If your marketing content isn’t helping you land the kind of business you think it should be, it’s time to review how your marketing funnel leads to sales and why your content isn’t generating enough leads, so you can fix it.
Your marketing funnel is a framework for understanding people’s decisions as they consider becoming your customers. Marketers use this shorthand for the consumer buying process to create a content marketing funnel, which is a more effective strategy for inbound content marketing.
How does your marketing funnel lead to sales? First, it gives you actionable clues on attracting them to your offerings and inspiring them to buy. Each stage of the funnel is identified as each business sees fit; however, a common model is Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action (AIDA).
While AIDA is most helpful in describing a buyer’s behavior, dividing the funnel stages into the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel is most helpful in describing a marketer’s behavior related to where your prospects are in their buyer journeys. Here’s a closer look.
Top of the Funnel (ToFu)
During this stage, people become aware of a challenge you can solve for them as a business. This is the time when you:
Middle of the Funnel (MoFu)
During this stage, people realize they need a solution, so they start to research options. This is the time when you:
Bottom of the Funnel (BoFu)
During this stage, people decide what they want and are ready to buy. This is the time when you:
If you’re writing about the wrong things, you’re not addressing the audience’s pain points, answering their questions, and offering relevant solutions for their needs. You want to ensure you understand your target audience and relate to them on their level. You want them to trust you as you guide them through their buyer journey.
Consider focusing your content topics on what your audience cares most about when they’re shopping for something, such as:
If your audience doesn’t know what to do after consuming your content, that’s on you. You should always provide them with one clear next step, so they’ll know exactly what to do.
This is all about including a call-to-action (CTA) in every piece of content so they don’t miss out on something more, and you don’t miss an opportunity to convert them into customers. You only need one CTA to be effective. Otherwise, you’ll confuse them with too many options.
Build in one appropriate next step for each of your content pieces:
If you equate marketing content with a sales pitch, you should rethink what marketing content means for your business. Selling too hard is often the worst turnoff for prospective customers. They want to know and trust you without all the pressure. They’re looking for honesty about delivering promises rather than the hard sell.
Work on your company’s voice and tone:
If you’re producing content that your audience can’t find, it will be difficult to generate any leads from it. Businesses need to actively drive traffic to content for it to do its lead generation job. You want to:
When you’re ready to work your marketing funnel and create marketing content that generates lots of leads, connect with 11outof11. Request a complimentary call with an 11outof11 expert. Contact us to learn more.