Content and Marketing Funnels - Connecting the Two

Now we would all love our marketing funnel to be cylindrical in nature. In other words, our ideal situation is that everyone who visits our site, stays and read amazing content and then without any hesitation buys what we are promoting. Has that ever happened to you? No, I didn’t think so. That is why a marketing funnel looks like a… a funnel.

With a sales funnel, the pool of potential clients will grow smaller as the first interaction with our business takes place. Note the accompanying picture that clearly illustrates the four stages in the sales/marketing funnel. Let us go through each stage.

1. At the top is the large group of people who may drop in to your site, browse, and learn about your brand. Brand awareness is the first step to a sales conversion.
2. The next group is those that would consider spending some money for a product or service that you are promoting.
3. Conversion is the time to end the smooching and actually turn these visitors into loyal customers.
4. Loyalty is where a key advertising tool takes place – word of mouth. When your clients are recommending you to friends and relatives, the chances of a growing and loyal customer base suddenly increases.

A Detailed Look at the Funnel

1. Developing Brand Awareness – In this section of the funnel we are trying to help people discover us. Hence, our content needs to be educational. We can see why in our Wealthy Affiliate training, Kyle and Carson shows us why links to products need to kept at a minimum. We want to build brand authority and that comes about through a program of detailed and educational content that paints a detailed picture of what benefits the potential customer will gain by conversing and engaging with us in a future business relationship. Subtle links to our products gives clients a nudge toward the next phase of the funnel. What type of content would be helpful at the educational phase? How-to videos, webinars, blog posts and newsletters would all provide the variety of potential customers something to learn from. Remember that every person has a different learning style so while a long-form post may touch one reader; the next one enjoys the video you posted about your brand.
2. Direct Customer Acquisition – What makes us different from our competitors? That is what we have to show to our website visitors. Trust is yet to have built to a conversion level so we may have to interact with them at a more detailed level. It could be that how-to guides or demo videos are what convinces the potential customer of our authority in this niche.
3. Conversion – This is where we make a direct sales pitch to the client. Knowing that they are serious, offers us an opportunity to really wow them. How can we do that? Testimonials and reviews are a great start. Add to this a streamlined sales process, and the customer/client will have a pleasant conversion experience. If you have links to Amazon or eBay, the sales process with these affiliates can make it a pleasant time for our customers.
4. Loyalty – What do we do to maintain loyalty? This is the after sales service similar to what we expect when we buy a car or an electrical appliance. We need to engage with the converted clients in a way that helps then become our advocate. Can we give a free eBook with or some bonus that will motivate them in becoming a return customer? What about a discount to them after their friends convert a sale? This type of engagement will bring our clients back time and again. Much like how Amazon gives us 1-click ordering and a seamless point of sale experience, so we want our end process to build brand loyalty.

In view of the above, what conclusion can we reach? As we develop our niche market, we need to learn to develop a key sense of customer conversion stages. With this we can identify where in the funnel a customer is. Knowing what stage they are at will help us refine the communication with them. This refined communication style may result in improved conversions.

Next we are going to discuss idea creation and implementation…