Over here in the UK tomatoes are generally not grown outdoors. I assume that's down to the cold temperatures at night or the much higher risk of blight.
It's far more usual to see them grown in greenhouses, poly tunnel and little mini covered frames. I grow ours in the polytunnel (though not this year, we're moving too much stuff around!) and run a string down from the top of the frame into the soil. When I plant the tomato from the pot to the soil I bury the end of the string under the roots, and I bury the whole plant deep, maybe 12" deeper than in the pot, leaving just a couple of leaves above the ground. Then as the plant grows I twist the stem and string around each other, taking out suckers and removing the tip when it reaches roughly 6ft tall.
I have seen some growers leave the spool of string at the top and slowly lower the plant to the ground, literally coiling the stem on the floor, removing lower leaves and fruit as they go, to produce a much higher yield.
I promise next year I'll get some pictures for you!