What is a marketing funnel, and why should you care?<\/h2>\n
A marketing funnel, sometimes called a conversion funnel, is a tool that provides a framework for how someone goes from learning that your business exists to making a purchase.<\/p>\nUnderstand your marketing funnel and you’ll get a deeper understanding of how people find, interact with, and spend money with your brand.<\/span><\/a>\n Understanding the marketing funnel is vital to strategic marketing and selling. It helps you learn how<\/em> you should be presenting information to prospects, as well as what<\/em> information you should present them in order to elicit your business’ desired conversion.<\/p>\n For example, let\u2019s say you\u2019re talking with someone who has absolutely no knowledge of your company. We\u2019d refer to this person as a “top of the funnel” prospect.<\/p>\n This person doesn\u2019t need an immediate, high-pressure sales pitch. They\u2019re only just learning that your company exists.<\/p>\n It’d be like pouncing on a window-shopper as soon as they wander past your store: “Buy this jacket!”<\/p>\n It\u2019s very rare to convert a top of the funnel prospect right away. In fact, 63%<\/a> of consumers need to hear from a sales representative between 3 and 5 times before they will start to trust them.<\/p>\n Every interaction (from the top of the funnel to the bottom) should have the intention of moving the prospect to the next marketing funnel stage.<\/p>\n Converting traffic into leads and pulling them down the sales funnel should be top priority for your business, however only 69%<\/a> of marketers believe they\u2019re doing this well.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Because it looks like this:<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n We visualize the customer journey in the shape of an upside down triangle, which looks like a funnel.<\/p>\n The reason for this is because it\u2019s a pretty accurate representation of what happens as you move from stage to stage. Inevitably, people are going to drop off and you\u2019ll lose prospects.<\/p>\n That\u2019s just a reality of marketing.<\/p>\n That means the field narrows as you progress, much like a funnel does.<\/p>\n Makes sense, right?<\/p>\n The goal, therefore, is to make the bottom of that funnel as wide as possible \u2014 to convert as many of your visitors (people at the top of the funnel) into customers (people coming out the bottom).<\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n OK, now it\u2019s time to ask the real questions. Like how the heck does a marketing funnel actually work? What are the stages of the marketing funnel? How do I build one that drives more sales?<\/p>\n Marketing funnels, as we’ve already alluded to, are made up of various stages. The actual makeup of those stages can differ from company to company, with each putting their own spin on it.<\/p>\n At its most basic, most marketing funnels follow the AIDA model. It has 4 distinct stages.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s break them down step by step.<\/p>\n This is where prospects first learn that your brand exists. The main focus of the Awareness stage should be getting as many eyes on your business as possible.<\/p>\n Not all of the people who become aware of your company will actually make a purchase. And at this funnel stage, it is highly unlikely that they\u2019re going to buy.<\/p>\n A whopping 96%<\/a> of website visitors are not prepared to buy anything on their first visit, so your goal here isn\u2019t to make a sale. It\u2019s to generate interest.<\/p>\n Prospects are considering you, but they\u2019re also considering a slew of your competitors. You haven\u2019t done anything yet to make them want to do business with you over someone else.<\/p>\n Goals of the Awareness stage:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Interest stage, prospects that just became aware of your business decide that they want to learn more.<\/p>\n They are considering you, but they\u2019re also considering a slew of your competitors. That\u2019s because you haven\u2019t done anything yet to make them want to do business with you over someone else.<\/p>\n Desire and Interest are closely tied together, and often happen in quick succession. That\u2019s why many businesses lump them together into one stage, but they are two very different points in the buying process.<\/p>\n If you want to succeed, it\u2019s important that you don\u2019t overlook interest or mistake it for desire.<\/p>\n Imagine someone passing by a sign on a store that says \u201cPuppies For Sale.\u201d Once that catches their eye and they decide<\/em> to walk inside the store to learn more, they\u2019re in the Interest stage.<\/p>\n Once they actually cross the threshold of the store and they fall in love with a puppy, they\u2019ve entered the Desire stage.<\/p>\n Goals of the Interest stage:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Desire stage, the prospect goes from learning about your company to actually wanting to do business with you:<\/p>\n “Oh my gosh, a puppy! I’m going to name him Jasper.”<\/em><\/p>\n However, this is far from a done deal. Just because they have a desire to buy from you doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re actually going to.