I think most of us have come across an ad or any marketing campaign of a good or service we are interested in. Before ever making the decision to purchase, we try to do a little research like who is selling the product? Can I trust them? What are the benefits I can get from the product?
You want to know all these details before making a purchase, right?
That is the same with your ideal customer. They need to know you first, trust you in order to become your customer. That is where a marketing funnel comes in. so
What is a marketing funnel?
A marketing funnel is a visual representation of the customer journey from initial awareness of a product or service to the final purchase stage. The inverted triangle shaped funnel illustrates the decreasing number of potential customers as they move through each stage of the funnel.
A marketing funnel isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy; your marketing funnel is uniquely tailored to how your target market makes a buying decision. Some prefer to keep it simple by following the 3-stage funnel: top of funnel (TOFU), middle of funnel (MOFU) and bottom of funnel (BOFU). Others add “loyalty and advocacy” into their funnel.
The functions remain the same regardless of how you identify the stages.
In this article I will walk you through detailed marketing funnel stages plus strategies. The differences between B2B and B2C and how to create one.
Why is a marketing funnel important?
Marketing strategy: A marketing funnel guides you on which marketing stage to focus on: awareness, consideration or conversion. And the tools and strategies you can use to keep potential customers interested and engaged with your brand.
Consistency: A marketing funnel helps you stay consistent and alert for the next stage. You don’t guess or doubt what next step to take to attract customers. Because you already have a plan of action.
Generate more sales: There are potential customers who do not make immediate purchases. With a marketing funnel you can nurture and interact with them until they are ready to buy.
Predict your future sales: Marketing funnel helps you understand customer behavior throughout the user journey, number of leads likely generated moving towards sales within a period, the different marketing campaigns and channels you got customers from. This data will help you forecast future sales.
Retain customers: It gives you a plan for post-purchase follow up. When they buy from you, it becomes easier to stay connected, engage and remarket your products.
Close deals easily: Businesses with detailed insights about their customers buying journeys take lesser time to close sales deals.
Every business needs a marketing funnel if you want to play the long game.
Let’s move to the different stages and strategies.
Marketing Funnel Stages and Strategies
Plan of action
This is what happens behind the scenes. Where you come up with a significant marketing plan, your WHY, determine your target audience, processes and platforms, content pillar plus distribution plan.
#1 Awareness
This is the top of the funnel, where potential customers become aware of your product or service. It could be through advertising, social media, word-of-mouth, or other forms of marketing. The focus is on generating interest and building brand awareness by letting them know their problems and show them you have a solution for them. This content type should be freely accessible, whether on social posts or blogs.
Strategies to use: Social media advertising, influencer marketing, content marketing, and search engine optimization.
#2 Consideration
This is the middle of the funnel. Potential customers are aware of your product or service, they may begin to show interest and actively consider whether or not to purchase the product or service. This could involve visiting your website, reading product description, comparing prices or looking at customers reviews. You want to create content that nurtures and converts these people at the top of the funnel into leads.
Strategies to use: Availability, case studies, free trials.
#3 Conversion
This right here is the gold stage, where the magic happens. They are fully aware of their challenges and know you have a solution for them and become actual customers. This could involve making a purchase, signing up for a subscription, or filling out a contact form. The goal at this stage is to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to take the desired action.
Strategies to use: Share social proof, like customer reviews and testimonies, to build even more trust, Clear calls to action, checkout optimization, and follow-up emails.
As you can see, the funnel is divided into several stages, each of which represents a different step in the customer journey. At the top of the funnel, there is a large number of potential customers, but as they move through each stage, the number of potential customers decreases.
A study by google shows a full funnel marketing increases return on investment (ROI) by 70%.
Note: The customer journey is not so linear. People can bounce in, out, of the funnel before they finally convert. They can skip some steps as well as go back to the previous step. Never assume though.
Example: Impulse buyers make buying decisions right away (from awareness to conversion).
Lazy buyer look for every reason not to make purchase decision.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C Marketing Funnels?
The marketing funnel for B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) companies follow the same stages but vary in their processes.
- B2B companies target businesses, while B2C companies target individual consumers. Meaning that the target audience for B2B companies is typically much smaller and more defined than the target audience for B2C companies.
- The decision-making process for B2B purchases is typically longer and more complex. They often involve multiple decision-makers and require a more thorough evaluation of the product or service being offered.
- The messaging and content used at each stage of the funnel may be different, with B2B companies focusing more on educating the customer and providing detailed product information, while B2C companies may focus more on emotional appeals and brand recognition.
- B2B companies often rely on account-based marketing, where they target specific companies or decision-makers with personalized messages. B2C companies, on the other hand, often use mass marketing tactics, such as TV commercials or social media ads, to reach a broad audience.
- The sales process for B2B is more consultative, while B2C is often self-service or e-commerce platforms where the customer can make a purchase without interacting with a salesperson.
How to create a marketing funnel
- Know your target audience: You can’t create a successful marketing funnel without knowing who your target audience are. Follow these tips and create your customer avatar. Have a clear understanding of their needs and pain points, and where they are in their customer journey.
- Identify your goals: Once you have defined your target audience, you need to identify your goals. What do you want to achieve with your marketing funnel? This could be anything from generating leads to increasing sales to improving brand awareness.
- Map out your funnel stages: As I mentioned earlier your customers must not necessarily go through all the funnel stages. Some businesses may not focus on post-purchase.
- Develop the content and tactics you’ll use to move your target audience through the funnel. This could come in the form of social media posts, email campaigns, blog posts, landing pages, demos, webinars, and more.
- Set up tracking and analytics: Set up Google Analytics, to track email open rates and click-through rates and monitor social media engagement.
- Continually test and optimize your marketing funnel to improve its effectiveness. This could involve A/B testing different content and tactics, analyzing data to identify areas for improvement, and making changes to your funnel based on customer feedback.
The marketing funnel helps businesses understand their customers journey and optimize their marketing efforts at each stage to increase conversion.
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