From Awareness to Conversion: Understanding the Stages of an Effective Marketing Funnel.

In the marketing industry, you’ve probably heard people talk about how they use funnels to generate a lot of sales or gather leads. But when we actually look at their funnels, it often goes over our heads because we may not have ever tried to understand what funnels are or implemented them ourselves. That’s why, before creating a funnel, it’s important to understand what a marketing funnel is. This video is definitely going to help you with that.

Imagine that in your neighborhood, a new food shop opens. You walk by it daily and notice it, but you never think of stopping by to eat. Then, one day, the shop distributes a flyer to your home, saying that if you come to eat, you’ll get a 30% discount on your first order. This attracts you, and you think, “Why not give it a try?” So you go, try the food, and if you enjoy their customer service and the food, you become a repeat customer. This is essentially a marketing funnel.

For your brand, once people know its name and what you offer through your website or other engagement, they fall into the “bottom of the funnel” audience, making it easier to convert them into sales or leads. It’s much harder to directly pitch a sale to an audience unfamiliar with you right from the start. A marketing funnel’s purpose is to turn an unaware audience into leads or sales by making them aware of your brand.

A marketing funnel doesn’t have to be complex; it can also be very simple. When starting out, simple funnels are often best. For four years, I worked with my clients using only simple funnels, and they were effective. In the marketing world, there’s often a misconception that funnels have to be complicated to work effectively.

Let’s talk about the types of marketing funnels I create for my clients. But first, understand that if you’re selling a product or service, you don’t need to cater to the entire world. You need to target a specific audience. Suppose I have a marketing agency, so my target audience would be small business owners or entrepreneurs who could benefit from my services. Similarly, you need to understand your audience before anything else.

Now, let’s start with the “Top of the Funnel” audience. This audience is very broad, and here, you need to find people who are interested in your field. For this, you might use ads focused on awareness and engagement, rather than sales. My main goal here is not to make sales but to get people to engage with the content, like or comment on it. For this top-level audience, video ads work very well. For example, I run a marketing agency, so I might create memes or user-generated content to run ads because people trust UGC and memes get a lot of engagement.

Once people engage with this content, I know they’re interested in my field, and I can move them further down the funnel. At this point, I can measure the engagement by tracking metrics like video views and social media interactions. Those who show engagement can then be moved to the “Middle of the Funnel” stage.

At the middle stage, the audience becomes more familiar with your brand. Here, our goal is to gather data, such as email addresses or phone numbers, by offering something valuable in return. For example, if my agency offers SEO services, I might offer a free SEO audit or a free webinar. Offering something valuable encourages people to sign up, making them part of my warm audience.

Now, with this collected data, I know that people who signed up are genuinely interested in the services I offer. This allows me to bring them further down the funnel into the “Bottom of the Funnel,” where they are more likely to convert. If you’re offering services, you could create workshops, webinars, or even offer an ebook. If you’re selling products, you could offer trial packs or discounts, or if you’re in real estate, you could offer a free list of new properties.

After gathering this data, we move to the “Bottom of the Funnel” audience, where the focus is on converting these highly interested prospects into actual sales or leads. The audience here is often “hot,” or very likely to convert. By retargeting them repeatedly, we make them more likely to engage.

Finally, the often-overlooked step in the funnel is “Post-Purchase Activities.” After a customer has made a purchase, we should continue engaging them with offers or memberships. For example, after purchasing something, Swiggy or Zomato might send a notification saying, “20% discount, just for you,” making customers feel valued. This emotional connection helps ensure that customers stay engaged and continue interacting with the brand in the future.