If you are not familiar with the traditional sales funnel, this marketing concept can help you better get to know your target customers and what they need from you during each step of their buyer’s journey. Though content marketing is often thought of as a top funnel strategy, different types of content can help you reach people during each stage of this process.
In our latest blog post, we give an overview of the sales funnel and explain where content fits into each stage so you can draw new leads and customers to your business.
A Beginner's Guide to Content and the Sales Funnel
If you are not familiar with the traditional sales funnel, this marketing concept can help you
better get to know your target customers and what they need from you during each step of their
buyer’s journey. Though content marketing is often thought of as a top funnel strategy, different
types of content can help you reach people during each stage of this process. Knowing what the
sales funnel is and understanding where content fits into each stage can help you better provide
targeted content that draws new leads and customers to your business.
Sales Funnel 101: The Basics
Imagine a funnel. It’s wider at the top and narrows considerably at the bottom. In many ways,
this resembles your sales process. You begin with a large batch of leads, some who are right for
your company and others who are not. As these consumers do their research and interact with
your brand, the number of leads slowly decreases until those who are a good fit become
customers and you work to retain them.
This is the sales funnel, which has four basic stages:
● Awareness
– At this stage, individuals are in the very beginning of their buyer’s journey.
They are seeking out education and new information to help them better understand the
available solutions to their problems.
● Consideration
– During the consideration stage,
consumers are looking for a demonstration of
solutions or expertise. They are comparing
solutions to find which may be a good fit for their
particular need.
● Decision
– This is when the consumer is finally
ready to buy and needs to make a final decision.
At this stage, consumers want to experience
some sort of confirmation that they are making
the right choice.
● Retention
– After consumers become customers, they will continue to look to your brand
for helpful information and insight as well as new products and services that continue to
make their lives easier.
These stages each represent a process that your leads go thro