Using the Marketing Funnel to Increase Lead Generation & Sales

Funnel marketing is all about attracting leads and converting leads into sales. A marketing funnel, or purchase funnel, is a simplistic way of explaining the internet marketing business. An internet marketing mastermind once told me that there are six steps involved in building a relationship with a customer: awareness, consideration, preference, action, loyalty, and advocacy. Attracting leads can be accomplished by advertisements like Google Ads or by an inbound marketing campaign.

AWARENESS

If you are searching for an inbound marketing agency make sure they have a track record of leading customers down the marketing funnel. Inbound marketing agencies create awareness about a company’s brand through the development of engaging content that draws people to your website (inbound traffic). 

An internet marketing consultant who specializes in inbound marketing will use inbound marketing software such as Hubspot to manage all of the content involved in an inbound marketing campaign, including social media pages, blogs and website content. While advertising is not the cornerstone of an inbound marketing campaign, content rich advertisements can complement a strong campaign. Advertisements like the native advertising of a sponsored Facebook post along with engaging blog posts and social media posts will build awareness of your brand. Include links back to your website whenever possible. On the landing page, be sure to place a leads magnet or call to action.

CONSIDERATION

Lead generation content marketing involves creating lead pages that feature a lead magnet, which is a “freebie” that encourages customers to give you their contact information in exchange for something of value. Successful lead landing page examples include a page that has an invitation to a webinar (just enter your contact information and you can take part in the webinar) or a page that allows you to download an E-book (such as 101 ways lead generation companies generate sales.) A professional landing page design is a brand strategy that will capture more leads.

ACTION

Like a lead magnet, a call to action is an essential part of a website page. A call to action definition includes a phrase that provokes an immediate response on behalf of the customer to contact your company about a product or service. Call to action examples include call to action phrases like “Call Now” or “Get Started Now.” Calls to action will always provoke an immediate response on the part of a customer to contact your company right away about your products and services. Call to action buttons draw attention to the offer and encourage the customer to click on a call to action button right away to contact your company. Marketing analytics such as website analytics and blog analytics can track which leads magnets and calls to action are the most successful at generating conversions, such as the addition of a person to a free software trial or email newsletter campaign.

PREFERENCE

If you want to succeed at internet marketing for small business, be sure to invest in lead generation software in order to track which lead generation techniques work the best for your company. Use closed loop reporting, which involves communication between the sales and marketing teams in order to find out the most effective forms of marketing for your business. Investing in website content writing services and hiring a content creator to create custom content is also a successful way of driving traffic to your website.

LOYALTY

Increase email marketing ROI by using the email marketing strategy of creating dynamic content, or content that is specifically catered to the wants and needs of the individual customer. Email marketing strategies that include personalized emails tend to result in more sales conversions. Automated marketing solutions such as automated email marketing can streamline the process of converting your email list into potential buyers. Email marketing automation tools like Hubspot allow you to try multiple email marketing tactics simultaneously and monitor their effectiveness.

Drive traffic to your website and convert even more sales by creating dynamic content for your website as well, including a personalized home page for customers who sign in. A dynamic web page on a dynamic website can advertise products that are catered to a specific customer. Dynamic websites populate content on a webpage based on the past browsing or buying history of a customer. Marketing automation software like Hubspot has an automated marketing platform that can handle the features of a dynamic website.

ADVOCACY

For more information on how to drive traffic to website and generate leads, please read an internet marketing blog. You can also attend a mastermind event in order to learn branding strategies. If you attend a mastermind event you'll learn how to hold a mastermind event. Having mastermind events are a great way to inspire customer loyalty and give your customers a way to advocate for your product with other customers.