Funnel Marketing: What Is A Marketing Funnel?

How many times have you attempted a marketing strategy, only to ask:

“Why don’t people see my ads?”
“Do they not care about my products?”
“Is that why I’m NOT making money?”

You are not alone. Every business owner has asked one, if not all, of these questions before. It’s a vicious cycle. You test, you tweak, you try. What happens is that you hit a wall. You want to give up. Everything is going against you, and you start to doubt your entire business model.

You need a marketing funnel. No, we’re not talking about the kind used in the kitchen, or in science experiments. We’re talking about the kind of funnel used to generate powerful leads for your business.

Before reading on, check out this short video that explains ‘What is a Marketing Funnel‘ and ‘Why a Marketing Funnel is an Essential Method of Lead Generation:’

What is a marketing funnel?

A marketing funnel is the customer journey from discovering your business, all the way to purchasing your products on a regular basis. It’s a controlled marketing method that allows you to retarget customers at every stage of the sales process.

Here’s what a marketing funnel looks like:

Marketing funnel used to generate sales.

The marketing funnel allows you to visualise every step of the customer journey. If they drop off at any time, retargeting can be set up to ensure they don’t lose interest. Remember, not everyone who enters your landing page is going to make a purchase. Some, simply, are not interested. Others are occupied and will return at a later date to complete their order. The sales process is not as simple as catch, click and convert!

Breaking down the funnel

It’s easy not to see the value of a funnel when only looking at the bottom of the funnel because that’s not where you make money. However, the first steps a customer takes is just as important as the end result.

Here we break down the creation of a marketing funnel:

Offer:

Every good sale starts with an offer. Not a product, an offer. What you have to get your head around is that everyone has a product to sell. It all comes down to cost. You are forever battling it out against competitors to offer the best price on the market. It’s a struggle.

Having an offer will significantly increase your conversion rate.

The definition of an offer is a collection of products and/or services that, once packaged together, create an attractive deal. Having an offer positions you one step ahead of the competition. No longer is there one product on offer, but a bundle. The idea is to start with something that makes people stop what they are doing, and take action. An offer they can’t refuse.

Marketing funnel to sell ebook.

Selling marketing to a prospective client? You might offer a free e-book titled ‘99 Marketing Secrets You Don’t Know About.’ It’s free, so why not? And, because people have to enter their email address to download the ebook, you capture their details.

From there, you are free to remarket to them with an offer (free audit, one-to-one optimisation course, resources, discounts, etc.) – this is called an upsell.

Story:

If you have ever watched the show ‘The X-factor’ you have probably heard the phrase ‘likeability-factor’ mentioned a lot. Basically, while a contestant may be a shoddy singer, their personality is infectious. The public will like them and, therefore, they will sell records. It should, absolutely, be about skill, but that doesn’t come first – likeability does.

Winning over your customers, securing sales and building brand trust is no different. You could have the most intuitive product on the market. It doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t have the personality to sell it. You need to have the likeability factor to stand out from the competition.

So, what makes a person likeable? It all starts with a story; your story. Audience empathy goes a long way in the sales process. If people can relate to your business story, then you will drum up the sales in no time.

Let’s say you’re a Public Speaker. You have to be confident when speaking to people about your products. But, were you always this confident? Probably not. When you started, standing up, presenting a product to a crowd and actually selling, was a dream. Now, it comes naturally.

Telling your funnel marketing story on stage.

Teach people, feeling uncertain about public speaking is perfectly normal. People get anxious, they shake, they overthink, everything. It’s only human. Share with them how you overcame that feeling. That’s your story. You have their attention, and they are looking to you for advice.

Hook:

Luring potential customers into your funnel is a little like fishing. You need the right bait to capture the attention of your potential customers. And, of course, not all fish are attracted to the same bait.

Who do you think this Facebook ad is aimed at? You guessed it… business owners and quite possibly, entrepreneurs.

Facebook ad for funnel marketing trial.

However, a marketing manager would require a different message. While a business owner will be looking to make a profit, a marketing manager wants a tool they can present to their boss. Something that is going to make their job easier. The hook would be something like “Every marketer’s dream. A tool that makes it easy to sell anything, and will impress your boss. A funnel is the ONLY solution!”

Funnel:

The final step is to sculpt out a landing page that not only looks incredible but converts. You may be thinking “I’m not a designer,” “I can’t write compelling copy” and “I don’t know a thing about optimisation.” Don’t panic, it’s really very simple. Clickfunnels is a tool designed to simplify the funnel making process. A typical marketing funnel has an opt-in page, autoresponder, plus one or more sales pages with content and graphics designed to sell.

In the past, this would require you to have a website, hosting, optimised content and a team of website designers behind you to pull the whole lot together.

Clickfunnels will do it all for you, and more!

This not only saves you money paying for all those services, but it will also save you the technical headache of making them all work together. Sounds wonderful? You can sign up to a 14-day trial with Clickfunnels totally free!

Sign up for your free 14-day Clickfunnels trial now!

Funnel Marketing vs Websites.

“I want my website to show up first when people search for “fill in the black” in the search results, so that I can make money.” This is one of the first things people say to us when discussing marketing.

They understand SEO – well, they know the basics. Having top Google rankings will increase online visibility and brand awareness. It’s what everyone talks about, so you need to be doing it too.

However, a website alone will not make you money!

When it comes to growing your business bigger, better and faster, and having a consistent flow of leads coming in, you need multiple revenue streams.

Your website helps build credibility and trust with potential customers by way of testimonials, social proof, icons and reviews.

It also helps people searching in major search engines, like Google, find you. Providing, you are using good SEO tactics.

Your website also has many choices and therefore many distractions. People start reading your service page, then follow a link to a blog post, and the next thing you know, they are gone. You have no lead and no sale.

A marketing funnel gives people ONE choice and no distractions. There is a single landing page giving you the chance to opt into an amazing, one-time offer!

A lot of people will say that you can ditch websites altogether and focus on funnels. We disagree. Knowing the insane benefits of having an online presence, traditional sites are a no-brainer.

We recommend having a funnel and a site. The more channels you have to bring in leads and increase brand awareness, the better. Each has a value and a purpose.

Want to go that step further?

Attract, convert and retain more customers with help from Bigfoot Digital.
Let’s talk about how you can get more leads + sales.
Get in touch with the professionals below:

Talk on the phone about Marketing Funnels.

GET IN TOUCH HERE!