A uniform message is less expensive to manage, while being easier for the consumer to remember. Remember this acronym: TOMA – Top of Mind Awareness.

TOMA is a key concept in market research. It is a measure of how high brands rank in the consciousness of consumers. The first brand that comes to mind when consumers think of a certain niche, product or industry has achieved top of mind awareness. In the retail car business, we have proven that to be effective with a message, it must be communicated a minimum of three times for an individual to remember to put you on their list of stores to shop.

While it is important to have as many media choices as possible to have the same message so a consumer is exposed to it wherever they turn (thus causing frustration at the desk due to sourcing saying people are stating they “hear about us everywhere they go”), managing a consistent message within any given month that compliments the dealership brand will yield strong consumer awareness when they are ready to get lower in the purchase funnel and make a decision to get their vehicle from… you!

There are certain exceptions to this.  We have used different messages within the digital environment versus traditional media in order to complement the entire campaign for the month. It’s perfectly fine to do this provided the message all complement each other. 

There are always exceptions to the rule, the trick is understanding when to employ them.