Marketing is important to every business owner, whether it be small or big. Going in blindly with all your marketing efforts without understanding your potential consumer can cost the business a lot of time and money.
This is where a marketing funnel can come in handy. It helps you to understand the journey your potential customer will go through before deciding to purchase your products or services.
But learning about a marketing funnel can be intimidating. We often give this task to someone else because it feels like it requires a lot of time and effort just to study it.
This simple guide will help you understand what a marketing funnel is and how it can greatly help your business.
What is the marketing funnel?
The marketing funnel is a system that tracks the stages that your potential consumers or customers will go through before making a buying decision. In this system, you will see how you can help your potential customer make the choice to buy from you and not from your competitors.
Why do you need to understand it?
Understanding the marketing funnel helps you to know what needs to be done to influence your potential consumers to purchase your product. Thus, increasing your company’s potential sales.
How does the marketing funnel evolve?
According to Elias St. Elmo Lewis, who created a model that highlights the stages of a consumer’s relationship with a business, there are four indicators or stages that every consumer goes through. They are Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.
What is Awareness?
Awareness means that the potential consumer is aware of their problems and the possible solutions for them. They have the initial desire to solve their current problem and are now ready to look for a solution.
What is Interest?
At this stage, the potential consumer now has an interest in a group of services or products that can possibly solve their problem. Here, there is no specific company they want to buy from or product they want to purchase yet. They are currently searching for different companies that offer the solution they need.
What is Desire?
The potential consumer is now starting to evaluate a certain brand. It is important that your company will be able to reach this stage or else the consumer will not be able to know that your company even exists. The consumer is able to narrow down their options and are now ready to take action.
What is Action?
Now, the potential consumer decides whether or not to purchase. When they are satisfied with the information a certain brand provides, they are ready to purchase.
If not, they will start to look for other brands. All of the information has been collected so the potential consumer now has a solid knowledge of what they are looking for.
Marketing Funnel Strategies
Since every stage can influence your buyer’s decision, having a strategy is important. Here are strategies that you can use for each stage of the marketing funnel.
Strategies to build Awareness:
- Since awareness is the uppermost stage of the marketing funnel, it is important that potential consumers are drawn to your company. At this stage, marketing campaigns, consumer research, and discovery are important.
- Trust is established with events, advertising, trade shows, blog posts, infographics, webinars, direct mail, social media, and a lot more.
- Lead generation takes place at this stage. Your company collects information about your potential consumers and pulls them into a lead management system to nurture them down through the funnel.
- Content that uses brand strategies appeal more to audiences and make them receptive to future interactions.
Strategies to build Interest:
- Once you have your potential consumer’s information, you can start sending them content that can make them decide to buy from you more.
- Periodic emails, classes, and newsletters that are targeted around your brand are a good strategy here.
Strategies to build their Desire to purchase from you:
- At this stage, you can now send your potential consumer information about your products and services.
- Sending free trials, case studies, and continuing to nurture them with targeted content are good options here.
Strategies to make them do your desired Action:
- Marketing and Sales usually work together to convince the consumer that your product is the best choice.
- When a prospect finally makes the purchase, they are no longer a prospect but a consumer. This is where sales take place.
If the consumer had a positive experience, it can lead to referrals. More referrals mean more potential consumers turned into certified consumers.
The Benefits of Using the Marketing Funnel
Marketing funnels make the consumer’s journey easy to follow. It applies to almost any consumer interaction.
The marketing funnel allows you to measure if you are gaining or losing your consumers. So, you can plan and use a new strategy to win them back. This also allows you to measure how effective your marketing campaigns are.
Understanding the difference between marketing and sales
Marketing and sales are often confused with one another. As stated above, these two departments can work together to ensure that your potential consumer will eventually decide to buy your products or services.
Marketing is the process of getting prospective consumers interested in your products or services while sales refer to all activities that lead to the selling of your products or services.
In simple terms, marketing makes your prospect aware of your products or services while sales convince them to buy your products or services.
How to Start Your Marketing Funnel
There are templates that you can start with. Searching on the internet can give you options to choose from. But make sure you check them out thoroughly before purchasing.
One of these companies that provide templates is Advertoscope. They allow you to choose a marketing funnel and a sales funnel. Again, before settling on a specific template make sure that they fit your company’s needs.
Conclusion
Creating a business in the early stages may require you to learn a few skills before it can run on its own. Understanding your target market is one of the most important aspects of marketing you have to pay attention to.
Stating ‘everyone’ is too vague and will not help your business in the long run. Using a marketing funnel allows you to plan where to focus your marketing efforts so you can reach your marketing goals.
