reporting.

Google Ads

£1,000/mo
Capturing high-intent demand now — campaign strategy, keyword and intent architecture, build, landing-page alignment, conversion tracking, optimisation and reporting.
+ media spend

Integrated Search

£2,000/mo
SEO and Google Ads combined for full search coverage — organic authority plus immediate demand capture.
+ media spend

Media spend is billed separately. Programmes begin with close consultancy through the first 90 days — go-to-market search strategy, launch sequencing, demand capture, landing pages, analytics and conversion tracking — before the emphasis shifts to ongoing growth.

Built for a long-term partnership. Our preferred model is to stay involved beyond launch and remain accountable for turning the new platform into a source of qualified demand. Where Cera appoints SearchFlex as its ongoing growth partner, we reduce the upfront launch investment across each route — that is the difference between the two prices in Section two.

No obligation either way. There is no requirement to appoint SearchFlex for ongoing marketing as part of the launch. The growth programmes are a separate decision you can make after launch, based on your commercial priorities and what the discovery data shows.

07
End to end

The relationship, end to end

01

Create

Choose your launch route — Foundation, Launch or Complete.

02

Launch

Close consultancy through the first 90 days as the proposition enters market.

03

Grow

Ongoing search acquisition — SEO, Google Ads or Integrated Search.

Next step

Review the routes, then let’s validate the fit.

Review these routes internally. Once you’ve identified the fit for Cera’s ambition and investment, we’ll hold a short working session with the relevant stakeholders to validate the route, answer questions and agree exact scope — then return with a final scope, investment and delivery plan ready for approval.

Sian Hughes Andy Ben The wider team