Mastering the Marketing Funnel

Jan 11, 2024

A lot has changed in marketing over the past few decades. The digital landscape, how consumers shop, and how businesses are created have all contributed to these changes. One aspect of marketing has remained constant: getting customers to purchase a product or service. However, the strategy and process of how prospects turn into customers have changed.


The marketing funnel is how marketing teams aim to turn prospects into customers who have made a purchase and will become returning customers. Each company has its unique marketing funnel, but most boil down to similar steps. In the past, the marketing funnel followed the AIDA model: Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. Marketers are adding more steps to the funnel to secure their brand's position. Let's compare the tried-and-true marketing funnel with a modern iteration and learn how your small business can implement these steps.

Old Marketing Funnel:

Awareness

The awareness stage begins the customer journey, where potential buyers first encounter a brand or product. Creating awareness is crucial as it introduces the brand to the audience, making them aware of its existence. Effective awareness strategies, such as advertising and content marketing, aim to capture attention and lay the foundation for further engagement.


Interest

Once a business establishes awareness, the interest stage focuses on deepening the audience's engagement. It involves providing valuable information, addressing pain points, and showcasing unique selling propositions to keep the audience interested. Building interest helps establish a connection between the brand and the potential customer, making them more likely to explore the offering in greater detail.


Desire

The desire stage aims to cultivate a desire or aspiration for the product or service. Through compelling storytelling, testimonials, and highlighting key benefits, marketers seek to evoke a strong desire in the audience to own or experience what the brand offers. Creating a sense of desire helps differentiate the brand and increase the likelihood of conversion. 


Action

The action stage is the culmination of the marketing funnel, where the goal is to prompt the audience to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up, or requesting more information. Clear calls-to-action, seamless user experiences, and persuasive incentives are crucial in converting the potential customer into an actual customer. This step is vital for achieving the ultimate objective of the marketing effort.

New Marketing Funnel:

Engagement

The engagement stage is the entry point into the modern marketing model, focusing on connecting with potential customers. Brands aim to create meaningful interactions beyond initial awareness through various channels such as social media, content marketing, and interactive experiences. Engaging the audience sets the foundation for a more involved and lasting relationship.


Consideration

In the consideration stage, the focus shifts to providing valuable information and guiding potential customers toward informed decision-making; this involves showcasing product features and benefits and addressing specific needs. By nurturing consideration, brands position themselves as solutions to consumer challenges, increasing the likelihood of a purchase decision.


Purchase

The purchase stage remains a pivotal point, representing the moment a transaction occurs. However, the purchase is just part of the customer journey in the new model. It marks the transition from prospect to customer and sets the stage for subsequent relationship stages.


Adoption

Adoption emphasizes the customer's integration of the product into their life. It goes beyond the initial purchase, ensuring that customers use and derive value from the product or service effectively. Successful adoption is crucial for customer satisfaction and lays the groundwork for long-term loyalty.


Retention

Retention is about keeping customers satisfied and preventing churn. It involves ongoing communication, support, and personalized experiences to encourage repeat business. High retention rates indicate a brand's ability to deliver consistent value, fostering a loyal customer base.


Expansion

Beyond retention, brands aim for expansion by encouraging customers to explore additional products or services. Upselling, cross-selling, and introducing complementary offerings contribute to expanding the customer's engagement, increasing the brand's share of their preferences.


Advocacy

The advocacy stage represents the pinnacle of customer loyalty, where satisfied customers become brand advocates. Word-of-mouth referrals, positive reviews, and user-generated content contribute to organic brand growth. Advocacy is a powerful force in the modern marketing landscape, as it leverages the influence of happy customers to attract new ones.


Using These Models As A Small Business

These marketing models will look different for small businesses. For instance, while larger companies may have a higher marketing budget that allows them to spread out across channels, small businesses may need to concentrate their efforts. However, the expansion and advocacy stages are critical for small businesses to retain customers.


Work With Cole-Dalton Marketing Services

If you're a small business owner feeling overwhelmed after reading this information or know that other tasks bog down your team, look no further than Cole-Dalton Marketing Services. We help Greater St. Louis area business owners maintain and improve their online presence by performing various digital marketing tasks, from website design to social media to videography needs. 


Check out our recent work and contact us today to see how we can help your small business succeed online and beyond!

