In order to reach new customers, the internet offers us vast amounts of possibilities and contact points.
This makes a well thought-out online marketing strategy all the more decisive for business success. If it is set up incorrectly and not completely thought through, it only results in unnecessary costs and not the hoped-for results. With the full funnel marketing strategy, we address the customer along his customer journey and lead him to our goal in small steps. The marketing funnel as a visualization helps you to visualize the different phases your potential customers go through when making a purchase. We show you which elements are especially important for a successful full funnel marketing strategy and what advantages such an online marketing strategy has.
A marketing funnel, also known as a sales funnel, describes the various touchpoints and the user’s path to purchase. It is divided into several phases (stages). These show how far the potential buyer has advanced in the buying process. The AIDA model is often used for this purpose, which can be divided into 4 marketing phases:
Whether a granular structure of the different phases, e.g. 6 stages, is used or a rough one like Top, Middle and Bottom of the Funnel can vary from company to company.
The Awareness Phase is about finding an audience that is interested in your product or service, i.e. your persona. Users who already search for your product in Google are already in the second stage of the Marketing Funnel “Interest”. People who have added something to their shopping cart but have not yet completed the process have the greatest potential and already show a greater desire to take advantage of your product. In the final stages are the buyers who can be approached later for an upsell or a new purchase.
For example:
A full funnel marketing approach allows us to categorize our target group according to their intentions. Consequently, it is important that we adapt campaigns and ads accordingly. Each phase and target group should be considered and addressed individually. For example, people who have already made a purchase decision have no use for messaging tailored to the awareness level. However, this type of faux pas can be easily avoided by defining target groups and excluding certain groups. Clean tracking can help. More on this in point 3.
The Call to Actions should also be adapted to the respective funnel phase, especially in the last stage “Action”. Call to Actions such as “Buy now” and “Order now” are crucial here. In addition to the address, the right campaigns on the various channels are an important factor. For example, the various campaign types of Google Ads and Facebook Ads can be placed along the funnel.
Awareness:
Campaigns, such as display campaigns with Google Ads or YouTube brand lifting, are ideal for generating attention and bringing brands to the fore.
Interest & Desire:
Campaigns such as paid search via Google, Bing and Yadex, interest targeting on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Email marketing and social advertising also help to strengthen a particular brand while increasing its visibility and findability when potential consumers search for a particular product or service.
Action:
Campaigns, such as retargeting campaigns with Facebook, Google Ads, Bing Ads, etc. (e.g. website, click, search and video retargeting), help to strengthen and promote the measures.
Basically, it is good to cover every useful channel to address the user via messaging at different locations on the Internet or touchpoints and to guide him or her on the way to purchase.
A well designed full funnel strategy is not complete without measurable results per funnel step. A big mistake many companies make is to focus on just one KPI and use it to question the entire online marketing strategy. It is important that campaigns that target different phases should have different goals, which in turn must be measured using different metrics. Often we see that conclusions are jumped to and campaigns are simply paused.
For example:
This is only possible with a cleanly set up tracking.
Results are measurable at every stage of the marketing funnel, allowing you to see which strategies are working and where there is still room for improvement. Based on this analysis, strategy and budgets can be adjusted to maximize reach and revenue. A look at the Google Analytics Top Conversion Paths, Prepared Conversion, etc. reports can help in this process.
Conclusion: In order to generate more deals, it is advisable to concentrate your marketing activities in the long term not only on one level of the sales or marketing funnel. A well-placed full funnel marketing strategy makes it possible to generate new valuable users, analyze your own performance and thus ultimately maximize sales. Every company needs its own formula for full funnel marketing, depending on product, target group and budget. It is worth it!
