What’s a Marketing funnel and how to leverage it?
When you look for marketing funnel examples you will see charts and visuals explaining how companies transform inbound marketing prospects into clients. From the very early stages of the user journey to the final step, the purchase, subscription or any other end goals. It is usually a 3 step process.
- Attract
- Retain
- Convert
Depending on how many levels of interaction there may be between the first touch and the final purchase, what is seen as a conversion on some of those charts may either be the final purchase or a step stone leading the user towards the final purchase, many advertisers usually propose a demo account before you can open an account, or some sort of free sample or guide before you purchase their product or service.
Regardless of how you look at it, what matters is to know which part of the funnel you need to focus on to reach your goal, the upper part is where your Brand is introduced to a prospect (top of funnel also known as tofu), the bottom part is where the purchase takes place (bottom of funnel also known as bofu), it is where a regular prospect becomes a client.
As an advertiser, you want to know what to do to reproduce this roadmap, what is the strategy you should apply to build a user path that will convert, all the way from the first touch to the last.
How do your various traffic sources fit in that funnel?
We buy different types of traffic not only to maximize our exposure but also to present a unified story throughout the entire user journey. If you are not present in the upper funnel, you will not generate interest at a high scale at the bottom, if you are not present at the bottom of the funnel you will miss the opportunity to close the loop and convert prospects.
The impact on the advertising you will serve depends on the intent of the user at the moment they see those ads.
Regardless of how sophisticated the targeting options of upper funnel tactics are, the user’s intent is still on the low end of the spectrum. Whether it is a banner on a popular site, a fixed image on Facebook or a video snippet on Youtube, it is very likely that the primary reason for the user to be there was not to see your ad or buy a product. Engagement is a lot lower for upper funnel ads because the user’s intent is also really low. But this exposure is highly valuable as it not only introduces the brand to the user but it starts the story and connects with messages they may see later as they progress through the funnel.
When a user goes to a search engine, types in a keyword you are buying traffic for, and clicks on your ad, intent is at its highest point. The user is showing direct intent or interest in something that is relevant to your brand.
So where do your traffic sources fit in that funnel?
A. Paid Social Media
B. Display (Programmatic and Direct buys)
C. Paid Search
In addition to the above there are other tactics to help move users down the funnel all the way to the purchase, such as email nurturing cycles or specific content and engagement strategies, but today I will focus on the below.
A. Paid Social Media
This tactic lives in the upper part of the funnel alongside Display networks, Programmatic or Direct buys. It is a great way to generate lots of exposure at a relatively low cost as it is primarily purchased at the CPM level. This is where you introduce Brand familiarity and core messages regarding the product or service you are selling. This tactic is not necessarily expected to be your best converter but it can act as an conversion assister and start the interaction/relationship with your Brand.
B. Display
This tactic is very similar to Paid Social in the sense that it is not where you meet the users with the greatest purchase intent. It has the same purpose as Paid Social, driving core messages about your product and services and induce Brand familiarity, but is likely to cost you a bit more depending on the site authority on subject matter. Much like Paid Social, Display will not look like your best converter, but both will be crucial to populate the upper funnel and will initiate many of the users’ paths that will lead to conversion on bottom funnel tactics.
To make sure you have full visibility to see how your channels interact with each other in terms of assists, take a look at our paper on Marketing Attribution Models.With a proper Marketing Attribution setup you will most likely measure these channels as your top assisting channels.
C. Paid Search
This is the ultimate bottom funnel tactic, the prospect that will see your ad on Search results pages has come to a place whose sole purpose is to produce information and ads about whatever query they have typed in. Their intent is at its highest. You absolutely need to be present to close the loop on your upper funnel efforts.
Depending on performance and overall company goals, you will identify which part of the funnel you need to focus on. If you need more Brand recognition, spend more on the upper funnel, if you need more leads for your sales team, spend more on the bottom part.
Other tactics will help you address different things throughout the user journey. If you generate interest with your site content, users may subscribe to a newsletter or download a guide or white paper. Once you have an email or a phone number, you can follow up with the user, create an email or text sequence designed to maximize your chances to convert or turn a first time converter into a returning customer.
See where those tactics fit in the Marketing Funnel.
