What is a Marketing Funnel?

Definition of The Marketing Funnel

The funnel marketing is a marketing strategy to turn a visitor into a loyal customer lambda. This customer journey is made up of several stages leading to a specific objective: to acquire new customers.

To achieve this, several tools are available to you such as subscribing to a newsletter, downloading content, etc. It will also indicate at what level of the customer journey a prospect is located.
This tool is a funnel of conversion, which will allow you to attract your audience and guide them in this journey. In the process, your potential customers will go from visitors to prospects, then from customers to ambassadors. They will therefore likely be fewer and fewer.

In order to limit traffic losses, it is necessary to optimize your marketing funnel. To do this, you have to think about “user experience” at every stage. That is, think about what your potential customers want and how you can give it to them.

Indeed, when a consumer faces a problem or feels a specific need, he will try to find the solution, in particular thanks to the internet. The more his questions are refined, the more he will advance in his reflection. How much does it cost to make a Wikipedia page it is then up to you to impose yourself on its path, by offering it your solutions, and thus move it forward in the direction you want, while avoiding leaks.

You can create as many marketing funnels as you have goals and personas. But remember to make them evolve based on real data, your goals and changes in your personas.
Why is the marketing funnel important?

Funnel marketing is an essential tool. It allows you to follow the progress of your leads in their journey. By establishing an effective strategy through funnel marketing, you will be able to be more effective thanks to impactful messages sent at the right time. In addition, thanks to the marketing funnel, it is possible to:

Manage Marketing Campaigns Easily: thanks to the marketing funnel, you can analyze each step of the process, and determine which ones are not optimal.

Identify The Right Levers: the stages of a marketing funnel have different levers that can be deployed to achieve your objective (example: SEO / SEA, lead magnets, optimization of landing pages, lead nurturing, etc.).

Understand The Intentions of Visitors: there is no point in wanting to sell at all costs, you must above all understand the problems and / or the needs of your potential customers. This will allow you to adapt your content to the prospect’s level of maturity.

Guide the Customer Journey: your marketing funnel will create a coherent and progressive conversion journey. As the funnel goes, your prospect will be more and more ready to buy.
The types of content in the marketing funnel

The Contents of The Marketing Funnel are Thus Divided: TOFU, MOFU and BOFU. Depending on your prospect’s position in the process, the content you offer them will have to be different, in order to move them forward in your marketing funnel.

TOFU (Top of the Funnel): From Visitor to Lead

During this step, the Internet user becomes aware of his problem, it is the “Discovery” phase. He learns about his sector and the problems he thinks he is encountering. At this stage, his research is rather generic, it is therefore up to you to provide a response that is both generalist and with high added value, thanks to your expertise, to help him understand his problem with precision.
Content: blog articles, web stories, statistical reports, infographics, white papers, etc.

MOFU (Middle of the Funnel): From Lead to MQL

The second step corresponds to the so-called “Consideration” phase. The Internet user has identified his problem and tries to find what solutions could answer his problem.
Unlike the TOFU stage, his research is more precise. If some of the solutions appeal to him more than others, he will then get in touch with the company which, according to him, could solve his problem, in order to have more information.

This is when you will be able to convert your visitors into leads thanks to their identifications.
Contents: landing page, eBook, white papers, checklists, templates, webinars, simulators, case studies etc.

BOFU (Bottom of The Funnel): From MQL to SQL

This third step corresponds to the “Decision” phase. It is crucial because this is when the visitor will complete the purchase.

After the MOFU stage, the Internet user can make a list and select the companies which appear to him to be the most willing to respond to his request. He will assess the proposals, formulate requests, in order to clarify his request and make his final decision. So you have to convince him that you are the right person!

The end goal is for them to make their decision based on the goal you have set for yourself: buy a product, subscribe to a subscription, make an appointment, etc.

Contents: Demo Request, Customer Cases, Free Audit

If you want to know more about the concepts of lead, MQL and SQL, we invite you to read the article on the subject. These terms are not always clear, you would not be the first to get lost… ok, we admit, we too were lost before!

The Stages of The Marketing Funnel

Step 1: Attract Visitors

Before creating your marketing funnel, it is necessary to study the behavior of your audience. You must therefore use the persona method, in order to identify a marketing funnel that corresponds to them. It is the key element of any good strategy.

But not only! Generating quality traffic is one of the central steps in effectively fueling your marketing funnel. There are different ways to attract visitors:
Thanks to content marketing (example: articles, infographics, webinars, checklists etc.) which will aim to raise awareness and inform visitors. It is also the main lever of natural referencing.
The paid search (SEA) and natural (SEO). Two very different but complementary approaches to generate traffic.

The SMO (social media optimization), social networks greatly participate in the reputation hire wiki writers and the construction of the image of a company.
Thanks to the website as a whole, it is the first point of contact for a visitor and you should not miss it.

During this stage, your visitors are in the so-called “Discovery” phase. The challenge here is to answer the questions and / or the needs of your audience thanks to your content, without waiting for feedback.

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Step 2: Convert Visitors to Leads

In order to turn your visitors into qualified leads, you need to deliver useful content to your targets. This content should help your visitors in their reflections by providing them with solutions.
This content, free of charge, will be exchanged in return for information such as an email, a name, a telephone number, etc. This is when you need to identify and convert. This information will allow you to maintain contact with your targets.
During this step, it is imperative to use certain tools, such as:
Call-to-action: integrated into your content (articles, emails, premium content) and on your website, these “buttons” must be attractive on the visual and on the offer. They allow you to reach your landing pages.

The landing pages: Landing pages help convert visitors into leads and gather information about your audience. In return, they allow you to send your lead the content they want.
Lead magnets: content that “magnetizes” the prospect. They are sent against filling out a form on your landing pages, for example. For more precision,

Step 3: Qualify Leads

During this step, the Internet user goes from lead to MQL. When it is mature enough in its thinking and is ready to begin a buying process with you, it becomes SQL. We then speak of lead qualification.

There are Therefore Two Levels of Lead Qualification:

1. The Marketing Qualified Lead: You must observe if your lead is really interested in your offer. You can use marketing automation and scoring to analyze your lead’s actions and award them points. For example, check how often he visits your blog. After reaching a certain number of points, it is a Marketing Qualified Lead. This means that he has demonstrated a certain level of engagement with your content.

2. The Sales Qualified Lead: When a prospect switches from MQL to SQL, the sales team will be able to get in touch with him. An SQL must be an MQL which corresponds to the core target of your product or service and which has a very high level of engagement with your service. We will therefore analyze and observe whether it meets certain criteria other than commitment (size of the company, function, etc.).

To switch from one to the other you can help yourself with lead nurturing. This method will make it possible to offer leads who have already expressed an interest in your products or services, content related to their issues.

This process will make them more “mature”, that is to say, to move them forward on the journey to lead them to sales.