Digital Marketing funnels are like plumbing. You need them to survive and grow a business.
A digital marketing funnel strategy should be designed around your goals. You might want immediate sales or brand exposure to nurture long-term awareness. We discuss some fundamentals in creating a funnel that can work for you.
1. Marketing Funnel Strategy
The Digital Marketing Funnel strategy spells out the journey the prospect takes from their initial encounter with the company’s brand throughout the education process until they arrive at the consideration stage of whether or not to purchase or engage with your brand. Think of the digital marketing funnel as a roadmap. Every stage, every piece of content, every message, every team member’s effort, and every opportunity must contribute to the journey’s final destination; “a positive outcome.”
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Action without planning spells failure. No strategy equals limited success at best.
We recommend: Starting slow. Choose the best persona type, build content and messaging around that prospect and begin testing and refinement.
2. Awareness
Take an honest appraisal of the competition. Does your competitor’s content have a professional look and feel? Are they being innovative? What about their tone and voice? Where do they have a strong presence? Are they taking advantage of Google’s paid advertising? If your content design is stale, the prospect will automatically assume your products and services are as well.
Awareness Assets: Paid Advertising, Blog posts, Infographics, Motion Graphics, E-Books, Landing Pages, Bite-sized Videos, SEO, or Guest Posts/Articles.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: If there are typos in your email drip campaign or your website looks last updated in the early 2000s, don’t expect prospects to jump at the chance to engage in conversation with you.
We recommend: identifying and disseminating a brand awareness strategy that exposes the company’s brand to its most ideal prospects. Use Google Ads buys, leverage video and photography, become the industry expert through content creation, create a website that’s the go-to place for relevant, trusted information, and place well in Google search results; do what it takes.
3. Targeting
There are several moving parts in the Targeting stage. Businesses must separate their prospects into groups based on their needs, interests, and desires. Next, align the messaging to those characteristics. The last two parts of the targeting stage are the content type and the distribution vehicle. Will the prospect respond better to motion graphics, pictures, videos, or expert opinion pieces? Will the group show more interest in infographics, Google Ads, blog content, copywriting, podcasts, eBooks, product reviews, or competitor analysis? The final part of the targeting stage is the advertising method. Will Paid, Native, or Programmatic Advertising show the best results?
Paid Advertising guarantees your message reaches the right audience; it’s excellent for boosting your brand and creating more opportunities for conversions. Native Ads are great for brand awareness; they are subtle, customizable, conversion-driven, and hard to ignore. Native ads boost purchase intent by 18%. Last, there is Programmatic Advertising can decrease your overall ad spend, give you the ability to optimize the ads in real-time, allows for cross-device campaigns, and is known for generating a higher ROI.
Remember, the Marketing Rule of 7 says a prospect must hear the brand’s message seven times before they’ll contemplate the buying decision.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Use limited Google Ad buys to gauge interest in your product or service solution.
We recommend: Enlisting your existing customer base to see if the new product or service piques interest. Create a nominal version of your latest idea – don’t go the full-feature route until you’re sure people have more than a negligible interest in what you’re offering.
4. Evaluation
Deploy every method possible to increase your brand awareness. Use Google Ads to gain branding traction. Create targeted content that’s relevant to their discussions. The two awareness goals here are to listen and understand the problems they’re trying to solve. Second, provide content vehicles (blog posts, white papers, case studies, LinkedIn discussions) they regularly go to for information. Do gap analysis to identify the “unserved” and “underserved” groups. Join in exchanges but don’t control the conversation.
Evaluation Assets: Social Proof, Discounts/Offers, White Papers, Case Studies, Google Ad buys, Email Drip Campaigns, Webinars, other Resources.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Don’t assume you know what prospects want – research and do the due diligence.
We recommend: Taking a two-prong approach. First, do a competitive analysis of what the other guys are offering. Do they appear successful? Second, use your existing customer base. What if they don’t have an existing customer base? If you don’t have an existing customer base, start sharing about your business with everyone in your professional network. Work hard to understand the audience you’re targeting, offer value in every engagement, and continue refining the process until your efforts gain traction.
5. Consideration
People engage because they are somewhere along the consideration continuum. At this point, potential clients are somewhat familiar with your product or service and are beginning to ask: Does my problem need to be solved right now? Are these guys offering the best remedy? Is this solution a good fit for our company? It’s important to remember that some prospects will be closer to making their final decision while others are still in the initial research stage. People need to be engaged where they are in the buying process.
Consideration Assets: Demos, Free Trials, Competitor Comparisons, White Papers, Case Studies, Webinars, and targeted ad buys.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Change your approach if engagement is not happening on the prospect’s side.
We recommend ensuring the engagement vehicle and language are appropriate for each persona.
6. Measured Success
Your marketing metrics might be the number of leads, conversions, and ROI. Make sure the metrics are measurable. Marketing analytics tracks and analyzes marketing efforts data to reach a quantitative goal. Feelings cannot be measured; numbers can. A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a quantifiable measure of performance. Companies may easily have more than a dozen KPIs in play. Measurements such as Return on Investment (ROI), Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), or Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV.) Create a list of KPIs that will spell success for your marketing efforts. Remember to watch a customer’s journey through Google Analytics or your preferred analytics platform.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Closely monitor the analytics and insights.
We recommend: Rough-tuning your marketing funnel; then speed-tune it.
7. Tune & Retool
No marketing campaign ever performs flawlessly, nor does it function well forever. The marketplace is dynamic and constantly in flux – competition is coming and going, and new products and services are continually being introduced. Is it time to freshen the marketing content? Can the open or click-through rates be improved? All good questions to discuss from time to time. Marketing funnels are not static sales tools.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Examine each funnel stage with a critical eye.
We recommend: Creating thresholds for each marketing funnel stage. When the numbers drop below those levels, take action. Create a schedule whereby wellness checks occur to ensure each step produces its best possible outcomes.
The Sale’s Never Over
Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more when compared to new customers. Don’t let your new customers become numbers on a monthly sales spreadsheet. Create Post-nurture Campaigns and develop after-the-sale content that short-circuits customer problems before they gain ground, fosters opportunities to upsell, and always be sure to announce new products and services to existing customers. These post-nurturing campaigns can retarget customers or re-petition undecided prospects.
Build a Digital Marketing Funnel that Drives Business
If your company lacks the team or resources to build a digital funnel that produces results, we’ve been helping companies for almost a decade. We have deep experience in Marketing, Web Design, Branding, Digital Advertising, Motion Graphics, Google Ad Buys, and Graphic Design. Schedule a call today.
