13 Things About Content Marketing Funnel You May Not Know
A Content Marketing Funnel Explained A funnel for content marketing helps potential customers to learn more about your company and solve their issues. They also be confident about buying from you. Different kinds of content work best for each phase of the funnel. At the top of the funnel Infographics, videos, and checklists attract attention, generate leads, and keep the readers interested. Gated content, such as templates and guides works well at this stage. Awareness At this point, customers are simply aware of your brand and the solutions you provide. In this stage, content is meant to provide information and help prospects on the problems your solution addresses, as well as how it differs from competitors. To determine the gaps in your content at this point, think about the kinds of keywords your audience uses to search online. You can conduct keyword research to find out what terms your target audience is using when searching online. This will help you determine if your product or service is required. This information can then be used to develop an editorial calendar and decide which content pieces will focus on those keywords. Creating content for this stage of the funnel can help you build brand loyalty among consumers. If your customers are more informed about your brand, they'll have more faith in your ability solve their issues. This leads to higher conversion rates for newsletter signups or purchases, as well as clickthroughs on your website. A well-planned and executed content strategy can help you close the gap between conversion and purchase at this stage. If, for example, you observe that the majority of your content is targeted at raising awareness, but not enough influences buyers to make a purchase decision, you may increase your spending on ads that target middle-funnel keywords. Social media is a different way to boost your bottom-of-the-funnel conversion. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook let you interact directly with your customers, giving you an opportunity to showcase your customer service. This can include everything from retweeting good reviews to promoting exclusive offers. You can also make use of content that already exists to guide buyers through the funnel, such as blog posts or case studies. If you write a blog post that explains why your product is superior to the competition's you can share it via social media and ask your readers to join your email list to get more information. You can also encourage conversions at this point by asking users to include your name on their social media posts once they have used your product. This will inspire other users to do the same, and will help spread the word about your brand. Inquiry A successful content marketing strategy incorporates a mix of content types to capture consumers throughout the funnel. article rewriting tool , for instance could include ad copy, but also blog posts and infographics to address common objections and concerns. These pieces of content can be distributed via email or social media to increase organic traffic. As consumers move through the process of considering, they begin looking for specific product features that can help them make a purchase decision. This is the perfect time to use FAQ pages. Use tools for keyword research such as Ubersuggest or search for popular hashtags in your industry to discover the questions that your audience is asking. Create answers to these questions, and then put them on your content funnel map. During this stage, it's important to provide an unambiguous value proposition that demonstrates to potential customers how your product or service can solve their problem and make them more money. The content should also demonstrate the distinctiveness of your brand when compared to the brands of your competition. This is a relatively simple step to measure, as consumers are making a choice whether or not to purchase. Examine metrics such as conversion rate, payment figures and click-through rates to determine if your efforts are working. As they move into the advocacy stage, they become loyal followers of your brand and share your content because they feel strongly about it. This is a great method of increasing your reach. You'll need to create content that inspires people share it instead of simply focus on engagement metrics. You might want to consider using a tool such as Sprout Social to track the social shares that result from your content marketing efforts. This will give you a much more accurate view of your influence. Decision Making At the decision stage the buyers are looking for information that proves their purchase and provides instructions on how to utilize the product. At this point, they need to know that your product solves their issue and will make their investment worth it. At this point the need for high-quality content such as product guides and case study videos and customer success tales are crucial. Your customers also want to be capable of asking questions and get answers from your support team. Providing them with customized emails and 24 hour customer service is a great way to please your customers and encourage them to share their experiences with others. You hope that at this point the customer will become an advocate for your brand and promote it to their colleagues and friends. In order to convert those who are advocates to raving fans, you'll need to provide them with relevant information that will allow them to make the most of your product or service. You can accomplish this by creating customized newsletters, tutorial video free trial offers, and loyalty programs. It's time to focus on retention after your audience has changed from leads to paying clients. Content marketing funnels usually concentrate on revenue as the end goal. However, consumers will continue to interact and engage with brands even after they have made an purchase. It's essential to think of a funnel as a dynamic structure that includes revenue, not static models. While conventional content marketing funnels can help you develop your strategy however, they do not take into account the complexity of the buyer journey. Instead reinventing the funnel as loop models can assist you in developing an effective and more holistic content marketing strategy. By planning for every step of the process, you'll be able to develop content that will engage your audience and drive conversions. You can then use the information from these conversions to optimize your strategy and ensure that it is working effectively. Are you interested in learning how this approach can benefit your business? Contact us today to request a no-cost content marketing guidebook! Retention A content marketing funnel can be a useful tool for helping brands plan and execute their strategy. It can also give them insight into the gaps in their strategy for content that need to be filled. For instance, if a brand has a significant amount of content geared toward the public's attention and interest, but a small amount targeted towards the middle of the funnel, they should be focusing on creating content geared towards this stage. Use tools like Ahrefs that examine the average time on page and bounce rates of each piece to determine how specific your content is. The higher these numbers, the more efficient your content. It's important to update and keep relevant the content you write for the top of your funnel. This will keep your audience engaged in your brand, its products and services. This can be done by creating new content that is focused on key words, addresses questions that your audience is likely to search for, and provides the most current information about your industry or product. As your audience steps onto the MOFU stage, they'll be looking for more detailed information about your product or service as and ways to resolve their issues. It's also important to build trust at this stage by providing honest reviews and demonstrating the value of your product. The final phase of the content marketing funnel is where your audience will make a purchase. This is accomplished through gated content, which requires an email or other form of registration to access. The content is designed to convert the interest and awareness you've created at the top of your funnel into qualified leads. Your sales team will follow up. While customer retention largely falls in the hands of your sales and support teams, you can have an impact on your customers' journeys with your brand by creating content that delights customers throughout the entire marketing funnel. This could include helpful resources, behind the scenes details and special deals that only your customers have access to. If you can build trust among your audience they'll be able to serve as genuine advocates for your product and naturally help reduce your sales cycle time.