A Marketing Funnel: How to Market to your Customers?

The most important part of any business will always remain the customer. Understanding our customers better than our competitors and being able to communicate with our customers more effectively will always give us a competitive advantage. Any product or service offered must aim to solve a real customer problem.

The objectives of Marketing Communication traditionally have been to inform, persuade, remind and encourage a specific action from the targeted consumers. To ensure that we achieve this goal it is important to understand how consumers respond to marketing messages.

There have been many models, The Hierarchy of Effects (Awareness, Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Conviction, Purchase), the AIDA model (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action) or Marketing funnels. All these models have one thing in common they assume that consumers, in most cases, respond to marketing messages in a cognitive (thinking), affective(feeling) and connotative (action/doing) sequence.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, but this is a good starting point. In this article we will look at the Marketing communications mix and how to use our knowledge of the customers journey from awareness to action to structure our content for the best results.

What is the Marketing Communications Mix?

The Marketing Communication Mix refers to a combination of elements that Marketers employ to meet the needs of consumers and reach the organisational objectives. These elements include:

Advertising

Advertising is defined as any form of paid communication and can be used to achieve any one of the inform, persuade or remind marketing communication objectives. Digital Advertising examples can include Social Media Ads, Google Ads etc.

Personal Selling

Personal Selling is a when a seller attempts to persuade a buyer to take a certain action there is usually only two parties involved, the buyer and seller. Personal Selling in the Digital era will include follow ups and relationship building, with individuals who filled out a lead capturing form on your website or requested to be contacted.

 Public Relations

Public relations refer to the marketing communication function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies areas of interest within the organisation and provides the public with insight into the organisation to gain understanding and acceptance. Public relations aim to inform and remind the public and create a positive image for a company. This can include daily social posts/stories, social responsibility programs and collaborations with influencers or other brands.

Sales Promotions

Sales promotions include all other marketing activities. Ex. Samples, coupons, prizes, trade shows etc.

Factors Affecting the Marketing Communications Mix?

It is also important to understand that the perfect marketing communication mix does not exist, and the marketing communication mix will vary depending on a variety of factors. When developing your marketing communication strategy, it is important to consider the following factors:

Product Type

The type of product we sell will influence the marketing mix. Take for instance a custom-made solution or service offering or a very personal experience, this is generally not well suited for mass market advertising and in order to close the deal personal selling will need to be involved. On the other hand, mass produced products are better suited to a mass market approach and in general won’t be able to carry the cost of a dedicated sales individual. A Personal Selling approach is generally needed to drive action especially if the action constitutes a considerable investment or the problem being solved is of great personal importance. This does however not exclude other components of the marketing mix as Advertising can be used to drive awareness and Sales promotions in the form of content and expo’s etc. can be used to establish a desire for the offering.

Target Market

Generally, the marketing communication mix elements used depends on how well informed your consumers are. Well informed consumers need less personal selling and convincing whereas uniformed consumers need more.

Buying Decisions Complexity

Looking at buying decisions we can distinguish them based on complexity. The more routine (ex. buying soft drinks) a decision is the less personal selling, public relations and persuasion is required and focus can be placed on advertising and sales promotions. However, complex buying decisions that require intense involvement(ex. making an investment decision) are more suited to personal selling or public relations.

Budget

For many companies especially small businesses this cost is a major constraint and therefore what they can afford will influence the marketing communications approach taken.

The Marketing Communication Mix at each part of the AIDA model/Conversion Funnel?

As consumers encounter our marketing communication, we want to move them through our Marketing Funnel which mirrors the AIDA model. Each step in the funnel requires a different content mix and certain elements of the marketing communications mix will be better suited to each step.

Awareness

During the awareness phase consumers become aware of your brand. Before this contact point they have not yet encountered your brand. This is the customers first impression of our brand and we want it to last.  When we want to increase awareness, using search and social ads, social promotions like competitions or attending conferences are great starting points.

Search and Social Ads do not need to sell but must attract the customer with information that is valuable to them, examples include articles, podcasts or webinars. During the awareness phase we want these type of content pieces available to move the customers to the interest phase of the funnel. We want the customer to know we understand his problem.

Interest

As the customer becomes familiar with our brand, they take actions to indicate interest, like following our social pages, filling out lead capturing forms on our site or signing up for an email newsletter.

The content we produce in this phase really focuses in on the problem and intensifies the customers need to solve their problem. Web content, social media posts or email campaigns can be used to create a sense of urgency and desire.

Desire

The desire phase of our funnel is where the customer is now familiar with our brand and its offerings, the customer trusts us and providing added value and quick wins with e-books, white-papers or brochures will only intensify their desire for our solution.

Action

The content in this section of the funnel is focused on driving action. Case studies, testimonials and info-graphics, that all show the customer that they can solve the problem if they choose you as their guide. Advertisements in this step includes strong calls to action and is more promotional than in the previous steps.

Following up on leads and focusing on persuading the customer to act is the main objective of the action section of our funnel. Personal Selling and Sales Promotions like discounts and coupons can help get customers over the line.

Conclusion

It is important to remember that every customer, product and organisation is unique and therefore we need to start with the customer, our team and our offering and plan accordingly. If we use our knowledge of how customers interpret our marketing communication, we can make sure they choose us to help them solve their problem. Remember: It is always about your Customers story.