A sales funnel is something that every marketer knows. The sales funnel covers everything that happens before someone becomes a customer, from the moment they learn about your company to the moment they sign a contract or make a purchase.

The funnel begins with awareness of your company’s existence, then narrows down as customers who aren’t interested in becoming customers abandon the process and those who are open to learning more.

This is what a content marketer must know to be successful. Although you could break down the funnel into several steps, we will focus our attention on three types: top-of-funnel content, middle-of-funnel content, and bottom-of-funnel content.

Your content should follow a logical path. The goal of top-of-funnel content is to attract traffic through social media or organic search. Middle-of-funnel material should inform and capture visitors about your company. Bottom-of-funnel information should explain why leads need your services, and convince them to make a purchase or contact you.

Content marketing has many advantages

You may think that everything I have said is old news if you have been in marketing for years. Your current digital advertising methods may not address all parts of the sales funnel. You know what? You might be right.

However, the real difference lies in how cost-effective content marketing is.

This funnel’s goal is to increase awareness about your brand before you send the 20% discount coupon. That’s smart. Potential customers will be more inclined to purchase from a company that they’re familiar with than one they don’t. If they’ve seen ads on your site, they already know what to expect.

This doesn’t seem like a bad strategy.

Although the goal is the same (building brand awareness and sending coupons), the costs of the first two steps are quite different. It would take a lot of effort to do SEO correctly enough to rank for keywords like “women’s clothing” while writing a blog about choosing pants could take only a few hours.

Also, consider the quality of each example’s traffic. Users searching for “women’s clothing” on search engines could be searching for any variety of styles or products. However, if they are only looking for one keyword, chances are they won’t make a purchase.

Users searching for “how do I choose the right pants for me” are looking for pants that fit properly. A blog post about the topic can not only build trust but raise awareness for your brand if it is written well. Even if they aren’t ready to buy right away, they will likely associate your company with positive feelings.

Let’s now move to the middle. Although retargeting and PPC ads are effective, there is usually a cost. However, social media allows you to post for free. While there are some paid options that you can explore, these are not required.

HubSpot estimates that the cost of inbound leads (leads created by content) is significantly higher than that of outbound leads.

Even though the gap is largest for mid-sized companies, content marketing is still more cost-effective than any other method. Think about it: Customers who actively search for information on your website will be more open to purchasing from you than customers who view annoying ads while surfing the Internet.