What is a marketing funnel?
In terms of ’modern marketing’, the term ‘marketing funnel’ often refers to website features or a number of landing pages that are created to nurture online visitors and turn them into customers.
They move the prospect along the buying process by nurturing them automatically.
The marketing funnel is the step-by-step process that the prospect goes through to become a customer.
How marketing funnels are used in your business
Funnels often start with a simple download.
A customer lands on a landing page (this can be within or outside of your website) and they download a digital product such as a free PDF guide, a mini video training etc. They then get inside your funnel.
A small intro always helps
The next step could be to offer them a video on your “thank you for downloading” so they can get to know you a little.
Stay in touch
After that you want to keep in touch with them by sending automated emails. Some people send automated emails all the way, others send automated intro emails for 4 to 9 weeks and then start emailing weekly.
Goals
You always need to keep in mind the end goal when creating your funnel. Whether you want to talk to your clients directly or you want them to buy a digital product or make an inquiry from your site by email. Keeping the end in mind is super important.
Segmenting
A nicely designed funnel also helps you understand the sub groups in your audience better. This is called segmenting and it’s the process of asking your audience a question to group them better.
For example, when adding people to your email list you could ask them if they are ‘solopreneurs’ or if they own a ‘small business’. This allows you to understand better who you’re talking to and you can also cater part of the funnel, like automated emails to speak directly to the smaller segments in your group.
Picking the right tools
There are many different types of funnels and a myriad of tools you can use for these funnels. You can start off with smaller tools like Mailchimp or Mailerlite to build your email automation and landing page or you can go for an all-in-one platform like Clickfunnels. It all depends on your budget and the phase your business is in.
Whatever the tools you pick, you want to make sure that the whole process is automated until they reach the end of the funnel which is akin to your goal. So if you want them to make an inquiry on your website, or book a free consultation call, then this is where the automation ends and the face-to-face (or skype calls) begins.