Forecasting the Next Ten Years of Marketing

10 Apr, 2024
Marketing is gearing up for significant changes as we enter the new decade. With new technologies, shifts in buyer behavior, and changes in consumption culture, the way businesses reach out to customers will look very different in the coming years. While we can't say what marketing will look like in 10 years, we can examine emerging trends and strategies to forecast its future. Here are some predictions experts are suggesting could take shape moving forward. Increasing Personalized Advertising Personalized marketing should undergo even more profound transformations in the coming decade, leveraging advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics to forge deeper customer connections. With the ability to glean insights from vast amounts of data, companies will craft highly tailored ads and messages that resonate with individual preferences and behaviors, fostering stronger brand-consumer relationships. From dynamic content customization to predictive marketing algorithms, the era of hyper-personalization will redefine how businesses engage with their target audiences on a one-to-one level. Advanced Device Communication The proliferation of voice-enabled devices and virtual assistants heralds a new era in consumer engagement, requiring marketers to adapt their strategies to communicate effectively through these mediums. As voice technology continues to gain traction, companies must anticipate the rise of voice commerce and tailor their approaches to accommodate this emerging trend. By leveraging conversational AI and natural language processing, brands can deliver seamless, personalized experiences that resonate with consumers, whether shopping, seeking information, or interacting with digital assistants. Wider Use of Virtual Reality Virtual reality (VR) is poised to become a ubiquitous tool in the marketer's arsenal, offering immersive experiences that transcend traditional advertising methods. With VR, brands can transport consumers into captivating virtual environments where they can interact with products and services unprecedentedly, fostering deeper engagement and brand loyalty. As VR technology becomes more accessible and sophisticated, expect to see a proliferation of immersive marketing campaigns that leverage the power of virtual experiences to captivate audiences and drive conversions.

The Power of Storytelling

12 Mar, 2024
Marketing tends to focus on analytics and systems, but we sometimes forget about one powerful tool that has existed since the beginning: storytelling. From our ancestors telling ancient myths to be passed down for the generations to come to modern-day brand narratives, stories have held the power to inspire and connect in all different ways. Today, consumers face a constant bombardment of advertisements and catered content; using the power of storytelling in marketing campaigns has become critical for businesses, especially smaller firms aiming to create meaningful connections with their target clients. Why Storytelling is an Effective Strategy When a brand uses storytelling to convey its message, it connects with the audience emotionally. By telling a compelling story, marketers can create a memorable experience for consumers, making them more likely to remember and engage with the brand. Additionally, storytelling allows marketers to communicate the brand's values and personality more authentically. Instead of bombarding consumers with sales pitches, storytelling enables brands to share their stories and build trust with their audience, increasing brand loyalty and customer engagement. The Emotional Resonance of Stories At the heart of storytelling lies its ability to bring out emotions and create profound connections on a human level. Unlike traditional marketing messages focusing solely on product features or sales pitches, stories can engage the audience's imagination, stir empathy, and spark genuine interest. By weaving narratives that resonate with their target audience's hopes, dreams, and challenges, small marketing firms can create a powerful emotional bond that transcends transactional relationships. Building Brand Identity and Authenticity Storytelling is a potent tool for small businesses to authentically define and express their brand identity. Through compelling narratives that reflect their values, mission, and vision, small firms can differentiate themselves from competitors and carve out a distinct identity in the minds of consumers. Whether recounting the founder's journey, highlighting customer success stories, or showcasing the company's commitment to social responsibility, storytelling allows small businesses to humanize their brand and foster customer trust and loyalty.

A Guide to Employee-Generated Content

13 Feb, 2024
In a world of "influencer marketing" and brand deals, companies can easily overspend their marketing budgets and get caught up in the frenzy. An influencer may feature your product or brand only for their videos to perform poorly. At best, you lose out on the money spent sending the product to the influencer and whatever you spent on hiring them. At worst, your business gets a bad reputation online, and customers don't take your brand seriously. Consider that influencer marketing is just the "shiny new toy" in marketing. In that case, companies should continue to produce consistent, cost-effective outcome. One source for this? Your Employees. Employee-generated content refers to any videos, pictures, or copy that employees publicly post about their position and the company. Find out the benefits of employee-generated content (EGC), what this content can look like, and how to implement EGC into your overall strategy. What Does Employee-Generated Content Look Like? The beauty of employee-generated content is that it can take many forms. Any content your employees make that involves details about their role, the company itself, or the relationships they've developed with coworkers or customers/clients can be EGC. A simple, straightforward EGC piece can be an employee spotlight for new hires or veteran employees. You can choose to craft employee spotlights as infographics with a picture of the employee along with some fun facts about them, write a long-form piece from an interview with the employee speaking about their time at the company, or even long or short-form videos with the employee speaking on their experiences. While these methods may require the help of a graphic designer, copywriter, or videographer, the idea is that the employees generate the content by speaking about their experiences and introducing themselves. Other ideas for EGC pieces might be "day in the life" videos following a specific employee throughout their day, reflections employees have from conferences or professional development opportunities, employment milestones or recognitions, or even just pictures employees take with each other or showing what happened that day. There are limitless options and iterations for employee-generated content, and the key is to find out what works well for your business and why.
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