We've all been there: you're working on a project and have this great idea for a new product. You've got the product in your mind and are just waiting for the perfect time to launch it!
But then, a few days later, nothing. You've got nothing but silence from potential customers. You can't even get a hold of them by email or phone—they just don't respond!
What happened? Well, it could be that your website isn't optimized for mobile users (which would make sense if you were launching your product on mobile). It could also be that people think your idea is too farfetched (and they're right). Or maybe they just haven't heard of it yet.
Whatever the reason, if you want to make sure that no one misses out on your new product launch because of bad timing or lack of visibility, there's only one way to do it: set up a marketing funnel!
What Is A Marketing Funnel?
There are a million different ways to market your business and make the most of your time and money. But if you don't know what a marketing funnel is—and why it's so important—you'll have a hard time figuring it all out.
So here's the deal: a marketing funnel is a sequence of steps that helps you convert visitors into customers and marketing qualified leads into sales. It's like an assembly line for getting people from point A to point B in your business.
And it's an incredibly important part of running any kind of business because it helps you identify where you need to focus your efforts and resources. Without this step-by-step sales process, it would be impossible for anyone to reach their ultimate goal: making money from their product or service!
Marketing Funnel Stages
Now that you know the gist, the marketing funnel is a sequential process that begins with awareness, continues with consideration, and ends with loyalty. These stages are important to understand as they help us optimize our marketing strategy and efforts.
Awareness Stage
The first stage in any marketing funnel is awareness. In this stage, you're letting prospective customers know about your product or service and asking them to consider it. When someone is aware of your brand, they may or may not be interested in your product or service—but they're at least aware of it!
Consideration Stage
The second stage is a consideration when potential customers are deciding whether they want to buy something from you. They might have some questions or concerns at this point, so you want to ensure that there are no roadblocks in how they make a purchase.
Conversion Stage
The third stage is conversion, which is when someone purchases from you. This could be during the consideration phase or after they've decided to buy. Still, it's important that you're ready and prepared for sales during this particular stage because if they don't buy after they've decided against it, then you lose out on sales opportunities.
Loyalty Stage
In the loyalty stage, you want to make sure that customers are loyal to your brand and that they will keep coming back. This means you need to provide them with value regularly, and it also means that you need to be consistent in how you communicate with your customers.
Advocacy Stage
The final stage of the marketing funnel is advocacy—the act of persuading others to become brand advocates. You can create content that speaks directly to those interested in your product or service by sharing this content on social media and giving away freebies or other incentives in exchange for people becoming advocates for your brand.
Importance of Marketing Funnel
Marketing funnels are an important part of your business's marketing efforts. In fact, some say that the marketing funnel is one of the most important parts of running a successful business. Here's why.
Simplify the customer journey
Marketing funnels are a great way to simplify the customer journey. When selling a product or service, it can be difficult to ensure that your customers get what they want and need. A marketing funnel helps you ensure that every step of the buying process is working towards helping your customers get what they want from your company.
Bring visibility to every sale
Another reason marketing funnels are so important is that they bring visibility to every sale your business makes. When you have a clear path for every prospective customer who comes through your door, it's easy to see who's making sales and who isn't—which can help you find ways to improve your business model and make more money!
Allows measurability
You can't really control the actions of your customers. But you can control the information they receive. With your own marketing funnel, you can measure performance metrics such as sales lift and ROI because they provide an overview of all customers engaged with your brand through their various touchpoints.
Difference Between B2B and B2C Marketing Funnels
B2B and B2C marketing funnels are different, but not entirely so. Although they often change depending on your customer base.
In a B2B marketing funnel, you'll often find that the customer interacts with sales representatives at the beginning and end of their purchasing process. The person is looking for a solution to a problem or wants to learn more about your product. They might also seek expert advice from others who have used or understand your product.
In a B2C marketing funnel, on the other hand, customers navigate the system alone or with trusted advisors like family and friends. They may never interact directly with a company representative.
Building A Funnel
You can create a marketing funnel for any type of business—a digital store, an app, or even a brick-and-mortar store like a restaurant or retail store. Here's how you can get started.
Create a Landing Page
The first step in building a marketing funnel is creating a landing page. A landing page is a key to getting people to take action on your offer, whether that's an opt-in or something else.
Capture Leads With An Opt-In Offer
Build an opt-in offer that makes sense for your business and offers value to them as well (and maybe even some freebies). You want this offer to be exciting enough that they want to take it right away—but not so exciting that they won't think twice about buying it later on down the road if things change between now and then!
Introduce Your Product To Your Leads
You can find leads through a marketing funnel, but you can also find them through email marketing, social media campaigns, and more. The key is to know your audience and what they want. You start by creating relevant content for your target audience and then using the marketing funnel to promote those pieces of content at different points in the sales funnel.
Get Your Leads To Buy From You
You can do this by creating an offer that is tailored to their needs and selling it to them in a way that makes them feel valued and special.
You should also make sure that the product or service you are selling is something that will be beneficial for them, so they will want to purchase it from you. This means that when people are looking for a new product or service, they should consider doing business with you because of how well-rounded your offerings are and how much value they offer.
Examples Of A Marketing Funnel
Now that you know the basics of a marketing funnel, let's take a look at some examples.
Example 1: Apple's Marketing Funnel
A customer buys a product from Apple and then uses services from another company, like streaming music or video content marketing. The customer isn't just getting one thing from Apple; they're getting many different things from Apple and the other company. This can be considered a marketing funnel because it's a way for businesses to connect with new customers and turn them into loyal customers by giving them more than one thing at a time.
Example 2: Online Clothing Shop
Another example would be a business that sells clothes online. The business needs to start advertising to attract new clients and keep existing ones returning for more products. This means creating an email list of interested people who might be interested in what they have to offer, then sending them emails about special promotions or discounts every time there's something new going on at the store—like when they announce that they're opening another store somewhere else in town!
Visualize Your Potential Customers With The Help Of A Marketing Funnel
Marketing funnels are invaluable for determining where you're going wrong with your marketing campaigns and what you can do to correct them. They give your marketing teams a visual way to evaluate how your business is doing and see any gaps in your marketing plan. With the right strategies in place, the marketing funnel can be incredibly useful for enhancing your marketing performance.
