Why a Sales Funnel Should Be Your New Marketing Obsession
There are a few things I’m obsessed with.
Goldendoodles.
Early 2000s pop culture.
And sales funnels.
I used to think the term “sales funnel” was reserved for digital marketing wizards only. As if I didn’t have the street cred to use the lingo, let alone build one for my own business.
Thankfully, I was wrong.
The truth is, a sales funnel is the mark of any profitable business, no matter how big or small. The sooner you get on board, the sooner you’ll discover why sales funnels live up to the hype.
Today, we’re talking all about sales funnels. Specifically:
What Is a Sales Funnel?
How Does a Sales Funnel Work? The 3 Sales Funnel Stages
The #1 Reason Why You Need a Sales Funnel
Let’s get into it.
What Is a Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel, also known as a customer journey, is the journey you take a lead through to become a client.
Remember the 3 steps of a simple sales process? They are:
Awareness: How will prospects find you?
Consideration: How will prospects learn about what you do?
Decision: How will you stand out?
Your sales funnel, then, is your sales process in action.
How Does a Sales Funnel Work? The 3 Sales Funnel Stages
Think of a sales funnel as a dream-client assembly line. Your goal is to lead prospects down your funnel, from top to bottom, so they convert into a paying client.
Top-of-Funnel (ToFu): Awareness Stage
At this stage of your sales funnel, here’s what you have to do:
Get your prospects to find you.
Get your prospects to understand they have a problem.
Get your prospects to realize they need to get rid of this problem.
To get your prospects to find you, you need to create content that increases your visibility. This usually means playing nice with the algorithm of whatever platform you’re on (such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.) so that you can reach more people.
Once you know what type of content to create, next is to figure out what to talk about. Your goal is to get your prospects to want to get rid of their problem. Focus on creating content that gets your readers problem-aware.
Once they know what their problem is, they’ll start looking for solutions. This leads us to the next stage of your funnel.
(In terms of the 5 levels of customer awareness, your goal here is to get your prospects from Unaware/Problem-Aware → Solution Aware.)
Middle-of-Funnel (MoFu): Consideration Stage
Prospects entering the consideration stage already know they have a problem. They want to get rid of it. They want a way out.
This stage of your sales funnel is the perfect opportunity to earn that know-like-trust factor. What’s important here is to show up consistently.
So what do you talk about at this stage?
Educate your prospects on the different solutions at their disposal. Establish your expertise with high-value, authority-boosting content. Position the solution you provide as the best way to solve their problem. And don’t forget to introduce your offer.
Nurture your leads by sharing:
Educational content.
Client testimonials.
Case studies.
Your story.
Once you convince your prospect that your solution is the right move for them, then they move on to the last stage of your sales funnel.
(In terms of the 5 levels of customer awareness, your goal here is to get your prospects from Solution Aware → Product Aware.)
Bottom-of-Funnel (BoFu): Decision Stage
When a prospect enters the bottom of your sales funnel, they just need to know the deal. This means sharing:
Price
Bonuses
Payment plans
What’s included
What the process of working with you looks like
The goal here? Convert your lead into a paying dream client!
The #1 Reason Why You Need a Sales Funnel
There are so many reasons why you need a sales funnel. But because most of my clients come to me not knowing how to tackle their content marketing strategy, here’s the #1 reason why you need a sales funnel today.
Sales Funnel Benefit: Say goodbye to content marketing overwhelm.
If you walk into content creation day with no clue what type of content to create or what topics to talk about, a sales funnel will help you out BIG TIME.
Why? Because a sales funnel gives you a game plan.
Let’s say your sales funnel looks like this:
ToFu platform: Instagram
MoFu platform: Email
BoFu platform: Sales page
With this sales funnel, here is your game plan:
Instagram: Convince followers to join your email list.
Email: Get subscribers to click the link to your sales page.
Sales page: Persuade readers to buy
So when content creation day comes and you’re trying to figure out what to create for Instagram, all you have to do is revisit your game plan. Ask yourself, “What does my audience need from me to persuade them to join my email list?”
Whatever it is, create that.
Same with emails. If you approach email writing day thinking, “What the heck do I even talk about,” all you have to do is revisit your game plan. Ask yourself, “What information do my subscribers need from me to click the link to my sales page?”
Whatever it is, create that.
With a sales funnel, each stage of your funnel (and the content that lives at each stage) has one job.
That’s it.
Simple, right?
Your business is begging for a simple, high-converting sales funnel.
Funnels have a million moving parts and it can be hard to keep track of them all — check out our Sales + Launch Planning Bundle to bring in sales with ease.
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