How to Create a Marketing Funnel
One of the biggest lessons for business owners this year is that “recession-proofing” your business isn’t enough. Because, as many of us built businesses in industries that historically withstood major economic stress, what none of us did was make a plan for needing to run things nearly 100% online. From learning to lean on software to keep us connected and tasks organized to reevaluating processes and plans, people have been making the necessary pivots in order to ensure their operations become a (new) well-oiled machine. But, one of the questions that many business owners have yet to answer for themselves is, “Do I need to reevaluate how I am nurturing potential clients?”
Take a moment to think about it. Where have most of your booked clients come from over the past few years? If your answer is referrals, you need to keep reading.
Referrals from past clients and other vendors is an important marketing channel for a lot of wedding and creative business owners. But, in a time where it can be difficult to keep all of those relationships fresh (we can’t wait for networking events to come back either!), taking a good hard look at how you are putting your brand out there is an absolute must before booking season. So today, we wanted to talk about a marketing tactic that you have probably heard of and, hell, very likely been a part of yourself—funnels. Read on to learn about what they are, how they work, and how to create a marketing funnel for your business!
What is a marketing funnel?
There are a lot of ways to explain what a marketing funnel is and, essentially, it is an educational experience you take a potential customer through in hopes that they buy from you before or at the end. It’s not scary to set one up and it doesn’t need to be complicated but setting up an effective funnel can help you automate some (or all) of your sales process depending on what you are selling.
Step 1: Define your goal
The first thing you should do when setting up a marketing funnel is define a single goal. The reason being that you need to tell a very specific story, with a very specific problem your potential customer has and a very specific solution you can provide. So, ask yourself:
What do I want people to do? Sign up for my email list? Buy a product? Book me for a service?
What particular product or service do I want to sell?
What problem does my service or product solve for people?
Step 2: Refine your offer
Once you’ve defined a goal for your funnel, the next thing you need to do is come up with something that is called a lead magnet (a fancy term for freebie). Your lead magnet should be a lead-in, taste or preview of what your potential customer/client would ultimately get if they complete the action you want at the end of the funnel. And, it can be a discount, PDF download, a video masterclass, checklist, template, free consultation—anything that provides some amount of free value.
Step 3: Take stock of your tools
Before diving into creating anything, we always think it is important to take a step back and see what you have to work with (and realistically). So, after you’ve clearly defined your goal for the funnels you want to set up and what your lead magnet is going to be for each, open up that marketing toolbox and make sure you have what you need inside. Things like:
The ability to create what is called a landing page on your website in order to talk about your offer
An email marketing system that allows you to deliver your freebie and automate emails (we use and are obsessed with Flodesk!)
A graphic designer or way to DIY the design of what you need (Canva is a great resource)
A program to record a video and/or masterclass if that is the route you are going (Zoom and Loom are great options here)
Step 4: Map out your funnel
Alright, now to the good stuff—how to create a marketing funnel! A marketing funnel is broken into 3 parts: top, middle, and bottom. Each serves a different function and your goal is to keep a potential customer engaged enough that they move through the entire thing and make a purchase. Here is a bare-bones breakdown of we mean.
The top of your funnel is your hook (where you first grab people’s attention and interest). You build out this part of your funnel with:
Your lead magnet
Advertisements
Social media posts
Blog articles
Podcasts
The middle of your funnel is where you prime someone to purchase. You’re working on building trust and a relationship so that they ultimately want you to help solve their problem. You build out this part of your funnel with:
Webinars or masterclasses
Facebook lives
Instagram lives or IGTV
Virtual meet ups and/or hangouts
Email marketing
The bottom of your funnel is where you make the sale because, without actually giving someone the easy opportunity to buy, they probably won’t. You build out this part of your funnel with:
The last few emails in your sequence
Your website
Landing pages
Product listing and/or sales pages
There you have it—now you know how to create a marketing funnel! As you work to build everything out, if you find yourself needing images, graphics or video clips to help you design your freebies and market them, don’t forget that that is exactly what our stock is for! Visit The Shop to peruse our curated selection of stock photos, stock art, and stock video clips or shop our entire library here!
