Build Your Horse Business with Top of the Mind Awareness
One of the large challenges you face as an equine marketer is
achieving what marketing professionals call "top of the mind
awareness" of your horses and business.
What is Top of the Mind Awareness?
Top of the Mind Awareness, or "TOMA," is being the first
supplier a prospective customer thinks of when they think about
the horses, equine products, or horse-related services that you
offer. Increasing your level of TOMA in your prospects' minds
impacts your current sales of horses and services as well as
your future sales.
Here are some examples of TOMA at work: Example 1: You have TOMA
of products with which you are familiar.
If someone asks you about farriers, the image or name that pops
into your mind is probably that of your own farrier. You are
most familiar with your own farrier, so he is on "top of your
mind." Your awareness may be so strong that when you hear the
general word "farrier," you picture your own farrier's face!
Most people maintain their own status quo--when they find their
service providers to be satisfactory, they are in a comfortable
position than selecting another and venturing into the unknown.
You are a current customer of your farrier and, as long as you
are otherwise satisfied, that familiarity helps to keep you a
current customer.
Example 2: You have TOMA for products that you have never used!
Think about a type of product that you haven't tried. For
example, the first time you think you might try feeding a joint
health supplement, do any names come to mind? Cosequin,
Corta-Flx, or another brand?
Even though you don't have first-hand familiarity with the
product, you probably can think of one or more specific brands.
The reason those brands come to the top of your mind is that
effective marketing has put them there! You have seen an ad for
the brand, or the product package, or heard its name in
conjunction with the product's purpose. Odds are, you have been
exposed to information about the product in several ways and
many times. Your mind has associated that brand with the idea of
"joint supplement," and stored it away in your memory.
How to Build Your Horse Business by Building TOMA:
Familiarity builds positive associations. In one psychological
study, each subject was shown a random squiggly line. When the
person was later presented with a set of squiggly line patterns
and asked which they liked the best, most chose the line that
they had seen before.
It works for squiggly lines, for products, and for business and
brand names: The more familiarity, the more likely that
something is preferred.
Think of ways to create TOMA with your prospective customers,
put those strategies into practice, and become your prospects'
instinctive first choice!
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