Starting a new business can make you watch grass grow — it’s that exciting!
The entire process is motivating, rewarding, and truly makes you feel like a boss. However, that’s only the case when you exclude the technical stuff involved.
One that puts thousands of new entrepreneurs puzzled is a marketing funnel or sales process.
But what is it?
Digital Entrepreneur 101: What is a marketing funnel?
Deconstructing a Marketing Funnel
A marketing funnel is simply a framework of your customer’s journey with your business. It starts with getting people to know about your product or service and ends with keeping them as loyal customers.
Analyzing and getting familiar with your marketing funnel helps you understand how you close each sale.
Why is this important?
By building a marketing funnel, you will have a mapped set of actions that will lead to generating sales. To keep things simple, you and your team will know exactly what to do to get customers — you will never be aimless.
Furthermore, if you have a deep understanding of your funnel, you can optimize it or quickly fix issues whenever your revenue starts slowing down.
AIDA — Who Is She?
There are hundreds or thousands of sales processes out there. Each company has a unique system that allows them to generate income. However, most of these funnels, if not all, originate from one root — AIDA.
AIDA stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.
Elias St. Elmo Lewis first developed this model in 1898 and is still relevant to this day.
If you’re still not quite getting it, let’s break it down:
- Awareness — People know your product or service is on the market.
- Interest — People consider your product or service to be a possible solution to their problem.
- Desire — People are now inquiring and evaluating your product or service, showing the possibility of a purchase.
- Action — People are now deciding whether they will continue with the purchase or not.
AIDA is a straightforward model. However, it’s quite old, and most businesses no longer find it applicable. That is why entrepreneurs modify AIDA accordingly.
“TOFU-MOFU-BOFU”
We know; it’s quite a mouthful. However, it’s just a quicker way of saying, top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, and bottom of the funnel.
Now, let us show you a modern model using TOFU-MOFU-BOFU.
- TOFU — This section is about branded content strategies, which focuses on sharing or publishing non-aggressive content that subtly introduces your brand to the right audience. Those who enjoy your content and interact with it will move to the next part of the funnel.
- MOFU — Here is where your business slowly introduces a more commercial approach. You will ask your acquired audience to subscribe, see the benefits of your product or service, and offer free trials. It could be any action that will make your audience desire your product or service, which turns them into prospects.
- BOFU — Finally, your new prospects are ready to receive an offer. These people are most likely to purchase your product or service. All you need to do is send them a sales pitch through email, social media, or give them a call.
- Loyalty — Now, this part is optional but highly recommended. Loyalty is all about retaining all your customers as much as possible. Remember, it’s significantly cheaper to keep old customers than acquire new ones — proof of that is the sales funnel. To maintain your loyal customers, you need to provide them with regular discounts, proper email support, and consistent social interaction.
Is Having a Marketing Funnel Necessary?
A BIG YES. Your marketing funnel helps you and your customer enjoy a smooth business journey.
For those who are not yet prepared to become prospects, they can stick with the content that you provide in the TOFU. Those who are interested in your brand can subscribe to your newsletter or join your social media community.
Without a funnel, your content will be chaotic, and most people find that annoying and discouraging.
With a marketing funnel, you can categorize your audience properly and track your overall marketing performance. Your funnel will help you analyze which section you are performing well or where you need to improve. For example, if people are moving from TOFU to MOFU quickly, it’s a good sign that your awareness efforts are working well. If they’re stuck in MOFU, then you need to improve your strategy in that part of your funnel. +
How to Make a Marketing Funnel for Your Business?
Creating a marketing funnel isn’t as complicated as it sounds. As mentioned above, you need to understand your customers’ journey — from knowing about your product to the point where they will now make a purchase.
- Brainstorm all the ideas and possibilities to get attention (digital and traditional ads). Write these down as these will serve as the top part of your funnel.
- Learn all the ways to convince leads to make them want your product or service. Share what makes your business unique and the value or benefit to your prospects’ life.
- Understand when your customers are ripe enough. What moves them to take action (sale)? Is your product or service seasonal? Is it a matter of price? Consider all these things and optimize them to your advantage.
- What can you do to make your customers stay as customers? It’s one thing to acquire them; it’s another to make sure they continue to become loyal to your brand. Do they only need to be reminded of your existence? If that isn’t enough, do you need to upgrade your products and services?
Marketing Funnel Summary
Marketing funnels aren’t that hard to understand once you get the hang of it. In general, they are process systems that help your business know what to do in an organized manner to acquire sales.
Here’s a quick summary bullet about what a marketing funnel is:
- Marketing funnels help you get leads.
- It takes those leads to another process (middle part of the funnel) to nurture them to become prospects.
- The penultimate part of the funnel is to turn those leads into customers.
- Lastly, customers aren’t that valuable if they only purchase your products and services once. The last part of the funnel is to keep those customers for life.
Developing a marketing funnel that works for your business is essential. It can boost your sales and build a better connection with your audience. Plus, it’s super measurable!
If you’re unsure after reading this article, and you still find yourself asking, “What is a marketing funnel?” feel free to contact us. We’re here to help you out, and we are more than happy to develop a winning funnel for your business. Contact us now or give us a call at (800) 481-1720!
