A sales funnel is a sales/marketing structure that leads customers through the buying journey. It’s an intentional funnel put together by your sales and marketing teams that naturally helps to coax leads and potential customers further and further towards making a purchase and becoming customers for life.
This is an essential tool to use to help your business grow and continue to increase your revenue and profit.
A sales funnel looks a little something like this:
The reason it’s shaped like a funnel (i.e., it’s larger at the top and smaller at the bottom) is because not every person who enters your funnel is going to make it all the way through. Regardless of how well you target your potential audience, there are always going to be some people who love your competition too much to leave, who can’t afford your product/service no matter how much they want/need it, and more.
There are two different ways to break your funnel up: by Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action; and by Top-of-the-Funnel, Middle-of-the-Funnel, and Bottom-of-the-Funnel.
Let’s learn more about the difference between these two breakdowns.
The first breakdown looks a bit like this:
Awareness
This is the very top section of your marketing funnel, and it’s the point where your customer is starting to become aware of your business and its offerings. You want to be working to connect with your audience at this point, make sure they’re able to find out that you exist, and bring them down to the next point in your funnel.
Interest
In the next phase, you see your audience becoming more and more interested in your funnel. At this point of the sales funnel, you’ll see some top-level conversions, like a social media follow, an email opt-in, and the like.
Decision
When your prospect makes it to the decision section of your sales funnel, they’re starting to take a look at your sales pages, your product/service offerings, etc., and making the decision on whether or not they’re going to buy.
Action
At this point, your potential customer is jumping the gap to becoming an actual customer. You’ll see them signing a contract, checking out online, making an appointment, etc., in this last, final section of your sales funnel.
This breakdown essentially lets you know how the sales funnel works: it guides people from awareness all the way down to finally taking action with your business.
The second breakdown is a little different. When we talk about Top-of-Funnel marketing or Bottom-of-Funnel marketing, we’re talking about actual tactics. This breakdown comes with full-fledged strategies on how to actually bring people into your funnel, and help them make it all the way through.
The second breakdown looks like this:
Top-of-Funnel Marketing
Again, the point of ToFu marketing is to generate awareness and interest in your business. This is the education part, where you’re teaching your audience about the solution your product/service poses for a problem the prospect currently has.
ToFu Marketing Strategies
- Digital Advertising
- Blogging
- Social Media Content
- Facebook Groups
- Facebook Live
- YouTube Videos
- Lead Magnets
- Free Consultations
- Free Offers
The ToFu sees prospects learning about your business and making top-level conversions like opting into the email newsletter, filling out a contact form, following on social media, etc.
Middle-of-Funnel Marketing
MoFu marketing is synonymous with lead nurturing. (For those of you who are new to the digital marketing world, lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with your audience, continually touching them with social media/email content, and staying top-of-mind.)
Your lead is doing further research into your company, and staying top-of-mind is essential at this point, whether it’s through email marketing, social content, and/or digital ads.
MoFu Marketing Strategies
- Tripwires
- eBooks
- Case Studies
- Email Marketing
- Webinars
- Training/Demos
The MoFu sees prospects checking out more of your business’s content, researching info on your website (case studies, white papers, etc.), and opting into further training and demos.
This is also where tripwires, or low-dollar items, come into play and turn prospects into customers easily. A tripwire is a great strategy to take advantage of, because even if you sell an informational product or a small item upfront, it becomes that much easier for a customer to buy a more expensive item once they’ve made any kind of purchase from you, even a $2-7 purchase.
Bottom-of-Funnel Marketing
BoFu marketing is where prospects turn into paying customers, or tripwire buyers purchase your core product.
BoFu Marketing Strategies
- Free Trials
- Discounts
- Time-Sensitive Offers
Using these BoFu marketing strategies can help to increase the number of customers you get, because who doesn’t love a free trial or discount? Decreasing the cost upfront can help lead to even more customers in the long-term.
If you’re interested in learning more about which of these specific marketing funnel strategies will work for your business, give us a call! We’d love to chat with you about the ways we can help to grow your business through digital marketing. Call us at (888) 632-4499 or fill out our free online consultation form.
