I. Definition of Top of Mind (TOM) and How to Identify It
In today’s competitive landscape, winning market share is no longer just about being known by your customers. The ultimate goal for every marketer is to become the Top of Mind (TOM) brand — the very first name consumers recall when thinking about a product category.
1. What is Top of Mind?
Top of Mind (TOM) refers to the number-one position a brand occupies in the minds of consumers. When asked about a product, service, or industry, the TOM brand is the first that comes to mind.
For example, in Vietnam, when it comes to fish sauce, most people recall Nam Ngu; for motorbikes, Honda is almost always the first answer. Globally, Coca-Cola leads the soft drink category, while Google dominates search.
Achieving TOM status gives brands a long-term competitive advantage. It also serves as a strategic compass for the customer journey — from initial brand exposure to the final purchase decision. When a brand becomes TOM, customers are less likely to switch to competitors because trust and habit have already been established.
2. How Top of mind strategies work
A Top of Mind strategy typically follows a multi-layered structure with different objectives at each level. Below is the most common model used to describe the progression of brand awareness and customer perception:
This structure outlines how brand awareness evolves from being completely unknown to becoming the first choice in consumers’ minds. Each layer represents a different level of brand awareness and plays a foundational role in building a strong Top of Mind position. The model includes the following stages:
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No Awareness: Consumers have never heard of or interacted with the brand.
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Recognition: Consumers can recognize the brand when they see it but cannot recall it proactively.
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Recall: Consumers can remember the brand when prompted or when thinking about the broader category.
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Top of Mind: The brand is the first answer consumers give when thinking about the category — the highest level of brand awareness and a strong driver of purchase decisions.
3. How to determine whether a brand is already TOM
To determine whether a brand has achieved Top of Mind (TOM), marketers need to combine brand awareness surveys, branded search analysis, and multi-channel engagement insights. Below are the recommended methods:
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Conduct Brand Awareness Surveys: The most direct method is regularly surveying consumers to ask which brand comes to mind first in a given product category.
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Monitor Branded Search Volume: Analyze search queries containing the brand name across platforms like Google and Google Trends. High and stable branded search volume indicates strong brand recall and interest over time.
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Track Brand Mentions: Use social listening tools to measure how frequently the brand is mentioned across social networks, news sites, and forums. A high mention volume signals broad brand awareness.
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Analyze Direct Traffic: Evaluate the number of users who access the brand’s website or sales channels directly without clicking any ads. High direct traffic reflects strong brand recall and proactive customer interest.
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Assess Social Media Following and Reach: Review the number of followers, reach, and overall engagement across social platforms. These signals reflect community-level awareness and interest. You can also analyze the effectiveness of media channels (including paid ads) to understand brand amplification.
II. Benefits of becoming a top of mind brand
Achieving TOM status is a powerful advantage for long-term brand-building and marketing strategy, significantly improving conversion outcomes. Below are the key benefits businesses can expect:
1. Increased Sales and Market Share
When a brand is Top of Mind, consumers compare less and decide faster. In reality, buyers are more likely to choose familiar brands before considering alternatives. Specifically:
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Consumers typically consider only 2–3 brands during their decision-making journey.
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The TOM brand enjoys a 30–50% advantage over others in the shortlist.
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TOM brands are often perceived as “safe” and “trustworthy.” Buyers are more willing to pay a premium and are less sensitive to promotions — resulting in stronger profit margins.
2. Reducing Long-Term Marketing Costs
Building a Top-of-Mind (TOM) position helps brands significantly reduce spending on recall and re-engagement activities. Specifically, familiar brands often enjoy lower CPM/CPC in advertising campaigns because users are more likely to interact with brands they already recognize. The cost of acquiring new customers also decreases thanks to pre-established trust. At the same time, remarketing campaigns become more effective as customers already have certain levels of recall and affinity.
Once a brand becomes the number-one choice, the ripple effect from customer experiences naturally replaces many expensive marketing activities, allowing businesses to save substantial budget in the long term.
