{"id":55762,"date":"2019-08-19T18:35:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newblog.creatopy.com\/blog\/?p=55762"},"modified":"2023-07-24T14:15:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T11:15:58","slug":"marketing-funnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/marketing-funnel\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing Funnel for Beginners: A How-To Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether you are in B2B sales or eCommerce sales, your work is most likely related to marketing, planning, analyzing, and finding better ways to attract and retain customers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">d, even if you are aware of it or not, you are already involved in some kind of a marketing funnel.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\"><a href=\"#a\">Awareness<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><a href=\"#b\">Consideration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><a href=\"#c\">Conversion<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><a href=\"#d\">Loyalty<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><a href=\"#e\">Advocacy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><b>What is a marketing funnel?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s best to start by defining what this term means, right? Well, let\u2019s do it before we get lost in the specifics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can define the <strong>marketing funnel<\/strong> as a concept that refers to all the steps included in the sale process, from the beginning to the end. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the times, the funnel represents the customer\u2019s journey from awareness \u2013 about a specific product \u2013 and up to the point when they do not only buy that product but also endorse it to their peers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a consequence, the marketing funnel takes care of this journey and adapts the whole marketing process and consequent strategies to it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What we are interested in, at this point, is the digital marketing funnel and everything related to it, starting with the setup.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The main marketing funnel stages<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you can see in the image above, the marketing funnel has five main stages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It starts with creating awareness and ends up with the customer endorsing your product to others, creating a new type of awareness and restarting the whole process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If successful, the marketing funnel becomes circular.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s take an in-depth look at these stages.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b><a id=\"a\"><\/a>1. Brand, product or service awareness<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Awareness is the keyword<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whenever you start a new website, whether it&#8217;s an online store or even a blog, the first thing you need to take care of, technical specs aside, is the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need to build an audience. You need people to know about you, to see that you exist and that you have something to offer, something that the competition does not have.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This step is all about getting the word out there about your business and showing your strength to your <a href=\"https:\/\/newblog.creatopy.com\/blog\/long-form-content\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">target audience<\/a>. Present your brand, qualities, and everything new you put on the table. Describe your goals, your products, services, or websites and let the audience know precisely where you stand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This step <strong>is essential for all types of marketing funnel strategies, <\/strong>but it may prove to be quite decisive for a content marketing funnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When people are searching the Internet for something, they already have an intent. And, at this stage, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/robertkatai.com\/user-intent-in-content-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">user intent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is informational. Your job is to take this intent, come up with something to satisfy it immediately, and build awareness based on your ability to answer the audience\u2019s questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How can you build awareness?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The answer is: by creating content. Do it as frequently as you possibly can.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let me tell you briefly about our content creation strategy here, at Creatopy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>a. Blog posts:<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We start every article with keyword research. For this, we use several tools such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEMrush<\/a>, Moz, or Ahrefs. We need these keywords in order to create relevant content but to also target exactly what our customers and readers are searching for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-55764 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/newblog.creatopy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/marketing-funnel-kw-research-1024x555.png\" alt=\"marketing funnel keyword research in ahrefs\" width=\"1024\" height=\"555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/marketing-funnel-kw-research-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/marketing-funnel-kw-research-150x81.png 150w, https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/marketing-funnel-kw-research-600x325.png 600w, https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/marketing-funnel-kw-research-768x416.png 768w, https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/marketing-funnel-kw-research-770x418.png 770w, https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/marketing-funnel-kw-research.png 1833w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, we know that our customers are using social media to promote their businesses, and they all need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creatopy.com\/blog\/marketing-design\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">create visuals<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, we create articles in which we explain and show them how to create <a href=\"https:\/\/newblog.creatopy.com\/blog\/facebook-group-cover-photo-size\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook covers for groups<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/newblog.creatopy.com\/blog\/facebook-event-photo-size\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook covers for events<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>b. Video content<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aside from the traditional blog posts, we are also involved in creating video content, which consists mainly of the same topics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For this, we dive deep into <a href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/hub\/youtube\/youtube-keyword-research\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube keyword research<\/a> to see what people are interested in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve learned that people are interested in creating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creatopy.com\/create\/html5-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HTML5 animations<\/a> and so, we published it as a solution\/answer to their questions, explaining how our tool can help them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, here&#8217;s the <a href=\"https:\/\/newblog.creatopy.com\/blog\/how-to-create-awesome-html5-animations-without-using-any-code\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><b>c. Pinterest content (visuals)<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pinterest is a visual search platform that&#8217;s often used by creators to find inspiration. That\u2019s one of the main reasons why we are also investing time in creating content for Pinterest, which, similar to the previous example, follows an initial keyword research step.