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Your Marketing Funnel – How To Give Your Online Presence a Purpose: Leading Your Followers to Buy.
As a business person living in 2022, you probably have a nice website and at least one social media account. That’s great! But does your content have a purpose?
Is it helping you to grow your sales? Or does it merely exist so you can say that you are a modern business with an online presence?
Your online presence should lead people down the marketing funnel and make a purchase. It’s easy to create a Facebook page or Instagram account and post-basic content.
Even publishing a website is easy these days. However, you need to have a plan for your content. Your website and social media can be very effective when they are properly equipped.
The Marketing Funnel
You want every person who interacts with you online to take a specific action. And after taking one action, you want them to take another. And another. You will lead them step by step to making a purchase with you.
What we’ll be looking at is how to build a strong marketing funnel that generates, nurtures, and converts leads into sales. This is what it means to create content with a strategy. Do you sometimes find yourself posting something on your social media without a purpose?
If so, it may be time for you to take a step back and review your marketing funnel.
Marketing Funnel Stage One:
Lead Generation
In the beginning, no one knows who you are. They don’t know your name, they don’t know what you do or what you offer, and they may not even understand how they work. They don’t understand why they need you right now.
This first step is all about identifying your ideal audience and introducing yourself. It may require some market research. It is important to create content that is friendly and full of value and is memorable. For content in this stage, do not immediately jump into a sales pitch. Just start the conversation.
ü You should research what hashtags will reach your target audience and use this on every social media post. You want to be as discoverable as possible.
ü Create short, easy to understand content that educates people about your business.
ü Answer questions or address problems you know your ideal customer is asking: show how you solve them
ü Optimise your website and social media bios with exactly who you are in a few short words
ü Include a call-to-action (CTA) that invites people to follow for more, or get more information
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Marketing Funnel Stage Two:
Lead Nurture
At this point, people know a little bit about you and you should have a following of some sort. They should be able to recognise your name, understand what industry you operate in, and hopefully understand the problem you solve. This awareness is not enough. Always create content and a website that leads people to take the next step into interest and consideration.
Some people will be in a research mode and still undecided about which business to partner with. Others may not have accepted they need to solve their problem, but they are curious enough about your solution to consider purchasing from you. Either way, your content in this stage should be more detailed and persuasive.
Here are a few content ideas to nurture leads in your marketing funnel.
● Share testimonials from past clients or customers
● A demonstration of a product or service can show how well it works.
● Build engagement by asking your followers questions or running Q+As
● Pay influencers to spread the word about your company
● Create content that is extremely shareable
○ Make your videos or pictures attractive, creative, and unique
● Target the people who follow you or have engaged with your content in the past so that you can continue the conversation.
● ICTA is the perfect way to invite people to visit a landing page and read more about your offerings and even purchase from you.
This stage is more persuasive than the last. Now is the time to step past the introductory phase of your talk and start convincing people about why they should buy from you.
Marketing Funnel Stage Three:
Converting Leads to Sales
People recognise you and know what you do. They know the benefits of your products or services and hopefully why you are better than your competitors. You have built a relationship with these leads and you should ask for the sale.
Here are a few ways to use your online content to convert leads to sales.
● Run a sale and target all advertising towards your followers and anyone who has engaged with you before
● Ask questions that lead to a sale
○ Do you [have this problem]?
○ Are you ready to [fix this problem]?
○ Have you ever considered [this solution]?
● Create content focusing on one specific product or service you want to sell. Make sure it leads to a landing page on your website with persuasive sales copy and hard sell to “Buy now”
● Provide opportunities for anyone still on the fence to clear the air
○ What questions do you have about [this product or service]?
● Ask yourself these questions to create a sales post: What time of year is it? Why is buying your product today the best decision someone could make?
This moment is the best time for you to make a push for the sale. However, you can’t get to this stage without introducing yourself and nurturing the relationship first. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the first two stages are not neglected.
Putting Your Marketing Funnel Together
Now you have three stages of content to build from. However, what does this look like on a daily and weekly basis? First, use each stage as a category to brainstorm content ideas from.
- Lead Generation
- Introduction post
- Answer a problem my ideal customer has
- An exciting and unique hook that introduces a benefit of your service or product
- Lead Nurturing
- Client testimonial
- Product or service demo
- Ask a question to build relationships
- Converting Leads to Sales
- Promote a sale, discount or special offer
- Ask sales questions that lead to a landing page
- Create a seasonal post about the benefits of your product or service
These are just a few ideas. Keep a list of new and interesting content ideas for each category. If you are creating an ad for a lead nurturing post, make sure you target people who have engaged with your lead generation posts.
When you create advertising to convert leads to sales, target people who have engaged with your lead nurturing posts.
Keep Your Marketing Funnel Going
Social media can be a lot to manage as well as running your business. However, with a simple strategy to direct people down your marketing funnel, your social media efforts will increase your sales.
No more posting inconsistently and without direction. Let your social media work for you instead of just being an afterthought. Create content that introduces yourself, engages with your followers, and persuades them to purchase.
Additional Resources For Marketing on a Shoestring Budget
How Marketing Funnels Work (The Easiest Way to Create One) By Nel Patel
What Is A Marketing Funnel by SproutSocial
Marketing Funnels for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide by ahrefs
Other Easy Marketing Posts You Can Quickly profit From:
How To Successfully Market Your Business On A Shoestring Budget
5 Easy Ways To Use Facebook Messenger Marketing
7 Simple & Easy Referral Marketing Strategies For Your Business
Check out our free monthly marketing magazine today – click here. You won’t regret it.