This brief article is a clear and concise explanation of the digital marketing funnel. It has become a bit of a buzzword and, as such, it’s worth knowing what it could entail for your business.
The digital marketing funnel
This describes the stages that are required to move a prospective customer from the engagement and purchasing period right through to long term customer retention. It is a system that can be used to plan your brand’s way through the marketing operation, ensuring that nothing is neglected at any point in the process.
There are arguably 6 stages in the marketing funnel
Exposure. The brand or company must be made known to the consumers out there. It’s all about flooding the market with brand backstory and information, what it does, and how it can benefit the buyer. But it must also be targeted in the sense that the technology and computing prowess now exists to be able to target particular age groups, genders, and buying habits of specific groups.
Discovery. The right customers must come across your brand, as well as your products and services.
Consideration. The customer now genuinely ponders whether they should buy the products or services that you sell.
Conversion. The consumer becomes your customer! They decide to buy what you’re offering and are aware of your brand and the benefits of your products and services.
Build a relationship. Once you have converted a consumer into becoming a customer, you need to create a solid relationship to ensure they keep coming back for more. Although customer communication is key throughout the funnel process, it is most important when building a strong customer relationship. You need to think outside the box and be able to connect with consumers and customers wherever they are.
Hence the use of platforms such as Tatango.com, where the SMS is used to establish and maintain communication with supporters and funders of social enterprises and non-profits. This is as precise and specific as your business will need to be. It’s about finding and using the most appropriate technology and platforms to allow the customer relationship to flourish.
Retain the customer. Customer retention has been proven to be a whole lot simpler and cheaper than engaging with and establishing new customers. It is therefore pertinent to use all the resources at your disposal to retain your customers and make them feel valued.
If you are able to look at these processes and clearly determine the technology you require at each level and stage of the funnel, you will be able to develop a clear marketing strategy for your business. The key, as mentioned, is to have the most appropriate marketing technology for each step of this plan of action.
The digital marketing funnel is thus incredibly useful as a planning tool, as well as a system to monitor and critique the marketing technology that you have in place, to achieve the goals of attracting and retaining your customer base.
