If you’ve got a background in marketing, then you might be familiar with the concept of the sales funnel, a model most businesses follow to generate sales. In a nutshell, the sales funnel is a tool to bring visitors to the site and then convert them into clients.
Nowadays, with more people relying on their smartphones or tablets when making a purchase, the old means of enticing consumers into buying a product (i.e. old forms of advertisements) are no longer sufficient for businesses to lead people into entering the sales funnel. How to turn them into prospects as they move towards the narrower part of the funnel will depend on effective content marketing strategies.
New Components of a Sales Funnel
The concept and practice of a sales funnel is about bringing people into the marketing vortex and narrowing down the prospects, and then working to convert them into clients. The question you need to ask is this: how can you draw people into entering the sales funnel, and how can your business help them exit as satisfied customers?
This is where having an effective content marketing strategy comes into play. There may be other tools at your disposal, yet nothing draws more people into the vortex than quality and well-made content. Your content may include information articles, blogs, videos, emails, podcasts, and other forms your customers find useful.
The New Form of the Sales Funnel
Some businesses follow different models of the sales funnel, but these can be narrowed down into three parts, namely awareness, evaluation, and commitment.
- Awareness is at the top of your funnel, or your vortex. Your target audience has a problem or need, and your business can provide a solution in the form of foundational content, something that 90 percent of consumers find very useful.
- Evaluation happens when a prospective customer finds himself evaluating whether to trust the solution you offer or not. At this point, you must have nurturing content, demonstrating why the solution that you offer is worth a try.
- Commitment begins at the end of the funnel, where you’re already guiding your customer on how they can get your products and services. This can be done in the form of call-to-action content such as a trial offer or a personalized consultation.
It also helps to utilize marketing funnel automation, where people being led into the vortex are turned into satisfied customers in the least amount of time possible. This can be done with the help of digital marketing experts, such as 5 Star Brand.
Sources:
How Content Marketing Has Completely Reshaped The Sales Funnel, Business 2 Community
Do You Have A Sales Funnel?, Business 2 Community