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The Marketing Funnel - Brand & Value Proposition

In my opinion, educating people about your brand and value proposition at every stage of the marketing experience/funnel, is just as important as conversion, in fact more so. Many B2B and even B2C marketers however, struggle to see past the 'what does this mean for sales' angle, which is of course the easier measurable to side with.

The Funnel

In essence 'the funnel' is about: marketing, automation, lead management, demand generation and lastly sales.



TOP
Attract - to draw potential customers towards you
  • Increased brand awareness
  • Targeted display / banner adverting
  • Delivery of messaging and value proposition (VP)
  • Drive website traffic
  • Educate (brand & VP)
MIDDLE
Engage & Nurture - a series of communications to help the person know, like, follow and trust you:
  • Drive content engagement
  • Social advertising
  • Boost form conversions & harvesting relevant details
  • Increasing page views & visits
  • Educate (brand & VP)
BOTTOM (it’s OK to talk 'sales' now)
Sell - establish a detailed understanding of that person’s requirements and matching a solution, product or service. 
  • Re-targeting
  • Re-emphasis of brand messaging and value proposition 
  • Drive qualified leads
  • Revisit missed opportunities and conversations
  • Statistical analysis
  • Sales contribution
  • Educate (brand & VP)
It's important not to disregard the customer once they are on board with you. Too often the after sales process is non-existent or poorly thought out. Loyalty should not be taken for granted.

Deliver - the after-sales support, to help the customer gain benefits early, always nurturing the relationship.

Educate prospects and customers
By ensuring you educate people about your brand and unique brand values, you instil something a lot more important and ‘human’ in them, leaving a lasting impression. This of course takes time and effort and you should only pitch the ‘sale’ after you have done the work.

Display advertising

When was the last time you clicked on a display ad anyway? Many marketers still can’t understand the reason behind banner advertising, probably because they are looking at the wrong stats. Banner advertising is amongst the few forms of online advertising that you should almost completely disregard the click thorough rate (CTR) and focus entirely on the impressions (times the ad was displayed). Spend the extra time in selecting the network of sites to use and the demographic of people to target, and this form of advertising can work its magic in the latter parts of the funnel. Remember – impressions, not click throughs!
First ever display ad. Amongst the few that actually had great CTR %
The average banner ad has a 0.1% click through rate, 50% of which are mistakes, which means that you are in fact more likely to survive a plane crash, than click on a display or banner ad. But it has its place in your marketing, remember, impressions are your friend.*

THE MORAL
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, YOUR PRODUCTS, SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES ONLY MAKE AN IMPACT AND DRIVE SALES IF YOUR BRAND AND PEOPLE ARE DELIVERING THE BRAND'S TRUE PROPOSITION. 




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