Today I welcome the founder of Krete and he spoke about marketing funnel.
A marketing funnel describes a customers journey with a brand or product. There are a variety of ways to construct a marketing funnel, and as customer we go down our own marketing funnel. Let me explain how I organically went through the marketing funnel recently as a consumer.
My wife and I are expecting the arrival of a new addition in the coming weeks, and we found ourselves needing a new car for our expanding family. And with that, we found ourselves organically falling down the marketing funnel.
The first funnel was the awareness funnel - we became aware we needed a larger car and began looking at large cars. We were simple searching what is best: SUV, Midsize SUV, mini van (I’d totally rock a mini van!), etc. We have unknowing started down the marketing funnel.
The second funnel is the interest funnel - we started examining specific brands, learning about best safety features, etc.
The third funnel is consideration - we began reading reviews, comparing cars, dealerships, etc. - we were starting to really consider buying a new car.
The forth funnel we found ourselves in was the intent funnel - we started testing driving specific cars. We were now intent on buying one.
The fifth funnel is the evaluating funnel - we now knew we were going to purchase a car, but now we started shopping dealers and evaluating who had the best deal for us.
The last funnel is the purchasing funnel. We bought the car.
As an entrepreneur, there are certain marketing tactics one should be leveraging at each stage of the marketing funnel.
A well-defined marketing (or sales) funnel helps the entrepreneur serve relevant information at the right time, across the right channel. It gives the entrepreneur a better understanding of what prospects are thinking, what they know, and what levels of interest they have in the brand or product.
At each funnel, the entrepreneur should be planning how they want to get a consumer from a lead to a sale.
For customers to purchase product, they must first be convinced their purchase is of value to them - they want to make sure they are making a good investment. They need to trust the entrepreneur. They need to feel like the risk is relatively low.
A marketing funnel will help form the basis of a marketing or sales campaign.
As an entrepreneur, the awareness stage the marketing tactic that should used are blog posts and attending events - making consumers aware of the product or service.
The interested funnel should be more target marketing content such as newsletters, email campaigns or engaging in online chat forums answering questions about the product or service.
At the consideration funnel the entrepreneur may want to focus on marketing the value proposition - make the consumer desire the product because they see the value in investing in the product or service.
The intent funnel is where a lead becomes a customer - they are now in the store or searching online. The entrepreneur may use a sales discount marketing tactic at this stage to close the sale.
At the evaluating stage the goal is to retain the customer and turn that customer into a loyal customer. At this stage the entrepreneur may want to leverage social media marketing to share product or service, also know as “friending”. Encourage consumers to share the brand’s content.
The last stage in a customer marketing funnel is loyalty. The entrepreneur should aim to create a loyal customer by offering bonuses for long-term customers or provide referral or affiliated program.
A good example of the loyalty funnel is airline mileages memberships. The more one flies, the more loyal one is considered, and the more discounts one will receive to affiliated programs such as discounted flights, free seat upgrades, and free or discounted lodging at certain hotels.
Understanding the marketing and sales funnels are important to understand the consumer journey. But don’t take my word for it. Look at the products you are loyal to and think back at your customer journey. You might be amazed how well the marketing funnel worked on you.