You’ve determined your target demographic, are consistent in the material you produce, and use a variety of content formats to market your good or service. Then, I assume that your content strategy is sound enough.
The truth is that your content marketing initiatives should and can constantly change.
Content marketing should evolve and adapt to the most recent trends in customer behavior, just as marketing strategy best practices.
In order to better understand what your target audience is doing and thinking at each stage of the purchasing cycle, your sales staff has probably already created a sales funnel.
A content marketing funnel can help you direct your ideal clients from the awareness stage to the conversion stage when they become paying clients.
In this article, we’ll discuss what a content marketing funnel is specifically, how to build one that converts, and the kinds of content that should be used at each stage of the funnel.
A Content Marketing Funnel: What Is It?
A content marketing funnel helps content marketers see how to use current material to draw in potential customers and lead them on a path to the desired outcome.
This final objective could be a download, a demo, a sale, or another kind of conversion.
Every level of the funnel has a specific function, such as raising awareness, producing top-quality leads, and completing conversions.
A marketing funnel can give organizations more insight into any content gaps that may exist during the consumer journey.
For instance, a brand may want to focus more on developing bottom-funnel content if it has a lot of material directed at buyers in the awareness stage but not enough content in the decision stage.
How to Begin Creating a Content Funnel Map
Initially, you should evaluate the entire range of material you now produce, including blog posts, long-form content (like ebooks or white papers), and more.
You should next decide which stage of the buyer journey each piece of information corresponds to after reviewing it. These phases will comprise:
Stage of awareness at the top of the funnel (TOFU). Potential customers are currently looking for information.
Interest and consideration are at the MOFU (middle of the funnel) stage. At this point, prospective clients are perusing customer testimonials and looking at your goods and services. Key stakeholders may also receive this information from them.
The intent, evaluation, and conversion phases make up the bottom of the funnel (BOFU). The decision of consumers to make a purchase has been made.
Examining each stage separately reveals that, depending on where they are in the process, different types of content are required for your target audience.
You cannot use a one-size-fits-all strategy when creating your funnel content if you want to properly engage potential customers. At each point of the funnel, pertinent content must be delivered.
Let’s investigate the best content formats for each stage of the funnel.
Leading Content
Customers acquire information at the top of the funnel to aid in directing them through the buying process.
A customer is probably just now learning about your company and what you have to offer.
In this case, you want to provide a great customer experience to demonstrate to the buyer that you’re worth continuing to work with.
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You’ll want to respond to their inquiries, inform them of your responses, and convert these prospective clients into warm leads.
According to a Semrush analysis, the following TOFU content categories are most effective at drawing visitors.
How-to manual (72%).
page landing (35%)
(28%) Infographic.
List-making (27%).
white paper or an ebook (26%)
video instruction (23%).
As you can see, the majority of this type of content is meant to educate readers and give them additional knowledge during the awareness phase.
Your material should not be very sales-focused at this time because its main objective should be to provide assistance.
Middle Funnel Information
When your ideal clients are in the middle of the funnel, they are no longer searching for basic, introductory information.
Instead, you should focus on producing content that nurtures potential clients further down the sales funnel. They can be seeking how-to videos, consumer testimonials, or product reviews.
According to the findings of the same Semrush investigation, the following MOFU content categories are most effective at drawing visitors.
How-to manual (44%).
(40%) Product overview.
study of a case (34%)
page landing (31%).
web-based (31%).
Story of success (30%)
Remember that these potential buyers were probably already exposed to your brand during the discovery stage and shouldn’t be exposed to content from that stage. Personalizing content for your audience is a crucial component of a successful content strategy.
According to a study, 71% of customers need individualized interactions with businesses, and 76% become angry when they don’t receive them.
You run the risk of giving clients a bad experience with your company if you don’t customize your content strategy and content marketing formats to them at every level.
Content for the Bottom of the Funnel When prospective customer reaches the bottom of the funnel, they are looking for information to help them make their purchasing choice.
They want to know how your product or service will justify their investment and why you are the superior choice to your rival.
The kind of material you give to them is essential to establishing trust and, eventually, completing the sale because these clients have moved past the awareness stage and are eager to potentially convert.
Your consideration-phase content can mean the difference between a conversion and a missed sale. The content kinds that perform best in the BOFU stage include:
Product outline.
customer feedback.
success tale
When a prospect is at this point of the funnel, think about sharing success stories of current clients who are comparable to your prospect.
Email marketing that features encouraging client testimonials and product literature are other types of content that might be included at this point. Include more promotions, no-risk tests, or live demonstrations.
What to Do After Evaluating Your Content
It’s time to determine where you have gaps once you have a thorough understanding of the information that already exists for each stage of the journey.
Additionally, you should decide what kinds of content materials you must produce. For instance, you might have realized that you don’t have any how-to information for customers who are still in the awareness phase. Or perhaps you don’t have enough examples of customer success.
It’s time to create an editorial schedule to prioritize what you need to work on first and when you’ve discovered content gaps.
To keep track of what is in the pipeline, what is coming up, who the content is intended for, and where the piece fits into the content marketing funnel, you should check your editorial calendar every day.
To find potential for fresh extra content pieces and ways to improve your content, it may also be helpful to do a competitive analysis of your competitor’s content marketing plan.
To match the criteria of Google’s Useful Information System and produce the best user experience, you want both relevant and helpful content.
Conclusion
It’s essential to have a thorough and well-coordinated content strategy if you want to provide satisfying purchasing experiences. Every time you publish a new piece of content, keep your audience in mind.
Additionally, you should have a solid understanding of your target market, including how they think, what they want, and how you can help them.
A conversion funnel is what? Improve the Customer Journey
It takes time, experimentation, and patience to establish a successful content marketing funnel, but it is vitally important to outperform your rivals and prevail.
