96% of your website visitors are not ready to buy anything on their first visit. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean they will never purchase from you, but it does highlight the significance of needing an effective lead capture process to nurture and follow up with the potential leads that you receive. 

Marketing is essentially made up of a series of funnels throughout numerous advertising channels. Marketing funnels are what encourage people to make a purchase, and are key to help visualise the user journey, following the consumers every move from their first action to the final conversion.

The main purpose of a marketing funnel is to establish the theoretical journey a customer takes, from a person who is unaware of your company to someone who becomes a valued customer. Essentially, marketing funnels are designed to transform potential leads into customers.

Why marketing funnels are essential 

Attracting your ideal potential customers begins with presenting an advertisement and ends with nurturing the leads attracted over time with help from the funnel – reducing the number of those prospective customers at each stage of the funnel until eventually you are left with the remainder of the leads becoming customers. 

Brands who consider their website, social media and content as a series of funnels will be able to create a space where users find them trustworthy. Marketing funnels help you prioritise and implement the important parts of your marketing strategy, allowing you to get the most of your marketing efforts and grow your customer base and brand as a whole.

A customer needs at least 5 to 8 contact points throughout their journey on average to make a purchase. While it might feel like a frustrating process to master, it’s a great opportunity to build or refresh your brand in a way that speaks to your customers from the get-go. 

Building a marketing funnel

Creating a funnel starts with in-depth research of your potential customers, how you can best communicate with them and how to define your product or service to be exactly what they need and are looking for. 

No two funnels are the same. Each business will have a personalised marketing funnel that works for them. However, each will start with similar guidelines:

  • Attention: the customer starts with a need in mind, and is aware of it and knows of your product or service
  • Interest: the customer is showing interest in your product or service after some research
  • Desire: the customer develops the need to purchase your product or service
  • Action: the customer purchases your product or service

A clear understanding of your offering, core company values, key messages and the targets you want to reach is so important to gain a better idea of the perfect consumer. 

The funnel can be broken up into numerous segments: lead generation, lead nurturing and sales. Lead generation is the initial awareness stage where most of the leads begin their journey through the funnel. The end goal is to encourage as many of them as possible further down the funnel to become customers.

Lead nurturing is a stage where you might witness potential customers showing signs of interest. This could include signing up for a newsletter, adding something to a cart or filling out an initial enquiry form. At this stage, it’s a good idea to encourage this area of the funnel with targeted, personalised emails that provide some sort of offering, whether that be a discount code or a free trial of your service. 

The sales section is home to those who may require more attention and information to commit to making a purchase. They may be looking for a more in-depth offering, such as product comparisons and a clear demonstration. It might take some time to gain traction, but your marketing efforts will be rewarded with loyal, relevant customers in the end. 

Content is what will set you apart from competitors. You need strong content that works for the funnel overall – but also leads the way for buyers’ individual journeys. Your homepage should be an eye-catching and attention-focused starting point that leads customers to other touchpoints on the website in search of more information – helping them make a buying decision.

The little extras that make a big difference 

Social media is another platform you can utilise when building your marketing funnel. Visual content has grown popular in our time-poor generation, and having images or videos that catch your audience’s eye is the beginning of a very effective marketing journey. 

Everything is a funnel. Social media captions are just a small taster that can persuade the user to delve deeper into your offering, and then find themselves on the website looking for additional information. 

Every little moment builds a larger customer journey, and it is important to remember the journey is different for each consumer. This is why the right content for the right segments – at the right time – is so essential. You want to make sure each individual receives the right information they require at that particular moment. 

Consistency is key. 63% of consumers like to hear a company’s agenda 3–5 times before they consider them to be your true values. This is why each stage of the funnel needs to have its own distinctive messaging. For example, the beginning of the funnel will be more focused on company values, and deeper into the funnel, you will likely mention packages and pricing when customers have grown accustomed to you. 

Rooster Marketing knows a thing or two about creating a great strategy for businesses in every industry. Get in touch today to discuss how we can help shape your marketing funnel.