Marketing funnels come in many variations; however, they all basically follow the same general flow of stages. The first thing that needs to happen is that people need to become aware that your company exists. Then they need to become interested in what you do. The next stage is that they begin exploring offers and making a decision of who to buy from. Lastly, the final stage is conversion, you’ve made the sale!
Awareness
There are numerous ways for people to find out who you are and what you do. Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, etc. Using platforms that promote longevity of content such as YouTube or blogging are strong ways to make less content and have it work harder for you. Being a guest on someone else’s content is a great way to put yourself in front of their audience, being a guest on a YouTube Video, blog, or podcast can be very beneficial for increasing brand awareness. Content creation is really important and you basically have a couple options. If you want to make less content, then the only way to truly get people to see it is to put some money behind it through Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, etc. If you are going for the organic route, consistent creation is a necessity. Using both strategies to complement each other is probably best practice.
Interest
Once you have people’s attention, it’s time to build interest, and quickly. Use some sort of mechanism that provides value and interest in what you do with no cost to the user. This may be a free workshop/ webinar, a checklist, or a course/ challenge. This does a couple things, it presents you as an authority and an expert, and it also builds interest in what you’re offering at the bottom of the funnel. An important function of this interest builder is that it must collect contact information, usually email, so that you can stay in contact with prospects in order to warm them up.
Decision
This stage should be a series of emails designed to turn prospects into hot leads. You already know that they are at least somewhat interested in what you are offering because they exchanged their email for a piece of content you created that’s related to your offer. Build on that by providing more free value in these emails, this stage is all about nurturing your relationship with your lead. This is the time to show your leads that YOU are who they need to get their product or service from, but remember not to constantly be pitching your product or service, instead you need to provide value with free quality content, such as a blog or a video. You want to make sure that you are having them click on links to get this free value. This will train them to click on links in your emails so that when you send your proposal, they are more likely to click the link provided.
Action
This is where your lead converts into a customer. Your job isn’t done, first off you should thank your new customer to end the transaction on a good note. The next step is to offer other products or services that may benefit the customer. Upsell and resell. Many of your customers will stop after the initial purchase, however, some will continue to the next purchase. This will boost your overall income from each funnel.
Your goal should be to move as many people through the funnel as quickly as possible to maximize the flow of money coming in. To do this you will need to approach each part of the funnel differently and to cater your content to the stage each person is in. Building a quality funnel is hard work and will need tweaking and optimizing as time goes on. Keep track and analyze how your funnel is functioning.
It's really important to continue nurturing the relationship you’ve built with your newly acquired customers. Don’t stop once the sale has been made. Keep providing value, this is important for 2 reasons:
- This will make upselling and reselling in the future easier and more likely. It cost more to acquire a new customer than it does to upsell existing ones.
- This is really the important point with continuing to nurture the relationship with your customers. They will become brand advocates if they are happy with your product or service. Word of mouth advertising and referrals are not only free, but one of the most effective ways to get new customers. People trust their friends and family more than they do advertisements. If you can build a good name for yourself and your company with your existing customers, it will inevitably lead to more business.
Conclusion
The goal of a good funnel system is to turn a cold audience into customers through a systematic marketing approach. Contact points should be tailored to the specific stage a lead falls under. Really the key here is quality content designed for specific stages. You need content designed to capture attention and build awareness, then different content designed to build interest and create a small commitment (collecting email addresses), you will then need content designed to present your company as the authority and expert in your field which will push them toward conversion.
Once leads have converted into customers it is vital to nurture these relationships to build brand advocacy. You want your customers to sing your praises to their colleagues, friends and family. This will lead to referrals and more customers as well as upselling and reselling. Building a brand with loyal customers is really the ultimate goal.
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