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our goal is the same as above &#8211; to give the audience the solution they are looking for.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can give you an example as well. W<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">e posted a visual that was published on Pinterest as well. It was a great choice since vertical content on Pinterest drives more results than any other type of content.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b><a id=\"b\"><\/a>2. Customer\u2019s consideration<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second step of the funnel is critical, especially from the marketing <a href=\"https:\/\/mirasee.com\/blog\/lead-funnel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sales funnel<\/a> point of view because this is the stage where the user moves from awareness to consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is also the stage when you can <strong>build a relationship with the customer.<\/strong> At this point, they are already interested in what you have to offer and want to find out more about your brand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, it&#8217;s also the time when you get to know more about your audience and adjust your marketing funnel accordingly. You know what visitors want \u2013 should they make an inquiry \u2013 or, at least, where they come from, on which page they landed, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are all essential pieces of information for a marketer. And, in order to make myself more clear, I will show you a simple example of customer consideration. This is our <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.g2.com\/products\/bannersnack\/reviews\/bannersnack-review-2201168\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">profile on G2<\/a>,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which triggers reviews and, of course, immediate response on our part.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The thing is providing a quick response is not everything. You also need to tell the audience why they should choose you instead of the competition. To do this, you need to show your strengths. Tell them what makes you a better choice, what value you can add to their lives, etc. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is where content marketing makes its entry and, in this case, the G2 profile page.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b><a id=\"c\"><\/a>3. Conversion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In marketing terms, the conversion funnel is also the point where you try to make it obvious one more time why your products are better than the competitors\u2019. And, consequently, to convert the potential customer into a paying one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This step has different meanings based on your ultimate goal, but essentially, if all goes according to plan, it may be reduced to one single big truth: \u201cYou got him\/her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have something to sell, at this point, the customer makes their first purchase.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are a blogger, they have subscribed to your feed, newsletter, or came back at least one more time to read your new posts.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>a. The Live Chat solution<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s yet another great piece of advice that will help you a lot in this customer conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some people need a solution to their problems, and they need it right now. Let\u2019s assume you answered a lot of questions in a thoroughly researched article, but nevertheless, some of the readers need more clarification. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How can you help them besides replying to their comments?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set up a live chat, use a chatbot like Intercom (the one we use here at Creatopy) and offer instant assistance to their questions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b><a id=\"d\"><\/a>4. Customer loyalty<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the next logical step in your marketing funnel. Conversions should not be regarded solely as a means to an end. Nothing ends with a conversion. If it did, just a few businesses would survive, and mostly those who deal in producing and selling food.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At this point, your marketing efforts should focus on customer retention, which in other words, can be translated easily as customer loyalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It means that they come back to make another purchase, they subscribe to your website, they follow your brand on social media and similar channels, etc. Your goals may differ depending on the industry you market for, but in the end, retention is as necessary as the first step, which created awareness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Education plays an integral part in this step. I am not talking about the education received by the customer but the education you can give them through great content, original research, and experiments. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We do the same thing here at Creatopy, our latest example being the research we\u2019ve conducted for comparing <a href=\"https:\/\/newblog.creatopy.com\/blog\/reddit-ads-quora-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Quora Ads and Reddit Ads<\/a>. We described which one of these platforms helped us the most, but at the same time, we explained our audience how to use them both with maximum efficiency and best results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, retention and loyalty mean that the customers are happy with what you were able to deliver, and this is how they get to the next step of the funnel:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b><a id=\"e\"><\/a>5. Customer endorsement\/advocacy<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is how a digital marketing funnel gets to become circular and re-enact the same steps all over again, but this time, with less effort on your part.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How so?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, a happy customer will spread the word on what made him\/her happy. In this case, I am referring to your products, services, or content. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They will restart the funnel by creating further awareness on their own social media pages or websites.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you all know everything that is to know, you can start building your own marketing funnel template based on the steps above. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It doesn\u2019t need to be exactly like this &#8211; you can adapt based on your own goals and needs. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, two things will and should remain unaltered: you need to start with awareness and work your way up until you get your customer to advocate your brand.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you are in B2B sales or eCommerce sales, your work is most likely related to marketing, planning, analyzing, and finding better ways to attract and retain customers. And, even if you are aware of it or not, you are already involved in some kind of a marketing funnel. Awareness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":55769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3983],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55762"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82178,"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55762\/revisions\/82178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatopydevelopmentblog.kinsta.cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}