Key Takeaways:
- What exactly is a sales funnel?
- Four steps of funnel structure
- Top-of-funnel marketing
- Engaging and nurturing leads
- Simplifying with automation
What Is a Sales Funnel, Anyway?
Okay, you may be asking yourself, “What is a sales funnel, anyway?!”.
And honestly, wrapping your head around sales funnels can be more than a little overwhelming if you’re new to the concept.
Let’s start simply, by explaining what we mean when we say “funnel”. A funnel is a visual representation of the process in which you attract, gain the confidence of, and sell to your target client or customer. With the funnel, you can visualize the journey clients take from their initial introduction to your brand, all the way to conversion.
To paint a clearer picture, one of the most widely used sales funnel structures consists of four steps: 
- Awareness: A potential client or customer comes across your ad, sees a social media post about your business, or hears about you via word-of-mouth.
- Interest: The potential client or customer becomes interested because they believe you can solve an issue they are facing, and they decide to learn more.
- Desire: The potential client or customer has done their homework and is ready to take the next step.
- Action: The client or customer takes action – they subscribe to your newsletter, book a demo or consultation, purchase your product, etc.
When the client or customer takes action, this is known as a conversion. The visitor moves from simply browsing your content to acting on your call to action.
Top-of-Funnel Marketing
Like a literal funnel, the top is wider than the bottom. To generate as many leads as possible, top of funnel marketing involves promoting to a large audience. At this point in the funnel, users are primarily looking for information, which is why lead generation and exposure are the major objectives of marketing.
Most top-of-funnel tactics fall into these categories (all things that we here at Marketecs can help you implement):
- Webinars
- Lead Magnets (free or low-expense offerings that provide the customer value)
- Blogs
- Social Media Posts
- Search Engine Optimization
As the users move through the sales funnel, you get a more concentrated grouping of increasingly interested potential customers. The more the user is “nurtured”, the more likely they are to progress down the funnel, bringing them closer to taking action.
Nurturing Your Leads
Along with enhancing client retention and customer lifetime value, nurturing your list keeps you and your product top-of-mind.
By offering material that isn’t constantly focused on selling, you can engage your leads in a more authentic conversation, building trust and positioning yourself as a thought leader.
You may have to come up with innovative strategies to re-engage your users, as your focus should be the production of compelling content that enhances the user experience so that visitors return for more.
You can learn more about creating some engaging content – quickly – in our blog Smart Content Marketing Strategy for Thought Leadership.
Where Automation Comes into Play
Automation is the process of setting up a series of events that occur with little to no human involvement. The goal is to connect all the pieces from your funnel so that it runs smoothy and seamlessly – delivering content to your leads, with less effort on your end.
Since sales are what ultimately determine the success of a company, your company’s security depends on its capacity to expand and boost conversions. In order to continue growing, it’s helpful to free up your time and other resources so your efforts can be focused on expansion. Automating your marketing funnel is a great first step.
This involves finding the right platform(s) for your unique situation to integrate the steps of your process.
You may currently be using one or more of the following platforms:
WordPress- SquareSpace
- Kajabi
- Keap
- HubSpot
- ConvertKit
- Mailchimp
- Salesforce
- Acuity Scheduling
- Calendly
- Shopify
- Stripe
- PayPal
- ThriveCart
…the list goes on and on and on.
If you are still actively involved in posting to social, tagging clients, contacting leads, scheduling appointments, sending follow-up emails – really anything you are doing manually to keep your sales funnel up and running – you should consider automating these tasks!
Need Assistance? 
Optimizing your businesses processes in a way that frees you up from the mundane and monotonous tasks is a smart business move that allows you to spend your time and energy on what really matters – growing your business.
The Marketecs team is ready and equipped to help you with all your sales funnel and automation needs.
