My illustrated guide to Funnel Marketing
Funnel marketing is pretty basic stuff.
You have the usual 5 stages: awareness, interest, consideration, conversion, referral, which shape your customer journey.
What is there more to say really?
Well, a lot actually!
So here is my illustrated guide to funnel marketing.
1/ Keeping it simple
There are really only 2 stages to a funnel: fandom & fulfilling a need.
‘Fandom’ is where you manufacture brand fans & future clients.
‘Fulfilling a need’ is where an exchange of value happens between the prospect and the brand.
PS: Yes, all customers don’t have to be fans first.
But they’ll likely check if the brand has any fans.
When was the last time you bought something without checking reviews?
2/ Awareness = be unmissable
Awareness means “prospects know you exist”.
In today’s world, they won’t know you exist unless you’re unmissable.
This is why I love the Wienermobile.
Launched in 1936 to promote the meat brand Oscar Mayer.
Still today, a fleet is constantly touring the US, getting eyeballs.
And you really can’t miss it.
3/ Interest = make friends
This phase is where you need people to stick around and hang out with you.
And what’s the best way to have people stick around?
Entertain them.
Better, give them a show.
Did you know the Tour de France was a content marketing initiative launched by a dying newspaper in 1903?
The Tour captivated the French so much that it saved the newspaper, 5x-ing the circulation.
4/ Consideration = product marketing
People are saturated with commercial offers.
They are not waiting around to be “nurtured”.
All you can do is tell them about your product in an entertaining way.
This is why I love ASOS’s Instagram account.
It looks like a lifestyle magazine.
It’s beautiful & entertaining.
At the same time, everything you see, you can buy on ASOS.
5/ Conversion = scarcity
Want fans to convert now?
Address them with something scarce and precious.
It’s human.
We desire things that are not easy to get.
About You (a german fashion retailer) recently made an exclusive collection with Kendall Jenner.
Available only for...72hrs.
And it was announced the day before.
Talk about building FOMO.
6/ Referral = be generous
Once you have fans, make sure they bring others with them.
How? Reward generously.
Andy here is proof that fans can work hard promoting you.
7/ Funnel design: offer fans an expanded experience
Fans will pay for more of the same.
Your products must give fans more of what they already know and love.
Have you ever heard of Harley Davidson’s perfume line?
Probably not.
It was a huge flop.
That’s because they tried to sell something unrelated to what fans already knew and loved about the brand.
Bonus
How to measure your funnel marketing success?
I’d suggest picking 3 simple metrics for 3 crucial moments. Ideally, something to measure:
- the size of your audience (mailing list...),
- business, obviously (sales),
- fandom (referrals, or retweets,...).
Thanks for reading!
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