A Content Marketing Funnel Explained A funnel for marketing content can help potential customers learn about your brand, discover solutions to their problems, and then feel comfortable buying from you. Content is better suited to each stage of the funnel. Checklists, videos, and infographics are effective in drawing attention, generating leads and keeping readers involved. Templates and guides that are gated do well at this stage. Awareness At this stage, consumers are aware of the existence of your brand and the services you offer. At this point the content should give answers and educate potential customers about the issues your solution solves, as well as how it differs from competitors. Consider the keywords that your audience uses when searching online. Through keyword research, you will find out which terms your audience is searching for and which indicate a need for your product or service. This information can then be used to develop an editorial calendar and determine the content pieces that will be targeted at those specific terms. The creation of content for this phase of the funnel will also help you build brand loyalty among consumers. The more your consumers know about your brand, they'll trust you more in your ability to solve their issues. This results in higher conversion rates for newsletter signups or purchases as well as clickthroughs on your website. A well-planned content strategy can help you close the gap in conversion at this stage. For example, if you discover that the majority of your content is targeted at awareness but not enough is helping buyers make a purchase decision, you may increase your advertising budget to focus on middle-funnel keywords. Social media is a different way to increase your bottom-of funnel conversion. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook allow you to interact directly with your customers and give you the opportunity to show off your customer service. This can range from retweeting good reviews to promoting special deals. You can also leverage existing content to draw customers to the bottom of the funnel, such as blog posts or case studies. If you write a blog post that explains why your product is superior to a competitor's you can share it via social media and ask your customers to join your email list to get more information. You can also encourage a conversion at this stage by asking your followers to include your name in their social media posts after using your product. This will motivate others to follow suit and spread the word about your brand. Consideration A successful content marketing strategy should include a mix of content types to attract customers throughout the funnel. Brand awareness campaigns, for instance, might include ad copy as well as blog posts and infographics to address common objections and concerns. This content could be further distributed via social media and email to increase organic traffic. As consumers move through the process of considering they begin to search for specific features in a product that can help them make an informed purchase decision. This phase is a great time to create FAQ pages. Utilize tools for keyword research such as Ubersuggest, or search popular hashtags within your industry to find questions that your readers ask. Then, you can write answers to these questions and include them on your content funnel map. At this point, it's important to provide an unambiguous value proposition that demonstrates to prospective customers the way your product or service will solve their problems and earn them more money. The content should also emphasize the distinctiveness of your brand in comparison to that of your competitors. This is an easy stage to measure since the consumer is making a purchase decision. Consider metrics like conversion rates, payment numbers and click-through rate to determine if your efforts are working. As they move into the advocacy phase and become loyal customers of your brand and share your content because they feel so strongly about it. This is a great method of increasing your reach. You'll need to develop content that is inspiring people to share it instead of just looking at engagement metrics. Utilize Sprout Social, for example to track social shares that are a result of your marketing efforts with content. This will give you an accurate picture of your influence. Decision At the point of making a decision consumers are seeking content that confirms their purchase and outlines how to use the product. At this point they want to be sure that your solution will solve their issue and justify the cost. At this stage, high-quality content, like product guides as well as case study videos and customer success stories are essential. Customers also want to be capable of asking questions and receive answers from your support team. Sending them personalized emails and round-the-clock customer support is an excellent way to please your customers and encourage them to share their experience with others. At this stage, you're hoping that the customer will become a brand advocate and will recommend your product to their colleagues and friends. To convert these advocates to raving customers, you will be required to provide them with relevant content that allows them to make the most of your product or service. Personalized newsletters videos, tutorials and free trial offers and loyalty programs are great ways to do this. It's time to begin focusing on retention after your audience has transformed from leads to paying clients. The conventional content marketing funnel models tend to view revenue as the end of the journey, but it's important to keep in mind that consumers continue to interact with brands after they've made a purchase. It's essential to think of funnels as a dynamic model that incorporates revenue, rather than an unchanging model. While traditional funnels for content marketing can aid in planning your strategy however, they do not take into account the complexities of the buyer journey. Instead thinking of the funnel in loops will help you create a more holistic and effective content marketing strategy. By planning for every step of the journey, you'll be able to create content that will engage your audience and generate conversions. You can then use the data from conversions to improve and test your strategy. Are you ready to discover how this strategy will benefit your business? Contact us today to request a no-cost Content marketing playbook! Retention A funnel for marketing content can be a valuable tool to help brands plan and implement their strategy. It can also help them identify the areas where they are lacking in their strategy. If a brand has lots of content targeted at generating the public's attention but only few pieces aimed at middle of funnel, it should create content for this stage. Utilize tools such as Ahrefs, which analyze the average time spent on a page and bounce rates of each piece to determine how targeted your content is. The higher these numbers are, the more efficient your content is. It's important to keep up-to-date and relevant the content you write to ensure that you are at the top of your funnel. This will ensure that your audience is interested and engaged in your brand and its products or services. The best way to do this is to create fresh content that focuses on certain keywords, answers questions that are likely being sought by your target audience and provides the most recent information on your industry or product. As your audience steps onto the MOFU stage, they'll be looking for more detailed information about your product or service, as well as solutions to their problems. At this stage it's crucial to build trust by offering honest reviews and demonstrating the value. The final phase of the funnel for content marketing is when your customers will make a purchase. This is usually done through gated content that requires an email address or some other method of registration to access. This content is designed to turn the awareness and engagement you've created at the top of your funnel into qualified leads. Your sales team can follow to follow up. You can still influence the journeys of your customers through your brand, even if the support and sales teams are primarily responsible for customer retention. Create content that is enjoyable for your customers throughout the entire funnel of content marketing. This can include helpful sources, information behind-the-scenes and special promotions that only your customers be able to access. If you can establish a relationship of trust to your customers, they will become your most loyal advocates and will help reduce the time to sell.
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