Growing a business always includes a lot of research and fresh marketing strategies. These often focus on your potential customers and their relationship with your brand.
If you are wondering how to get to that data, the answer is a marketing funnel. Let’s examine this strategy and see how it can help your business out:
What exactly is a marketing funnel?
When it comes to running a successful brand, your goal is to create as many leads as possible and turn them into customers. A marketing funnel can give you the visualization of that process. Essentially, you can follow your customer’s journey from the moment they discover your brand and all the steps that follow until they become a customer.
A marketing funnel is not a brand new term. E. St. Elmo Lewis came up with this idea back in 1898. The structure of the modern-day marketing funnel is different, but the layout is still the same.
Every marketing funnel features different stages. There are no mandatory steps your business should follow. Instead, customizing a marketing funnel to match your brand is the way to go. We’ll dive deeper into the most common actions as they should explain the functions of a marketing funnel.
How does a marketing funnel work?
We all know how a standard funnel looks. Now, apply that shape to the world of marketing. We have already mentioned there are different stages of a marketing funnel. The widest part at the top is all the people who are aware of your brand or found your company via various marketing strategies.
Then imagine the middle part of the funnel. It is slightly narrower and represents potential customers who have moved on from just clicking on your website to getting more immersed into the story of your brand. They might be searching for reviews on YouTube, subscribing to your newsletter, and so on.
Finally, we have the bottom part of the funnel or the narrowest part. Here are your potential customers who are very interested in what you have to offer, so they might be signing up for free trials, comparing your prices to other similar businesses, and finally making a decision to purchase your product or service.
Benefits of a marketing funnel
Now that you are more familiar with the term marketing funnel, it is time to see some of the benefits that come with it:
Finetuning your marketing strategy
A survey by Salesforce discovered that 68% of businesses don’t analyze the performance of their marketing funnel, and that could be the reason for low conversion numbers. Every section of a marketing funnel can measure the success rate of your current marketing strategy.
Your brand will grow and develop. However, using the same marketing strategy all the time is not recommended. Adapt it to the needs and expectations of your target audience.
A marketing funnel can come in handy because it will give you all the necessary information to change your content and release it at the perfect time. Essentially, you will be able to guide your potential customers through each section of the funnel by displaying the relevant content every step of the way.
Getting to know your buyer
The best way to increase the conversion number is to learn as much as possible about your buyer’s journey. Each section of a marketing funnel will deliver you different metrics and statistics that can help you understand how the visitors see your marketing strategy.
Measuring the metrics may upgrade the overall customer experience and set you apart from your competition. For instance, once you identify the section of the marketing funnel that loses the most potential customers, you can work to improve it.
It may also uncover how to refine your products and services just by watching your buyer’s journey. If you know what your audience expects of your brand, go a step further and offer something unexpected. This tiny step could boost the customer experience instantly.
Finding the leads
By now, you probably know that not every lead will become your loyal customer. However, a marketing funnel could be beneficial if you focus on the leads that will very likely convert into a buyer. It can save a lot of time down the line.
Send a quick survey or a follow-up message to the brand new leads. It is a simple step that will help you sort out the prospects. You will know who needs a little bit more time to make up their mind or who is ready to support your brand.
Just remember that not every lead will go to the checkout right away. So a well-planned marketing funnel can help you strengthen the bond with them over time. According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, 81% of consumers need to build a good relationship with a brand and trust them before purchasing any product or service. Releasing high-quality content could make their journey with your brand way more fun and should build trust.