<\/p>\n Your goal at this stage is to incentivize the sale and move the customer toward a purchase decision. They want to buy from you and just need a final push to get them to the point where they\u2019re ready to make that purchase.<\/p>\n Goals of the Desire stage:<\/strong><\/p>\n Action is the actual purchase, where your prospect becomes a customer.<\/p>\n Marketing materials at this stage should convey urgency (such as a promotion that is ending soon).<\/p>\n You need to give a reason why the person should act now. <\/em>Not tomorrow, not once they’ve thought about it for a month or so. Now.<\/p>\n Goals in the Action Stage:<\/strong><\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n You\u2019ve seen how the funnel can add structure to your marketing, but it only does that if it\u2019s well thought out, researched, and optimized.<\/p>\n An effective way to do that is to tap into marketing management software<\/a> (like monday.com\u2019s digital marketing template<\/a>, for instance), to delineate the various stages of your funnel, the marketing strategy relevant to that stage, and ensure that everyone responsible for executing those strategies is on the same page:<\/p>\n The Awareness stage requires a lot of brand awareness marketing<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is where you have to focus on broad sections of your target audience.<\/p>\n Some good strategies for the top of the marketing funnel include:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n You can keep track of all these tasks using monday.com\u2019s platform. Assign out marketing related tasks and hold your team accountable for completing them.<\/p>\n You can also mark when a task is in progress or complete, so that you know precisely where you stand at all times.<\/p>\n The interest and desire stages require a lot of high quality content marketing, which should be your focus when trying to woo new potential customers.<\/p>\n As people explore your website or social media pages, they want to see quality content that will push them from interest to desire, and then ultimately from desire to action.<\/p>\n Some effective forms of content marketing include:<\/strong><\/p>\n The sales pipeline template<\/a> on monday.com will allow you to keep track of every potential customer in the interest and desire stages.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be able to review previous tasks associated with every prospective customer and plan out your next conversation before you ever pick up the phone.<\/p>\n Finally, you have the Action stage.<\/p>\n You could offer limited time promotions to create additional value and a sense or urgency around this phase. Or maybe offer limited free trials to show off the awesomeness of your product or service.<\/p>\n Some good strategies for the bottom of the marketing funnel include:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Make sure, as well, that you\u2019ve focused on conversion rate<\/a> optimization throughout your marketing funnel. If the path you’ve planned isn’t delivering the conversions you’re looking for, iterate on it with A\/B testing (using monday.com’s a\/b testing template<\/a>, perhaps):<\/p>\n For both B2C sales<\/a> and B2B marketers, the marketing funnel is one of the most important weapons in the sales and marketing arsenal. With a well-organized funnel, you can outshine your competitors and rack up profitable conversions.<\/p>\n But note the optimal word there.<\/p>\n Organized.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n You have to keep track of your funnel content and marketing efforts using a digital workspace platform so that nothing falls through the cracks. Use the customizable templates<\/a> on monday.com\u2019s platform and you\u2019ll be able to keep track of your prospects as they progress through the funnel.<\/p>\nWhy is it called a marketing funnel<\/em>?\u201d<\/h3>\n
![\"5](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/image5-5.png\" "\\"Marketing")
<\/p>\nHow do marketing funnels work?<\/h2>\n
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#1. Awareness: the discovery stage<\/h3>\n
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#2. Interest: the wooing stage<\/h3>\n
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#3. Desire: the incentivizing stage<\/h3>\n
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#4. Action: the conversion stage<\/h3>\n
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How to optimize your marketing funnel<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/image1-10.png\" "\\"monday.com\u2019s")
<\/p>\nHow do you target prospects at the top of the funnel?<\/h3>\n
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How do you target prospects in the middle of the funnel?<\/h3>\n
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![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/image3-8.png\" "\\"sales")
<\/p>\nHow do you target prospects at the bottom of the funnel?<\/h3>\n
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![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/image2-8.png\" "\\"a\/b")
<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n