What is a Marketing Funnel?

Many companies wonder how to create a strategy to acquire new customers. A marketing funnel is a visual model of a potential customer’s timeline with a company. Marketing funnels describe each stage of brand engagement and can be a crucial part of your marketing strategy by providing insight into the customer experience. We discuss each aspect of marketing funnels to help you acquire new customers and improve your conversion rate.

Marketing Funnel Stages

1. Awareness

Awareness is the top section of every marketing funnel and is the first customer interaction with a brand or product. This is when you have many potential leads, as the number decreases with each stage of the marketing funnel. To make the most of this step, developing a digital marketing strategy that includes a presence on social media and search engines is crucial. Further, content marketing and paid advertisements can help your business maximize its exposure.

2. Interest

After becoming aware of your product or service, the next stage is to persuade prospects to develop an interest in it. Potential customers will often evaluate your business compared to its competitors and determine whether your product or service fits them best.

To increase the chance of leads becoming interested in your business, determine if your content is informative enough to convert them into customers. Methods to increase interest include free trials, exclusive discounts for new customers, and writing blog posts to thoroughly inform your leads about what you offer.

3. Desire

 The next step of the marketing funnel is desire. Once you have captured a lead’s interest, you must convince them to want your product or service. If a lead is at this stage, they like what you offer and have a high chance of making a purchase. Some tactics to improve the odds in your favor include highlighting positive reviews and product recommendations from other companies if your company is business-to-business (B2B). These methods can help build trust by making leads more comfortable trying out a new product or service.

4. Action

Finally, you must encourage your leads to take action and convert them into paying customers.  During this stage, it is essential to emphasize how your product or service will improve their lives. In addition, you must convince your leads that what your company sells is the best choice for them by setting your product or service apart from competitors. Once your leads are equipped with the information to make an informed decision, they are more likely to purchase.

Post-Marketing Funnel

Once you have successfully converted a lead to a customer, it is important to keep your customers engaged with your brand consistently. Businesses must formulate a strategy to retain their customer’s loyalty. You can send out customer feedback forms, special offers for returning customers, and allow them to post comments on your social media channels.

By utilizing the marketing funnel and a customer retention strategy, you can build a loyal customer base that is likely to buy your products without advertising, which can reduce the costs of customer acquisition. For help marketing for each stage of the marketing funnel, contact us for more details.