As a customer, you have been forced through the content marketing funnel of another company, whether or not you knew it. Let’s just clarify.
You browse online. All of a sudden you are conscious of the new computer you must have. You feel instantly attracted to purchase now. But you are vacillating. You regulate this impulse, as an informed consumer. You are considering your order, instead.
Which processes do you undergo before you decide to purchase this item? Are they a brand you like, already? Looking for reviews? See if you could get a better price?
Each time a customer decides to buy something from you, they walk the path of a buyer. Comprehending this process allows you to build a marketing funnel with content. This directs the customer through that cycle smoothly. It cuts costs along the way, increases profits and maximizes the ROI.
What does Content Marketing Funnel Mean?
The funnels of sales come in different forms. The phases may be named by different names by various experts and influencers. Even the funnel itself may have different names for them. For example, in inbound marketing, you have the “Buyer’s Journey.”
Each of these funnels explains the same simple mechanism clients are going through. Yet they feed and cultivate the funnel a bit differently, depending on their methodologies.
Sales Funnel: Basic
- Awareness
- Interest
- Decision
- Action
We call awareness the rim of the funnel. Through creating brand awareness, you feed on the top of the funnel. You keep people moving through the funnel, interested in getting them.
You give them information so that they can make a decision. Then they’ll take action.
A funnel with a poor conversion rate is called a “leaky funnel” Where the leak happens in those four phases, a small business guides to what layer of the funnel needs to work.
The Funnel of Content Marketing
This acknowledges the value of delighting clients as a way to constantly replenish the funnel.
- Awareness/Discovery
- Consideration
- Conversion
- Loyal Customers
- Promoter Activity
Let’s discuss each one of them in detail:
Discovery/Awareness
You might immediately think of brand awareness when we use the word awareness. Brand awareness is a vital part of building faith and acceptance of the brand with target audiences. You also have an awareness of the problems. Feed the top of your funnel by creating content that both creates brand awareness and awareness of problems.
Consideration
An individual is considering possible solutions to his / her problem during this process. You can provide some answers to all of them. They could look at your competitors too.
Conversion
That might sound like a single point in time. Yet, generally speaking, it is not. It is all of the sales processes. Indeed, you also need material in here.
Loyal Customers
Businesses who behave as though the profits are the end will all quickly find that their company is founded on shifting sand. You know it. Strong relationships with customers form the basis of any company. Loyal customers miss the top of the funnel where you spend time and money on knowledge and thoughtfulness. They are going straight for conversion.
The results, for small businesses, are some amazing results. Let’s look at this.
You have a chance of selling something to a new customer of around 5%. You have a chance to sell something to a regular client 60% -70%.
Existing customers account for 65% or more of the profits of a small business.
A 5% decrease in the defection of customers will increase revenue by 100%.
Increasing your customer retention by a mere 2% reduces the marketing costs by up to 10%.
And yet, only about 32% of companies say they have any customer retention strategies in place. For those who do, that is a serious competitive advantage.
Promoter Activity
The customers you have can become your biggest advocates or your worst enemies. But most are just standing on the sidelines.
We like your name. They’re excited about your offer. They are just not feeling the need to do anything about it. If you can give promoters even a fraction of these benchwarmers, you can exploit their excitement to bring new customers to the top of your funnel.
A funnel for content marketing becomes a pipe for self-feeding. Reinforce this funnel at each stage, with the right content. As you do, there’s an amazing chain of events starting to happen.
- More people walk into the funnel top
- People move quicker by the funnel
- Costs sink
- Raising sales
- The optimization of ROI
You’ve probably heard this status if you’re not new to content marketing strategy. Marketing material produces 3X leads at a cost of 67%. Why content marketing accomplishes the task is transforming the funnel into a loop. Your goal is to expand your reach among a target audience. This may include awareness of the brand as well as knowledge of a specific problem solved by your product/service.
Get people interested in your brand. Instead of jumping straight into how your company solves the dilemma, make them want to know more. Draw them into the funnel any further.
At the same time, you are creating awareness about the brand. When you introduce useful information to people, they start trusting your brand. They think of you when they come across the issues that you are handling. They start seeing you as the solution to those problems.
Many content styles work well, including Blogs, games, apps, videos, brief content yet actionable, newsletters.
A robust marketing funnel of material will use multiple formats. Talk about your target audience. What content style is best for them to talk to? Appraise your opponents. Better content must be built. Social media views, downloads, and traffic are some of the things in which you should give you the idea that your funnel is working properly.
Also Read: 8 Online Dental Marketing tips to boost your ROI
Traffic should be coming in from different sources. Some of it will be Social Media clicks Some will come into your website from the inbound links. Others get in through the outcome of the search. Yes, quantity is important in this scenario but, don’t get too hung up on it. You also need to know if the right audience is reached or not. Google Analytics will give you a basic idea of the traffic that is pouring onto the website, their location, gender, and interests. Some of the things you can refer to know whether the funnel is not working, they are, low traffic, wrong people reached, people are not interacting with content. To fix this, reassess the processes of creating your content. Learn from wrongs. Make content better. Aid the customer to assess you as a brand.
Tell them about the different options they can choose from. Give them the tools they need to make a purchasing decision now and purchase from you. That’s where you use social proof to prove you are the best company for the work. Social evidence is a psychological phenomenon you can manipulate to boost sales. It is because nobody wants to be the guinea pig. Few people are prepared to take the risk of being the first client of someone. Public data reassures people you know what you do.
You should expect time frames to look this way. Note how they refer to the phases of the content marketing funnel we spoke about.
Months 1-3
Planning. Strategy. Execute procedure. Where are the clients? Is there something that my content does? Such questions could be going through your mind. We talked earlier on about how to assess sensitivity. During this method, track other metrics to understand how you are doing. Increased revenue is not part of that step.
Months 4-6
Google is beginning to realize that you do exist. Through searches, you can start getting a little traffic in. Many people find their material in the consideration stage. Continue to execute the strategy very faithfully. Create much content, and strengthen it.
Months 6-12
Now more regularly the leads start coming in. More people are getting into the process of conversion. Returns start to climb. The pace of content creation keeps steady as you approach a tipping point.
Months 12-18
You start seeing significant increases in sales here. Your hard work is starting to pay off, really. Your ROI as it does is going up and up.
Months 18+
Today, the funnel is largely self-sufficient. You start focusing more on the small funnel as the substance of your consciousness begins to do its job. You can update or weed the content of the knowledge from time to time. You are not going to stop feeding your embers. But you’re going to be delighting existing customers most of the time.
Are your leaky sales funnel ready to be fixed? It is time we moved to a more effective marketing funnel for content. We would love to talk about the marketing strategies that work for you.
Social Prefix is a Digital Marketing Agency for Healthcare and Education sector. We at Social Prefix believe that Investing in digital marketing is a must for any company that has an online presence. Not only does digital marketing help build a reputable brand image, but it also enhances a targeted audience’s tracking.