A marketing funnel is a concept that represents the journey a person goes through from when they first learn about your business to when they decide to make a purchase, and then whether or not they decide to stay a customer and recommend you to others. Imagine what a funnel looks like.
On the larger, top part of the funnel, there are a lot of people learning about your business. On the smaller, bottom part of the funnel, there are only a select few of those people who will decide to buy something from you. Even less will stay loyal to your brand and promote you to their friends and family.
Businesses like to conceptualize this process in a series of stages so they can break down ways to improve each one and ultimately make more sales. When you understand the five stages of a marketing funnel, you can learn how to guide your customers to want to buy your products or services and continue to help your business thrive.
Five stages of a marketing funnel:
Stage 1. Awareness: This is where you’re going to show people what your business is and what it stands for. New potential customers won’t know what you have to offer, so they aren’t going to be interested in your product until you show them what you have and how good it is. Educate them on the value of your products and services.
Stage 2. Consideration: The potential customer is interested in you and now you need to show them how you can help them with their problem. Find out what they need and then show them that what your company is doing or offering can be of use to them.
Stage 3. Conversion: Once the person has been made aware of your product and how it can help them, it’s time to convince them to make a purchase. It’s helpful to create a sense of urgency in their mind. Think about giving them a gentle push rather than bombarding them with sales tactics. This is the stage where you can show them webinars, give away free trials, or offer discounts.
Stage 4. Loyalty: After a new customer makes a purchase, it’s important to make sure that they are happy with the product or service that they have paid for. Ongoing communication does wonders in keeping customers happy and making them want to come back to you. Never stop interacting with them, educating them, and showing them that you value their business.
Stage 5. Advocacy: For your customers to promote your brand through word of mouth, they have to have strong feelings about how good your company is. Not only do they have to be impressed with what they purchased, they must feel that you truly want to provide something great to them and that you care about improving for their sake. Collect feedback from them and use it to constantly make improvements to your approach.
Marketing funnels can be hard to understand, but if broken down correctly and in a way that is easy to understand, it can be easy to find out how a marketing funnel works. Then you can successfully build one yourself that works and is effective for you and your business.
So, get out there and start your marketing funnel and see how it works out for you and your business!
Or, better yet, contact us anytime to have us build a sales-optimized marketing funnel for you!