3. Pricing Power and Brand Loyalty
When a brand achieves Top-of-Mind status, the level of trust and familiarity in customers' minds increases significantly. Customers tend to believe that such brands offer better quality, higher reliability, and lower purchase risk.
This is the natural outcome of the “perception bias” formed through familiarity. Customers are willing to pay more because they believe the value received is worth the price—even if product features are comparable to competitors.
>>> How premium pricing strategies elevate luxury brands.
4. Easier Product Launches and a Strong Creative Foundation
Brands with strong TOM can penetrate the market faster when launching new products, because customers already like and trust them. A loyal customer base reduces barriers to trying new products or services, improving R&D investment efficiency.
5. Defending Against Competition (Defensive Advantage)
Long-term TOM combined with strong loyalty helps brands withstand pressure from new entrants or competitors’ aggressive marketing campaigns because:
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TOM customers are less influenced by competitors’ promotions.
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Competitors are more likely to “waste budget” as customers already have a preferred brand in mind.
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It creates an invisible barrier in the market’s mental availability.
The result is stable market share and consistent growth even in volatile markets.
III. Strategies to Build a Top-of-Mind Brand
To reach Top of Mind, a brand must activate multiple strategic pillars—from positioning and creative communication to customer experience and emotional value. The framework below helps brands build strong memorability and a solid foundation for long-term growth.
1. Clear Brand Positioning
Positioning is the foundation that helps customers distinguish you from dozens of competitors in the same segment. A brand aiming for TOM must have “one definitive answer” to the question: “Why should customers remember you?” Specifically:
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Establish a clear Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Define a core benefit that is distinctive, easy to understand, easy to share, and closely aligned with customer needs.
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Build a consistent brand identity: Ensure the brand has a unique, consistent identity across all touchpoints—from messaging, visuals, and colors to brand value commitments.
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Emotionalize the brand through storytelling: Tell stories rooted in cultural values, national identity, or core principles.
Example: Case Study — VinFast: “Smart Electric Vehicles for a Green Vietnamese Future”
VinFast positions itself as a pioneering electric vehicle brand, combining smart technology and sustainability to lead the green mobility movement in Vietnam. The messaging focuses on core values such as safety, performance, energy efficiency, and reduced emissions—addressing the needs of modern urban consumers.
In addition, the brand leverages national pride, making VinFast a preferred choice for consumers who want to support high-quality Vietnamese technology products. When people think of green electric vehicles, VinFast is the first name that comes to mind.
With clear positioning, every advertising or PR activity across media and social platforms speaks with one voice—strengthening recognition and memorability.
2. Customer experience & content creation
Storytelling is the key to emotional engagement. By combining real customer feedback and social proof (influencer opinions or authentic testimonials), brands can enhance credibility and build loyal communities. Additionally, lifestyle marketing can bring products into familiar contexts—such as travel, sports, beauty, or modern living. When brand stories blend naturally into the lifestyle customers aspire to, the content becomes more authentic, inspiring, and memorable.
>>> Explore brand storytelling through Lifestyle Marketing.
3. Brandformance strategy on trusted news platforms
Brandformance is a strategy that simultaneously builds brand equity and optimizes performance. Integrated and consistent advertising on major online news outlets not only increases awareness but also strengthens customer trust. To maximize results, brands should execute a tightly connected system of actions:
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Select reputable publishers to reinforce brand authority and trust: Being present in curated, high-quality editorial environments automatically associates the brand with credibility.
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Diversify ad formats: Combine banners, advertorials, native ads, in-article videos, and sponsored content to expand touchpoints and match different user reading behaviors.
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Maintain consistent messaging: Ensure all articles communicate unified messages that reinforce the brand’s core value proposition—shortening the path to top-of-mind.
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Ensure brand safety and precise measurement: Monitor placement quality and performance on each position, article, and format to optimize reach efficiency and protect brand integrity.
>>> Explore SmartAds' brandformance solutions on top-tier news publishers.
This strategy strengthens consistent and sustainable presence across the most trusted information platforms, increasing the likelihood of becoming the customer’s first choice.
