What’s a marketing funnel and why does my small business need one?

Funnels are the holy grail for marketing.

Operate without one and you risk not reaching your goals.

And no, they’re not something from DIY!

In short, a marketing funnel is a visual representation of your customer’s journey.

It’s a strategic framework to guide potential customers through a journey to purchase.

From never having heard of your brand (attract / awareness)

..to building trust with them ( build trust)  

..to making the sale (conversion).

Let’s face it…

Digital marketing has made things way more sophisticated and complex.

What used to be a linear process is now dynamic, with lots of micro-moments across the customer journey before people buy.

Think about it…

When you see a brand or follow it on social, it takes time for you to trust and buy.

You might also get distracted when you take 5 to check out a brand…..kids, life, and meetings pop up.

It’s the same for the people that you want to attract to your brand.

It can take up to 10 interactions before someone decides to make a purchase.

Along the way you need to keep their attention, build their trust and then persuade them to buy from you. 

Every teeny tiny piece of content within a marketing funnel is relevant.

But let’s take a look at the original funnel.

The well-known AIDA framework created in 1898 by Elmo Lewis.

The original funnel has four stages

Awareness:

Top-Of-Funnel.

Potential customers become aware of your brand or business. You pique their interest and might even inspire them.

Interest:

Middle-Of-Funnel.

You capture attention. You entice them.

People look at your social media feeds, your website and they engage with your content. You build their trust in you.

Desire ( Consideration):

Middle-Of-Funnel.

Potential customers consider your offer, compare you to others.

They evaluate and begin to engage and want your offer.

Action (Conversion):

Bottom-Of-Funnel.

They believe in you, make a purchase or take the desired action. E,g, subscribe, sign up for a newsletter, make a purchase

The Startup & Small Marketing Approach

Here’s what it looks like..

The traditional funnel model focussed on pushing the customer down the funnel. 

This is a linear process, presuming that the way people buy is simple and one action leads to the next.

We all know that isn’t the case anymore!

Customers, across all ages and segments, have been on a complex buying journey for a lot longer than Gen Z have been shopping!

Customers are entering brand worlds from all levels of the funnel.

The brands who recognise this are optimising at EVERY STAGE of the funnel.

What does this mean exactly?

Always engage: create a reaction

Divide messaging and content into buckets.

No matter what stage of the funnel, always make a presumption that someone is entering the funnel (starting their journey into your brand) at that stage.

For example, a post, video or ad meant for the bottom of the funnel can still build trust and engagement even with a CTA (call to action) for purchase

A video that acts as an introduction to your brand (top-of-funnel) can also lead to conversion at the bottom-of-funnel if that person is ready to buy a solution.

This is because storytelling engages people.

And you’re not always selling, you’re showcasing.

Bringing your potential customers on a journey with you and assuring them by answering all their questions and objections through your content.

Show them how you are solving a pain point for them.

No matter what you are creating ( website, video, email) the focus should be on building brand awareness and trust.

The reality is…

Boomers are as likely to connect with a brand on YouTube, just like Gen Z, as they are to see a post on Facebook.

Or to hear a podcast with a founder as their first entry to the brand world.

This is the nature of how we consume digital content.

Make sure to know your best target audience so you know where your audience will most likely find you, or where you can get in front of them.

The Micro Funnel

Okay, so just when you thought you were wrapping your head around funnels, there’s a new kid in town!

The new frontier is micro funnels.

These are clever little micro journeys your customer takes to find and interact with your brand, across different platforms.

Once you’ve mastered the full funnel these are smart ways to deliver time-sensitive offers or build in-depth relationships with your followers.

And a great way to engage and reward your most loyal fans.

For example, an offer or a new launch could be announced on TikTok and followers directed to Instagram Stories to find out more information and reveal the link to sign up / limited-time offer.

It means a customer journey funnel could be created for Instagram, TikTok , Facebook and Pinterest etc.

All of them taking into consideration the nuances of the platforms and the messaging and content that would work best to engage and build trust with your target audience.

By incorporating macro and micro funnels into your strategy you can tailor to different stages of the customer journey with specific messaging and goals. 

Email marketing, product launches or a marketing campaign can all have their own micro funnels. 

Essentially by using marketing funnels, you are one step closer to having a clearly thought-out digital marketing strategy.

Creating your own funnels

There is not a one size fits all.

Every brand is different, so here’s an outline of where to start.

Know your objectives and KPI’s:

Define exactly what you want to achieve with your marketing.

e.g. are you creating brand awareness, increasing sales, asking for signs ups, subscriptions etc.

Know your audience:

Look to your audience profiling, make sure you know exactly who you are targeting and speaking to.

Understand their problems, the transformation your brand offers, their desires and their challenges and how you are a solution to their *pains*

Choose your channels:

Engage and communicate with your audience in the right places. i.e. social platforms, website, email. Be where they hang out.

Be mindful of where your audience consumes their content.

Content:

Plan what type of content you need to create and what will resonate with your audience at each stage of the funnel.

Set out your buckets.

50% of your content should be to ‘Attract’ (Top of Funnel. Storytelling, background, challenges, journey stories etc)

30% of your content should be to ‘Build trust’ (Middle of Funnel. Reviews, testimonials, experiences, handling objections, answering questions, in-depth show and tell)

20% of your content should be to ‘Make the sale’ (Bottom of Funnel. Sharing offers, sign-ups to email, directing to website)

This is the hardest part.

Imagine not selling your product in your content!

That’s exactly what you need to be doing in 80% of your content to build awareness and trust.

People don’t like to be sold to so telling them over and over again how great you are with an image of your product isn’t going to entice them to buy.

They want to know more - the story behind the brand and all their questions answered.

That’s why you have a funnel to guide you.

To ensure that when you plan your content and messaging, 80% of it isn’t about selling.

Metrics and Measures:

Don’t forget to measure what you market.

Outline what metrics you will use to measure your success and tweak your content as you go.

Regularly stop to measure these and evaluate your success or challenges.

You can start to measure after about 4 weeks.

Tweak as you go.

The more holistic approach of expecting people to begin their journey at any stage of the 80% of your content means you are more likely to engage and create a reaction.

When you do this you build trust and loyal advocates, which makes it much easier to create sales.

I hope you found this useful.

Thanks for reading!

Claire.

Hi! I’m Claire,

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