July 16, 2018

By Robert Murray

We live in a society where people hate to be sold, but love to buy.

Much of the marketing that we see in the marketplace is focused on and driving towards ‘the sale’. However, this strategy may not be the most effective, because not everybody in the marketplace is at a stage where they are ready to purchase.

This blog will help you understand how you can be more efficient and productive with your marketing efforts. Understanding the marketing funnel will help you attract new customers, engage with your current customer base, and grow your business.

How Does The Marketing Funnel Work?

marketing funnel stages

The marketing funnel is made up of three stages:

  • The top of the funnel (TOFU)
  • The middle of the funnel (MOFU)
  • The bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

At the top of the funnel (TOFU), your potential clients are aware of the problem that they are experiencing. They may have encountered it a few times, and they are at the point where they realize that they need to find a solution. At this stage of the funnel, you want to build leads by providing education and helpful information.

The middle of the funnel (MOFU) is focused more on what that person needs to solve their problem. People in this stage of the buyer’s journey are often doing research and reading reviews. At this stage of the funnel, you want to help nurture your leads by continuing to build trust with helpful evaluation information and expert guidance.

Many advertisers often forget the top and middle of the funnel, but the TOFU and MOFU stages are very important for marketing and engaging your customers.

To attract and engage customers at the top two stages of the funnel, you want to stay focused on building trust and illustrating what your business offers to help people solve their problems.

The bottom of the funnel (BOFU) is the stage where people have generally completed enough research, and engaged long enough with your content, that they feel ready to commit and purchase.

How To Help Your Customers Using The Marketing Funnel

Customer care, support (help) and life insurance concept. Businessman representing company helps (support) customer (client) to overcome an obstacle. Problem solving with smart and simple solutions.

If you are operating a business, then you want provide consumers with quality information when they go looking for answers online. When people don’t have all the information that they need to make a decision, they will look online — and that’s where you can help them.

Creating trust by providing honest and helpful information online will help people see your business as an expert and an advisor. This type of interaction will help to create an environment of purchase instead of ‘the sale’.

The key with MOFU is to identify different aspects of how to buy your products or services, and help people to make a good purchase decision. This can be accomplished by offering helpful downloads (like tips and tools), reports, white papers, blogs, and videos. Providing this type of content will help consumers understand the value of what you are offering and help their buying decision process.

How To Create Great Content For Your Marketing Funnel
Business, technology, internet and networking concept. Young businessman working on his laptop in the office, select the icon great content on the virtual display.

To be successful, you want to create compelling content that aligns with the different stages of the buyer’s journey, so you can guide the buyer through the funnel until they are ready to make a purchase.

Expert Tip: A great way to reach the buyer is to create content that answers frequently asked questions.

Ask yourself: What questions do you receive most often each month?

It is very likely that your customers will Google these questions. If you can create content with the question in the title, then your chances of being found in a Google search will increase. Creating content that answers these frequently asked questions will help to build trust and will be valuable to the consumer.

Keeping these strategies in mind when developing your content will help you to create an environment of purchase, rather than ‘the sale’ — and it will help you guide your customers through the marketing funnel.

If you’re looking for help creating blogs, videos, and other valuable content to reach your audience, contact us — we have in-house content experts on our team who would be happy to help you.

Check out this IM in a car video, and learn more about the marketing funnel.

Rob is an action junkie at Intrigue. When he isn’t meeting with clients to create marketing campaigns to grow their business, he is meeting with Chuck Norris to find out how he became the king of action. Rob is part of the Young Professionals Network of Guelph and the Master Planning Steering Committee for the Guelph General Hospital. When Rob isn’t working, he works on finding new ways to catapult himself through the air.

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