Creating Top-Of-Mind-Awareness

You've probably heard this phrase. TOMA simply means being at the forefront in prospects' minds when they think of the type of goods or services you have to offer. The objective being getting them to think of you first and foremost when they're ready to buy.

According to Sales and Marketing Management, the average U.S. sale in 1993 took 12 impressions to close

That's 12 individual incidents of calling, mailing, visiting or being seen in advertisements by prospects before they're ready to do business with you.

Now that datum is over a decade old, but probably hasn't changed much, if at all (except perhaps the number has risen!).

The good news? Ninety percent of your competitors give up after the fourth contact.

By correctly positioning your product or service, you help create TOMA. Also – important – it takes systematic, compelling communications with your targeted prospects, even if brief, to help lodge you and/or your message in their minds.

Depending on the type of business you have, these communications could be a mix of phone calls, personal interviews, ads, emails, letters, postcards, etc.

Repetition in your promotion & advertising starts to create a "presence" in the marketplace and in your prospects' minds. That presence leads to a feeling of familiarity with you, your products or services.  Familiarity breeds confidence, and that confidence breeds sales. On the other hand, out of sight equals out of mind. This is why you have to keep communicating through one means or another.

Even if you have a hot mailing list, you can't just hit it one or two times and expect miracles. This is a common failing of many business owners. They send out one or two mailings and wonder why their phone isn't ringing off the hook.  (Of course if the mailing list is bad, the mailing piece itself is bad, the timing is off, or there is no compelling reason for people to pick up the phone and call NOW, then you for sure won't get many phone calls!)

You need a consistent program of mailings. There are some people who have to hear or see your message 15-20 times before they will act. That's what it takes for your message to get through and STICK with folks like this.  Sad, but true.

And prospects have varying lag times. We know of MANY instances where a prospect called or walked into a business months after they received a promotional piece from that business.

Also, they may simply not have been in the mood for what you are offering the first few times they heard or read your message. Consumers typically buy when they perceive a need or there's something they want.

Sending one direct-mail piece and hoping it arrives when the consumer is ready to buy is like betting in a lottery.

So remember this: With consecutive, compelling messages you can create a relationship in the minds of prospects between them and your product or service. Then when they're ready to buy, who are they most likely to think of?

You.

SUMMARY: In marketing, repetition breeds familiarity. Familiarity breeds confidence and TOMA. Confidence and TOMA breed sales.