Top of the Mind Awareness - Definition, Examples and Meaning

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Top of the Mind Awareness Definition

The concept of Top of the Mind Awareness can be defined as the first and foremost brand that comes in the minds of the customers when prompted about the certain category of products in the market.

Example – If you were asked to recollect the first premium car manufacturers, you might recollect BMW, or Audi or Mercedes or Lamborghini (any of them based on your personal preference). If most of you recollect Audi, then Audi is the brand with the highest top of the mind awareness.

As per the theory of Top of the Mind Awareness, the brand name should come in the mind of the customer on an impromptu basis.

Top of the Mind Awareness is seen as a measure to calculate the strength of the brand at the marketplace in comparison to its competitors. It is usually calculated and figured out in a percentage form.

The firms create Top of the Mind Awareness positioning through promotional activities such as television commercials, Google Promotions, print advertisements, magazine ads, social media banners, and more.

It helps the firm to enhance its market reach and market share beating the competition in the industry.

Factors such as brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, brand recognition, and association affect the aspect of Top of the Mind Awareness.

Top of the Mind Awareness Examples

1) Maggi Noodles:

When we come to talk about the staple food item that is readily available at every household and to satiate the evening hunger pangs, Maggi noodles work the Top of the Mind Awareness and recall factor.

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Talk about the 2 minute or instant noodles, Maggi is the brand name that is on everybody’s mind.

2) Louis Vuitton:

Louis Vuitton is one of the most sought after luxury brand in its native as well as international markets. It is specifically popular amongst the women fashion lovers for its collection of handbags having its signature elements and designs. It is on the Top of the Mind Awareness of the niche and upscale fashion lovers.

How to measure Top of the Mind Awareness

The companies and the various market research agencies conduct the experiment wherein the group of consumers is shown the promotional marketing materials such as television commercials, print advertisements, and more of various brands selling the similar type of product in the market.
And after a gap of almost 30 days, they are questions related to that specific product and note down the brand that comes to their mind whilst discussing the product.
And the percentage of people mentioning about the different brands are singled out that helps the researchers to figure out the brand tops the list of the Top of the Mind Awareness.
The concept and theory are also quite helpful to measure the performance of the various marketing and promotional campaigns of the firm.

Different types of Top of Mind Awareness:

1) Permanent Favorite

When the brand offers the best of the products and the finest of customer service experience, the customer gets addicted to the same. And the brand becomes their favourite as compared to the other brands in the market.

2) Customers those are not very sure

Some of the customers are not very sure about what they like. But they are damn sure of what they don’t like. And the brand such avoid such customers from its potential target list as they work on a negative perception.

3) The right amount of exposure to customers

It is very important for the brand to give the right amount of exposure to its customers about its product offerings. And it should be regular intervals on a constant basis as they say ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’

Advantages of Top of the Mind Awareness

It helps the brand to enhance its brand value in the market as it is recognized for offering the best of the products and the customer service experience to its target audience in the market.
The brand is able to gain a competitive advantage owing to the higher market share and elevated levels of sales and profits.
The brand is high on the aspects of innovation as it offers the products that are novel and unique in the ideation and approach. The product range solves the pain area of the customers.
The brand is known for its innovative marketing and promotional techniques as it carries out the same to increase the Top of the Mind Awareness amongst its target audience.
The brand is able to accomplish its short term and long term objectives.

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Disadvantages of Top of the Mind Awareness

One of the few disadvantages of Top of the Mind Awareness is that it requires a huge investment for the brand promotion and marketing of the products.
It is a long term process and takes a lot of time for the brand to create the required amount of awareness in the minds of the target audience.
Many a time, the customers get confused between the brands and their offerings as the product features and attributes are similar in nature.

How to attain Top of Mind Awareness?

1) Offer the product that is high on quality

The customer nowadays is quite aware and agile about the latest happenings in the market and even what your competitors are offerings. And along with the price that is quite reasonable, they look for the product that is high on the parameters of quality.

Hence, in order to attain the objective of Top of the Mind Awareness, you have to offer the quality product to your customers so that your brand and its offerings are on the tip of their tongue even on an impromptu basis.

The qualitative product is layered with the benefits such as long lasting durability, efficiency in use, and quite effective in its overall approach. And when the customer uses your products and realizes every single day that how qualitative the product is, your brand will be on his top of the mind recall.

2) Offer excellent levels of customer service experience

Along with offering the product that is high on the aspects of quality and class, you also have to provide the finest levels of customer service experience. The product will wear out one day or the other, but it is the experience that remains etched in the minds of the customers for the longest period of time.

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When there is an amalgam of high-quality product with the best of customer service experience, your brand is sure to win high on the Top of the Mind Awareness and recall.

3) Target smaller groups

For the better results to measure the Top of the Mind Awareness of your brand, it is always advisable to target smaller groups and niche audience. It works as a better yardstick to understand their likes, dislikes, pain areas, tastes, and preferences in an effective manner.

Also, going for the bigger groups can make the entire exercise a jumbled up and confusing one for your brand and the customers as well.

4) Plan a 360-degree media and marketing plan

Even before taking the plunge to carry out the exercise of Top of the Mind Awareness, it is advisable to plan and execute a 360-degree media and marketing plan to promote your product or service offerings.

Right from the various digital mediums such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google Promotions to taking the conventional route of hoardings and print advertisements amongst others; your plan has to be a potent mix of best of both the worlds.

Conclusion

The concept of Top of the Mind Awareness is one of the best and most sought after a mechanism to understand your brand reach in the competitive market. It also gives thorough insights on what customers feel and think about your products and brand as a whole.