A successful brand marketing strategy requires a number of tactics and tools to be used over a period of time. Brand marketing is different from the promotion of a single product through advertising campaigns and should focus on the long-term, with the goal of creating a positive experience for users who interact with the brand at all stages of the customer journey.
A full-funnel marketing strategy is a sustainable marketing approach that ensures all touchpoints in the customer journey are accounted for. It includes all the marketing channels that can be used to reach a consumer and should be used to provide the best brand experience possible.
To give a better understanding of what full-funnel marketing is and how it affects the brand experience for the customer, let’s look at the key step every funnel is made of, how to establish who the customer is and what makes up their entire purchasing process.
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The 5 five main steps in the marketing funnel
Full-funnel marketing is based on the idea that the customer‘s journey is made of five different stages. These are:
- Awareness
Customers become aware of your brand or product. They start to see your ads, hear about you on social media, or read your content online. This can be through paid ads or organic search results.
- Consideration
In this stage, customers begin to think about purchasing your product or service. They may do research on what they need and compare it with other options available on the market. Your website should provide them with all the information they need to make an informed decision. This is also when they will start looking for coupons and discounts if available!
- Evaluation
Once people are interested in what you have to offer, it’s time for them to decide whether or not they want to buy from you. In this stage, people start thinking about how much money they’re willing to spend on your product or service and how much value it will bring into their lives. The goal of this stage is to turn potential buyers into paying customers by convincing them that buying from you is worth it.
- Purchase
Conversion is when someone takes action after considering their options and picking your brand over another to buy. For example, if someone has been thinking about buying a new car for months, but hasn’t made any moves toward actually making it happen: they’ve decided on what kind of car they want, how much money they want to spend and which dealership will sell them the car for the best price – all that remains is for them to actually go out and buy it.
- Loyalty
Finally, there is the post-purchase stage, which means that you should keep in touch with your customers after they have made their purchase and try to make sure that they return to buy from you again.
Building a full-funnel marketing strategy: knowing your customer persona
A full funnel approach aims to implement marketing techniques across the entire customer journey. From the moment a customer becomes aware of your business, to the point where they would recommend your brand to others, you need to apply a broad strategy. To build an effective strategy of this kind, therefore, the first essential step is to gain a clear understanding of who your customer is. In other words, you have to create a customer persona.
A customer persona (or buyer persona) is a detailed description of someone who represents your target audience. This persona is fictional but based on thorough research on your existing or desired audience, what they need and want, as well as how they think and behave. Understanding who you’re selling to will help you create better messaging, convert more leads into customers, and improve your relationship with your audience.
What are the steps to create a buyer persona? A customer persona is a mix of characteristics, behaviors, motivations, and demographics of your ideal customers. When you know your buyer personas well, you can then create content that will speak to them. Here are three steps to create one.
Start with a target audience
This is the most important step in creating a buyer persona. Defining your target audience helps you to understand their motivations and needs. The more specific you can get, the better. If you’re trying to sell a product or service to businesses, consider targeting particular industries or job functions. If you’re selling a product to consumers, think about their age range and gender.
Create a list of traits that describe your ideal customer
Buyer personas are often based on demographics like age, gender, and location, but they can also incorporate psychographics – the values, beliefs, and attitudes that define an individual or group of people.
Once you have identified who your target audience is, it’s time to create a profile for them. This can be done by writing short blurbs about each persona that include their goals and objectives, personality traits and demographics, as well as their behaviors and preferences.
Use the buyer personas throughout your marketing campaigns
Now that you have these profiles, it’s time to use them! The best way to do this is by inserting them into every piece of content that you publish online – from blog posts and emails, to landing pages and sales pages. You should also make these profiles available internally in order for everyone on your team to understand who your buyers are so they can tailor their messages accordingly. In the next section we’ll look at your content marketing strategy.
Full-funnel content marketing strategy in the customer’s journey
Once you have established who you want to speak to it’s time to work on your content strategy. Content marketing is often seen as a great way for capturing interest and leads during the awareness phase of your funnel but rarely leveraged to generate conversions. However, content can be an effective solution which can be used across all stages of the marketing funnel.
A full-funnel content approach is used to create and implement specific content for each stage of the buyer’s journey, from awareness to post-purchase. Each stage presents a unique challenge that you need to solve in order to convert more customers. This is why it is important to segment your leads and market to them at different points in their journey.
Your full-funnel content strategy should be built around three separate blocks.
Top-of-the-funnel (TOFU)
A top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) is a step in the sales funnel that occurs after your user comes across your brand for the first time or has taken action to learn more about your product or service. It should appeal to those who don’t know you well enough to understand the values of your brand. It’s often considered as one of the most important steps along the sales funnel and having a great TOFU will help you reach more people, convert them into buyers faster, and increase your revenue.
Content that is top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) will appeal to the broadest audience. It’s content that is accessible and easy to understand, but also provides a strong message or point of view. Top-of-the-funnel content includes blog posts, social media updates, podcasts, and ads that present the value of your brand and aim to inspire curiosity for your product or service.
Middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU)
MOFU content is content that appeals to the mid-funnel, meaning people who are aware of your product and need to be convinced to make their first purchase. This type of content can be used as a tool for growing your email list, increasing traffic to your website, or driving leads through a sales funnel.
Examples of MOFU content include showcasing testimonials, reviews, and how-to articles, providing tutorials and webinars or promoting a series of discounts for those who are yet to become customers.
Bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU)
At this stage you want to make it as easy as possible for people to try what you are selling for the first time. People who get to this stage are very close to completing a transaction and it’s important that your communication clears any remaining doubts that could become an obstacle to buying.
FAQ pages, clear terms and conditions, shipping times, price comparison – anything that can help build trust toward your brand matters.
Full-funnel marketing: final words
As we’ve seen, the reason why full-funnel marketing is important is because it takes the guesswork out of selling. It allows you to target your customers by sending them a message that connects with their needs and interests, which means they are more likely to buy from you.
A full-funnel marketing strategy translates into an awareness of every step of the customer’s journey. This way, it helps avoid losing customers along the way by offering the information they need at the right time, every time.
Looking for help in building an efficient full-funnel marketing strategy? Get in touch today and let’s discuss your project!
