Navigate Leads Via 4 Stages Of Marketing Funnel
Webbies
NAVIGATE YOUR LEADS THROUGH THE FOUR STAGES OF THE MARKETING FUNNEL:
The marketing funnel concept is a boon to all struggling entrepreneurs. Most have lost their night’s sleep trying to boost sales. The Digital revolution includes an evolution of marketing and business techniques. The internet is a dartboard and it depends whether you want to hit the bull’s eye or loiter around the vicinity.
SO WHAT EXACTLY IS A MARKETING FUNNEL:
” These two terms when seen separately have totally different meanings. A funnel is a container with a dual opening used to channel liquids in bottles of small openings. Marketing is creating valuable relationships with customers through a transaction value exchange. A marketing funnel is a pathway through which leads of a brand convert into customers.
The high amount of traffic shrinks at various points of the funnel during the process of conversion due to varied reasons. ” ( add a quirky diagram of a funnel. Could be comic )
Confused about treading the sales funnel yourself? Anxious about the unknown territory which you have not yet taken? WE HAVE COME TO YOUR RESCUE.
Always remember that you as a marketer should be 100 percent clear and focused about your end goals. ( quirky illustration ) The marketing funnel comprises of 3 major different stages. A series of strategies to follow to capture leads and convert them into customers.
1. PROBLEM RECOGNITION/ AWARENESS STAGE :
- This is the most initial stage of the marketing funnel. Here the target audience immediately recognizes a problem or are on the verge of recognizing a problem. He/she comes in contact with your product and other competitive products in the market .
- For instance when we want to get rid of boredom by going for a movie we browse through the BookmyShow app. Our fickle mind immediately decides against it. We see BookmyShow providing us with valuable offers to win back our attention. ( add pics of such instances from Bookmy).
- This is one of the most generic examples of Problem recognition and awareness stage. This stage is applicable for all types of brands and services.. ( give pics of few of other brands )
- Create brand awareness through promotional social media posts, webinars, ebooks, infographics, events etc.
- Create awareness in the customer by declaring yourself as an authority in that area. Done through mediums like social media, YouTube or TV commercials . ( give pictures of VLCC, Pioneer etc )
- The key is to place yourself in channels where your targeted customers flock the most. You need to know your buyer’s personas on your fingertips. (give examples as pictures )
2. ENGAGEMENT/ INTEREST STAGE :
- This is the next stage where the consumer has already identified their problem. This leads him to seek interest in the variety of options available in the market and research.
- Now this research depends on the nature of the product or service one wants to avail. For example if one needs a daily product like milk one would’t want to carry out an extensive research. But if one wants to buya laptop he/she will definitely research the available laptop brands in the market before selecting one.
- Frequent visits to showrooms or surfing the E commerce websites for better offers. This is where your brand’s website comes to the forefront. Your website is the most important representative of your brand and you have to make it stand out and customer friendly. ( here are a few tips to design intelligent and consumer friendly websites- HYPERLINK ).
- A landing page is an important part of your website through which your leads will be directed to the HVC content. Blogs, articles, eBooks, podcasts, videos, emails, webinars, infographics are some of the common HVCs ( pics to be given)
- You have to create a great deal of High value content revolving around the expertise of your services. The new age marketing calls for Value rather than mere promotion to win the trust and confidence of the targeted consumers. Lets say you are a Fitness Expert who wants to attract new customers. Instead of promoting your services you can provide them with significant tips to establish yourself as an expert in the industry. ( give examples from Allurion and other clients )
3. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES :
- The time duration of this stage again depends on the nature of the product. If it is a luxury product like an I phone or a car there will be greater time spent on evaluating the alternatives.
- Customers at this stage might request free trials or demonstrations of the product. This is where the ball is in your court to present them with the best of value. This is vital because first impression is the last impression.
- You might also want them to book an appointment with you to establish rapport and contemplate solutions. A genuine yet tactical marketer will always analyse the problem of the client. Then he will analyse his business’s capability to solve the given problem. Lets say you are a digital marketer and a client wants to seek solutions on graphic designing. This is beyond your expertise so you have to be honest about it rather than offering them sub standard services later on.
- It was seen that the brand equity towards the Apple Iphone increased by 20 percent when iphones were offered in compensation. This was because of system slowdown after an update in IOS for the older i phones. Your services represent the brand. You have to be 100 percent CONFIDENT about your business’s ability to deliver excellence.
4. PURCHASE DECISION
- This is the final stage of the marketing funnel where all the main activity takes place. After nurturing your lead through your High value content and the deal has been sealed and you have acquired a customer.
- Congratulations!!! But the story doesn’t end here. Your brand’s value won’t intensify by singular purchases. You have to make sure customers return to you after their first buy.
- To build customer loyalty and brand equity you have to keep being in touch with your customers. This can be done by extra HVCs in your sales funnel like educational documents to set them up for convenience with your product. Follow up emails, community meet ups, feedback forms can be circulated.
- This stage of the funnel is also a golden opportunity to upsell your products to your customers. For example lets say you sell a laptop. Providing the customer with an anti virus software package or a laptop cover is upselling your product.
- The post sale stage is very important to increase customer retention and positive word of mouth marketing.
Customers are the Gods of the business. If you are able to chart out a well-researched marketing funnel plan then no one can stop leveraging your customer loyalty for the future.
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