Top of Mind Awareness? What is it, and why it matters…

Let’s play a game.

Name an American Car Company… drum roll …. is it Chevy or Ford? (bail out / bankruptcy aside)

Most people when asked choose one of those…

Name a soft drink, or a pop, or a soda (depending on what part of the country)… Coke or Pepsi?

Most people go with this…

Name a fast food place….didja get McDonalds?

Yeah, I know we’re playing Family Feud here

What is this concept? It is “top of mind awareness.”

That example above is easy enough to understand, the next part took me a long, long time.

Here’s when it finally clicked…

Think of the last funeral you went to…seriously…stop and do this. It makes it a lot more profound.

Got it?

How long ago was it? How often have you thought of those people? Once a day? Not likely unless it was someone very close to you — a very close friend or family member.

And here is the point I am trying to get across. It wasn’t at the top of your mind…like it was for the people who were involved in the funeral.

Chances are those people have thought about it almost every day…or more.

But you probably haven’t. When you think about it now, it is an “oh yeah…” type of thought.

Now of course there are exceptions, but this just shows that the passing of time happens very quickly.

So what does this have to do with your marketing and the psychology of your customers.

Well, I can just about guarantee you that the second they step out of your store, or they leave your website, or whatever media you use to sell him or her, they are NOT thinking of you.

They are instantly bombarded with the new information they are processing. They are thinking of their new to do lists, their problems, their concerns.

If you doubt this I bet that in the few seconds you’ve ready this…chances are you aren’t actively thinking about the last funeral you went to. Which illustrates this article perfectly.

This is all kind of connected in a muddled way. Proper marketing achieves more relevance in your prospects minds which helps overcome the physical limitations of the information the brain can take in.

So, do you have a strategy to continually follow-up and have top of mind awareness of your customers and your prospects? If not…you’ll be going to the funeral of your business…more than likely. And ask yourself this. How many of your customers would show up? Or would have they forgotten about you?

-Matt