Is your marketing funnel making you that schmoney

Sales Funnels, Marketing Funnels, Lead Generation Funnels Oh My!

Everybody and their mama on these here innanet streets are talking about funnels this and funnels that, but what are they really and are they really necessary?

First of all the terms sales funnel, marketing funnel, and lead generation funnel are almost interchangeable. Marketing funnel is the general term while sales and lead generation refer to the specific focus of the funnel. And the truth is marketing funnels are quite simple and most entrepreneurs have some sort of one, even if they are just winging it but a strategic one is absolutely necessary if you want to add dem zeros to your income.

A Strategic Marketing Funnel is the difference between making money and securing the bag. 

There are 6 basic pieces to EVERY marketing funnel. Let’s compare this process to online dating. Your sliding through your Tinder, Facebook Dating, or whatever app you use streets and BOOM, You peep the profile. Swipe left. Swipe right. The smile is blinding. The dimples are cute. So, you slide in those DMs. You save the profile. BUT. How do you get to know your potential boo? You chat. Ask some questions. Send a few pictures. Maybe even record a few audio messages before exchanging the digits. This is exactly the relationship you have with your potential new clients and exactly what your marketing funnel needs to look like. Keep reading if you’re ready for an honest breakdown of what your marketing funnel needs to include.

Awareness

Your potential new customer is scrolling the gram, searching Facebook, and even doing a Google search for the exact product or service you sell, you know the same way you were strolling through Tinder looking for that exact somebody. Boom they land on you somehow. Now they see you, are aware of you but you probably shouldn’t immediately ask for their credit card number, right? You probably should do a little meet and greet, maybe send them a drink or entice them with an irresistible lead magnet so they can get to know you better. The goal: Your sweetness leads to their weakness, and then they buy! The point for this level of the funnel is to create something so irresistible that when people come across you they stop in their tracks and stay a little while so they can really get to know your brand. You cast a wide net, but you should only be concerned with your ideal client for a better chance of conversion down the funnel.

How do you know if they’re picking up what you’re putting down? It’s all about the metrics. A few ways to measure how well your awareness is doing is by checking out the views, sessions, impressions, ad click-through rates. These are your analytics.

Okay, back to our dating analogy. You could get on Black People Meet. And that’s cool. But if you really want the best chance of finding a dime, you might want to add Tinder, Christian Mingle, E-Harmony, and Bumble to the list of places you’re searching. It’s the same with starting out with your marketing funnel. You could say, “Hey, y’all check out my new products, store, services, etc.” But if you want to stack those C-notes, then you might want to add PR, paid ads,🔥 social media content, blogs, SEO, and influencer marketing to get your funnel started off right.

Interest

So where did these dating apps and websites even come from? Busy peeps wanted to be booed up but didn’t have the time to be in these dating streets, so somebody decided to create the digital dating streets. Basically, these dating app companies solved a problem and singles had a solution. That’s EXACTLY what you have to do in your business. Find a problem the peoples have, then create the solution. Your ideal client has a problem, then they get frustrated, so they start searching the innanets and BAM, you appear! They saw your ad, got stopped in their tracks cause it was lit, and instantly began to wonder… “Could this be… exactly what I was looking for?” But it didn’t stop there, guess what happened next… They clicked the link 🤯. They are looking around and like what they see, so they decide to take this thang to another level and slide your their 4-1-1, you know they sign up for whatever your offering.

You know the moment when that cutie hearts your message or sends their first message back, that’s the moment we’ve gone from Awareness to Interest. Now how do you measure if this step is working? Check your subscription rates, email click-through rates, ebook downloads, webinar registrations, contact form submissions, avg. time on your webpage, etc. Now don’t go measuring these things to the number you want to research your industry average to see how you’re measuring up.

And just as a dating app uses tools to entice you to make a profile: model pictures, testimonials, free trials, ads that pop up when you’re on Facebook at midnight; there are tools you can use in your business to get people interested. Things like whitepapers, CTA-focused ads, ebooks, webinars, podcasts, email marketing, checklists, downloadables, etc.

Consideration

So, your new “almost” boo has been chatting with you but also chatting with a few other peeps too. They’re at the consideration stage. If you don’t want to get ghosted, you step up your game. At this point in the funnel, it’s crucial to give your customers the goods so they stick with your business rather than sliding into the DMs of one of your competitors. Use the right words, know your USP (unique selling proposition), promote your USP, call out the competitors, and show testimonials of other happy customers.

How do you measure your success? Peep the cold-to-warm lead conversion rate, inbound calls leads gained in nurture campaigns, low bounce rates, email engagement metrics, etc. What do you use to keep shawty from sliding in the next businesses’ DM’s: email marketing with strong copy, automation, review ad extensions, testimonials, ebooks, whitepapers, targeted landing pages, FAQ’s, SEO – Search Intent, etc.

Intent

So you and shawty are feeling each other and they’re ready to take this thing to the next level, you know slide you that credit card information so now is the time to turn up the heat. Don’t let up on ’em make sure they know that you have exactly what they need and this is the right decision they need to make. How do you turn up the heat? Make sure your social media is on-point, use paid re-targeting ads, promo codes, mailers, freebies, etc. And whatever you do make sure you keep those reviews coming their way because the quickest way to get their trust is for them to know that other people trust you.

How do you measure the success of all the heat you’re throwing their way? Check your engagement rate, pages per session, time on page, inbound message, and retargeting engagement metrics.

Evaluation & Purchase

Evaluation is what people naturally do before they purchase. How many times have you re-read those messages, looked at those pictures one more time, and maybe even did a little social stalking before you gave that potential boo your number or met them for drinks? 🤷🏾Your potential customer has determined that they have a problem, investigated their options, decided which one of your offers is best for them, and they’re getting ready to pull out their wallets. You only have ONE JOB- keep them engaged, address potential objections, and make sure they hit the submit button. Important things you must do to seal the deal: show them your work (case studies, pictures of satisfied customers), offer demos, free trials or shipping, have that abandon cart email campaign on lock, etc.

We have reached the most pinnacle moment in your funnel, you have the credit card information! 🎉 Now what? You’ve got to make sure this thing goes past the first date, so keep showing them that you are the bae they’ve been looking for. Make sure your customer service is on point, have a referral or affiliate program in place, send them some emails that only you can send, write some blogs. Whatever you do remember the #1 rule “It’s cheaper to keep her!”😂

How do you know if your evaluation and purchase process is working? Check those free trial metrics, shopping cart metrics, ROI, MAC (monthly active customers), survey results, affiliate sales, referral numbers, and overall transactions.

Ready to Make That Schmoney?

How ya feeling? Excited? Ready to hit the innanet streets? Overwhelmed? Not ready to set up your own Black People Meet profile?

We’ve given you the Blueprint as Jay would say so now it’s time for you to get them funnels set-up and make that schmoney.