Greatest Sales Formula: Marketing Funnels
Prospects go through different stages of awareness before deciding to make a purchase. These stages are nicely depicted by the illustration of funnels. A funnel is shaped similarly to a cone, with a wide opening at the top, which becomes significantly smaller once it gets to the bottom.
The wide opening represents the pool of people with surface-level awareness of the product or service, meaning they’ve probably heard of it or seen a few ads promoting it. Middle of funnel— people who made it past surface-level awareness and gained some interest in your offer. Bottom of funnel— people who’ve made one or more purchases, thus are hyper-aware of your offer, and can potentially become loyal clients if you nurture them properly. Follow these tips to nail each of these sections for optimal performance.
Top of funnel
First task is getting attention (views), and turning these views into clicks that lead to your landing page. This is called traffic. There are two types of traffic. There is organic traffic, which doesn’t require cash investment (clicks are obtained through SEO, content marketing, and social media). On the other hand, you have paid traffic such as affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and paid ads.
You must ensure that you have a well-constructed landing page so that once this traffic reads it, they will have a clear understanding of who you are, what your values are, what problem you’re seeking to solve, and how you will solve this problem. Although this is YOUR landing page, thus your introduction to the prospects, making the whole page about yourself is a common mistake businesses make when writing their landing page.
Yes, you will introduce yourself and your brand, but this should only take a small portion of the page. Most of the landing page should be dedicated to addressing the prospects’ problems, and educating them about how your solution, because helping to improve their lives is your mission. Remember to be concise. The landing page should then lead them to your sales page, in which you will make them an offer they cannot refuse. Except, most prospects will usually still require a little more convincing.
Which brings me to…
Middle of funnel
The purpose of the landing page is not only to introduce your brand but mainly to generate leads. Most people won’t buy on the first time seeing your sales page. This is why you’ll offer some value upfront in exchange for their email. You need prospects’ emails to build your email list (your list of leads), which allows you more opportunities to market to them. Nobody will give you their email address just for kicks and giggles though. This is why you must have a high-value lead magnet within your landing page. Offer something valuable: a checklist, cheat sheet, guide, webinar, workshop, or masterclass (for free). They can get the awesome freebie by simply entering their email to receive access.
As soon as you get their email, you will begin nurturing these leads by sending “indoctrination emails,” three emails would suffice for this stage. The first email you send will be a welcome email (include access to the freebie). In the next email, you’ll further introduce yourself, and your company’s values, and mission. The last indoctrination email should effectively communicate to the audience why you are uniquely qualified to help them with their problem. Let them know you understand them.
Bottom of Funnel
Now, that you’ve given your prospect enough information and time to get well acquainted with your brand/company, you can begin sending sales emails. These emails will essentially convey that your offer will help them solve their problem in an easier, faster, or better manner than if they were to do it alone. Six sales emails are recommended:
1 to introduce your product or offer
1 to educate on the benefits/how it can help them
1 to showcase social proof/build authority
1 to stack the value
1 to overcome objections
1 to convey incentive and scarcity
All of these emails must have a call to action that will take them back to the sales page they viewed at the beginning. After indoctrination, this page is more likely to turn their interest into desire, and hopefully, they will take action, and make the purchase. Thus, finally converting into profit.
Note: Marketing funnels are constantly upgraded to follow market trends and optimize customer experience.
Retaining your prospects will be the next task to accomplish once they’ve made their first purchase, this requires consistent nurturing. We’ll discuss some tips on how to maintain clients in next week’s blog.
Enjoy your week 💟
