For any brand, it’s important to get yourself in front of the right people at the right time. The best way to do this is by building marketing funnels to suit your different audience segments.
Not a clue what any of that means? That’s ok – here’s a guide to break things down for you…
What are marketing funnels?
Marketing funnels are ways to visualise and plan how your customers move through your buying process. Within each different step of a funnel, customers have different needs. Very simply:
- At the top of the funnel (ToFu), you will have potential customers just learning about your brand, very possibly for the first time.
- In the middle of the funnel (MoFu), your potential customers are considering buying from you.
- At the bottom of the funnel (BofU), potential customers take the final steps to becoming a customer and buying from you.
Each part of successful marketing funnels should have a different function to suit the particular stage your potential customer is at.
Every business will have its own marketing considerations, depending on your audience and product/service on offer. You can have people dropping in and out at different stages, too. It’s not always a linear process, although the visual image of a funnel can help you to focus.
Top of the marketing funnel
Also known as the awareness stage, the ToFu purpose is to reach as many people as possible to spread brand awareness.
Another way to think of this stage of the marketing funnel is your prospect has a problem, but they don’t know how to solve that yet or aren’t ready to. They need more information to take that decision any further.
For ToFu, your content needs to be more educational than sales driven.
People will be looking for answers to their questions, searching for information relating to your product/service, such as comparisons, reviews, how things work, how much it costs, ways to reduce their problem, how to deal with their problem, etc.
How do you address these queries to build awareness stage content?
Well, there are different ways to get in front of new audiences using content targeted towards ToFu leads, such as –
- Blog posts with SEO optimisation, explaining different topics
- Video content or podcast discussions, with written transcriptions
- Social media posts and influencer marketing campaigns with giveaways, contests, leading to your website
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, targeting specific search terms
When leads are at the awareness stage, they don’t know you. The content you share must build trust and encourage people to take the next step.
Middle of the marketing funnel
Another name for the MoFu is the consideration stage. The potential customer now knows of you, but they don’t yet trust you enough to buy.
On average, it takes eight touchpoints before a prospect makes a purchase.
That could be much higher if you have an expensive product/service that’s considered a big investment or a luxury. On the flipside, it could also be much fewer touchpoints if you sell a cheaper product that’s classed as an essential item.
During the MoFu stage, your customer needs to decide who they are buying from. They might also be considering your competitors and working out the best solution for them.
To build great brand awareness, you need to nurture leads from the awareness stage through the consideration stage by positioning yourself as the ‘go to’ company to solve their problem.
You need to build trust and credibility. Do that with –
- User-generated content like unboxing videos or product reviews from influencers
- Optimised website content to get your message across clearly, including your team members and company story
- Share case studies, customer reviews, and testimonials to show off your brand
- Nurture your existing audience with targeted and regular email marketing
- Content marketing to give your audience further information about your services and get them invested in you (this works especially well for B2B).
Searches for you vs your competitor might come up for people in the consideration stage. Give your customer a non-biased review on the differences between you and your top competitor. It might sound counter-intuitive, but it builds trust and gives them the answers they’re looking for.
Bottom of the marketing funnel
Your lead is finally ready to buy! They are almost a customer, but don’t celebrate too quickly! Any potential leads at this point, also known as the purchase stage, still have an opportunity to back out.
You may have a prospect who’s been following you for a while and has a great brand awareness level. But there are also people who are searching for your exact product/service and skip the ToFu and Mofu stages. This is called having a high purchase intent.
During this stage, your content should be direct and to the point. Your job is to persuade the reader to buy from you. Reduce any potential friction. Be the easy and right choice for people.
To make the most of leads in the BoFu stage, you should –
- Be aware of the existing content you have
- Know your customer journey
- Optimise product descriptions and service pages
- Give your prospects all the information they need upfront
- Reduce doubt by offering free trials, demos, or money-back guarantees
- Encourage readers to buy with a sense of urgency/scarcity – only offer a limited amount of something or run special offers in a short time frame
For high ticket offers, lead people to landing pages with testimonials and persuasive sales copy to convert people to become a customer.
Through all the marketing funnel stages, you can retarget people through paid ads who’ve visited your site.
Effective marketing funnels to increase brand awareness
Having consistent visual and verbal messages through your marketing funnels reinforces your brand awareness. Build the know, like, and trust factor. When you get your marketing funnels right, your sales process will run more efficiently, and you’ll build more loyal customers more easily. Make a Brew can help with your visual brand identity, brand strategy, and brand building. We also offer Creative Marketing Director services if you don’t have the time for marketing yourself. Let’s book a virtual brew to chat about your branding needs.
