
- Funnel advertising and marketing is an strategy that markets to customers from their first interplay with a model till they develop into a paid buyer and past.
- Funnel advertising and marketing is modeled after the advertising and marketing funnel, an idea that tells the corporate the way it ought to market to customers based mostly on their place within the funnel itself. The notion of a buyer embarking on a journey when interacting with a model was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898.
- Funnel advertising and marketing sometimes considers three phases of a non-linear advertising and marketing funnel. These are prime of the funnel (TOFU), center of the funnel (MOFU), and backside of the funnel (BOFU). Specific advertising and marketing methods at every stage are tailored to the extent of familiarity the buyer has with a model.
What’s funnel advertising and marketing?
Funnel advertising and marketing is an strategy that markets to customers from their first interplay with a model till they develop into a paid buyer and past.
At its core, funnel advertising and marketing encompasses a buyer’s journey with a model.
The strategy, after all, is modeled after the advertising and marketing funnel, an idea that tells the corporate the way it ought to market to customers based mostly on their place within the funnel itself. When used accurately, a model can appeal to, have interaction, and convert prospects to drive gross sales, loyalty, model consciousness, and repeat purchases.
The notion {that a} buyer progressed via numerous phases with a enterprise was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898. Lewis’s mannequin mapped a metaphorical journey from the minute a buyer interacts with a model to the purpose of motion or buy. Nonetheless, it will be one other 26 years earlier than writer William W. Townsend would affiliate Lewis’s interpretation with the notion of a funnel.
Whereas Lewin’s mannequin featured the 4 steps of consciousness, curiosity, need, and motion (AIDA), many companies at this time use a simplified however extra related three-stage model. We’ll clarify this in additional element within the subsequent part.

Three-stage funnel advertising and marketing
In a theoretical sense, the advertising and marketing funnel is linear. Prospects begin their journey on the prime of the funnel and finish it on the backside the place a conversion is made. In follow, nonetheless, most prospects transfer out and in of the funnel at will earlier than they convert. Some others will make it to the underside with out changing and drop off the radar utterly.
Let’s now have a look at the three phases of funnel advertising and marketing.
1 – High of the funnel (TOFU)
On the prime of the funnel, prospects develop into conscious of a model and work together with it for the primary time. Since most is not going to know a lot a few services or products, this preliminary stage ought to concentrate on advertising and marketing that will increase model consciousness.
Listed below are some methods a advertising and marketing staff can appeal to prospects:
- Share the corporate’s USP on social media.
- Run focused, paid adverts in podcasts or on social media, and
- Construct a touchdown web page that introduces the model, product, or service.
2 – Center of the funnel (MOFU)
A prospect reaches the MOFU solely after they’ve made a significant interplay with a model. What constitutes a significant interplay is open for dialogue, however it could be that the buyer has subscribed to an e-mail record or is following the model on social media.
The second stage should concentrate on constructing belief with the prospect through additional engagement. In different phrases:
- Invite the prospect to take part in a survey. This is usually a good approach to carry out conversion fee optimization (CRO) and determine the drivers, boundaries, and hooks particular person encounters with a model.
- Clarify how a services or products solves a buyer downside and provides worth. More and more, manufacturers are turning to white papers for this objective.
- Share product comparisons, demonstrations, or related case research.
3 – Backside of the funnel (BOFU)
The BOFU is the final place a prospect visits earlier than a conversion takes place. At this level, the enterprise has completed the exhausting work of attracting the eye of a prospect, constructing a relationship with them, and incomes their belief.
The main focus right here is to transform the prospect. This may be completed within the following methods:
- Supply a free trial or demonstration of the services or products.
- Write a information for prospects who maintain last-minute doubts, issues, or another issue that might hinder a conversion.
- Show social proof within the type of testimonies and critiques, and
- Phase the e-mail record in keeping with particular actions. For instance, a singular e-mail sequence might be despatched to a prospect who abandons their cart.
Learn Subsequent: Enterprise Engineering, Pirate Funnel, Development Advertising and marketing.
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Funnel Advertising and marketing

Funnel advertising and marketing is modeled after the advertising and marketing funnel, an idea that tells the corporate the way it ought to market to customers based mostly on their place within the funnel itself. The notion of a buyer embarking on a journey when interacting with a model was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898.
Funnel advertising and marketing sometimes considers three phases of a non-linear advertising and marketing funnel. These are prime of the funnel (TOFU), center of the funnel (MOFU), and backside of the funnel (BOFU). Specific advertising and marketing methods at every stage are tailored to the extent of familiarity the buyer has with a model.
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