Businesses may look completely different from one another, but there’s one thing they all have: a marketing funnel. It’s one of the most essential processes everyone should know and understand. Whether you’re a coach or a lifestyle practitioner, it will be your ticket to converting your audience from leads to customers and even loyal patrons. Let me show you the various marketing funnel stages and the different marketing strategies you can do.
Marketing Funnel 101 | Learn The Basics Of Making One
Marketing Funnel Explained
What is a marketing funnel? It is a lead gathering and nurturing process with one goal in mind: bring these leads to loyal paying customers. Some people call it sales funnels, while others want to separate both. There are also other marketers who say the distinction between the two becomes irrelevant once the customer is deep in the process. Either way, conversion and retention are the main objectives here.
Why is it called a marketing funnel? The funnel is a metaphor for the flow of leads. Just like a funnel, the top part is the broadest. Think of it as a net that catches everything that falls into it. However, as the leads go through the different stages, the number trickles down. Eventually, only a few become your customers.
Online, you’ll find dozens of ways on how to interpret the funnel, but the simplest will be:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Consideration
- Conversion
You will explore each and know the ideal marketing strategies later.
Why Is a Marketing Funnel Important?
The idea you cannot convert a lot of people seems frightening to many business owners, but that’s actually the reality. In fact, the average conversion rate of a business hardly goes beyond 3% to 5%.
A marketing funnel can provide the following benefits:
- Capture high-quality leads (these are your target people or businesses. They not only have the interest but also possess the capacity and willingness to pay for the products and services you are offering)
- Track the movement or actions of your customers and determine the best marketing strategies to implement at every stage
- Increase the engagement between you and your market
- Make it easier to forecast and improve conversion
- Enhance your influence to your market and the industry
The bottom line is it gives you high-quality, dream clients. These are the ones who won’t mind spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars for your program, because they believe not only in you but also in your offer, which is a vision of a better and more productive life for themselves and others.
Now we’ve got that covered, let’s move on to the marketing funnel stages.
1. Awareness
How To Find Your Message So You Can Spread It To Millions and Make An Impact In The World: https://t.co/5hS74m6eI3 pic.twitter.com/l6q4LKxcle
— Ted McGrath (@ted_mcgrath) August 29, 2017
Before you can begin your first live event or even enroll people into your programs, they need to be aware you exist! So the first stage in the marketing funnel is awareness.
This has two objectives. One, you need to let your customers know you exist. Second, you need to heighten their awareness so much so they’ll be willing to move to the next stage, which is interest.
Here are two steps:
- Know your dream clients. Define them as specifically as possible. If you have a lifestyle program geared toward people with health issues, you need to identify which problems they have. Is it diabetes? How about stress? Where do these people come from? What do they do? Who are they?
- Create your brand story. This is powerful, since it lets your clients know the benefits of the program. With your story, they can learn what issues you’re trying to solve in their lives. Your brand story will also be the core message of your program.
You can now use these to create your awareness program, which may include a variety of offline and online digital marketing strategies, including social media.
Another strategy I love is speaking in other people’s events. Know how to get booked on other people’s stages here.
2. Interest
Although you have made thousands of people aware of your business, not all of them will develop interest, and that’s fine. You don’t click Like on every ad you see on Facebook. However, for those who show interest, you need to enhance their curiosity further, so they will develop the desire to consider buying your program.
Drumming up interest requires a deep level of consistency in your marketing efforts. At this point, you need to reach out closer to your potential clients. You can:
- Create an online presentation that will help you get more clients quickly
- Run your first live small event
- Always make several calls to action while you’re on the stage
3. Consideration
If you’re consistent and successful in the first two stages, then you’re just one step away from converting them into clients. They are also on the third stage of the marketing funnel, which is consideration.
What happens at this point? They are more than interested in what you’re doing. What they have now is the desire to join your program, but they still have a hint of hesitation if it’s something that will work for them.
There are two good strategies you can do: social proof and free things. Social proof means relying on the power of other people’s stories to market. You share testimonials and reviews. You invite successful members to your live events and let them speak of their journey.
An even more effective strategy is to give something away something for free. I’m talking about a free session. The level of personalization makes your client fully understand the extent of the benefits of the program in their lives.
Remember, though, the keyword here is personalization. You cannot come up with a generic script for each of your dream clients. Instead, create a checklist to help you. I use a question guide to assist me in identifying the client’s problem, so I can customize my presentation in a way my program addresses his or her needs.
4. Conversion
That’s it! They are 100% sure they need your product or service, and they’re ready to make a purchase.
Here’s the problem: you can succeed on the other stages and not this one. One of the common reasons is the poorly designed conversion process. Perhaps you’re making it hard for your leads to join the program.
Simplicity is the key. The fewer things they have to do the better. What I do is to make sure there’s someone who can help them sign up at any point of the program. If it’s in the backstage, then I tell them to proceed to the backstage. Many of my clients offer different payment tiers for their program.
A marketing funnel may end in conversion, but it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the process. In fact, you have to repeat all of them. It may sound exhausting, but in my future posts, I can teach you how to avoid chasing clients. In the meantime, understanding marketing funnels will ensure you can have a steady stream of income to support your lifestyle-friendly business.
What have you learned so far about marketing funnel? Let me know how I can help you further.
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