08/09/2022

What Is The Current Most Effective Marketing Funnel?

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Google claims that the traditional digital marketing funnel is no longer effective. Instead of following a straight line to purchase a product or service, they offer unique and one-of-a-kind journeys.

It’s time for your business to embrace the online marketing funnel if you want to be successful.

Are you ready to find out more about the modern Internet marketing funnel? Continue reading to learn more about the Los Angeles digital marketing agency funnel and how it works.

You can also get professional assistance from our winning team, which includes more than 450+ digital marketers specialists. Our customized strategies and advanced AI software have helped us drive more revenue than $3Billion for our clients over the past five years.

Contact us online to learn how we can help you grow your business. Call us at 

What is a digital funnel for marketing?

A Miami digital marketing funnel is a description of the steps users must take to go from being a prospect to becoming a customer. There are many marketing funnels. Most include stages that focus on awareness, consideration, and purchase. Any funnel can be used by businesses to guide their marketing efforts.

Digital marketing funnels: The new and old

It doesn’t matter if you are familiar with the old digital marketing funnel or not, it is worth comparing the two. This will allow your team to see where you can improve your strategy to address current user behavior.

These four stages are part of the AIDA model, which is the old marketing funnel.

  1. Awareness: Someone knows that your product or service is available.
  2. Interest: An individual expresses an interest in your product/service.
  3. Desire Someone wants your product/service.
  4. Action Someone purchases your product/service.

Take a look at the differences between the old and new Internet marketing funnels.

New Digital Marketing Funnel

  • It focuses on a non-linear experience
  • It can be broken down into up to 10 steps
  • Consider the user’s behavior

Old Digital Marketing Funnel

  • It focuses on a linear experience
  • It consists of four steps
  • Consider user behavior

The new digital marketing funnel is more focused on each user than the previous one. Although it presents more challenges for businesses to move towards a non-linear path, it will allow your company to offer a better experience for your target market.

What changed in the digital marketing funnel?

Changes to the digital marketing channel were inevitable due to technology’s rise. The number of Internet users has risen to over four billion. Additionally, there are more than 2.5 billion smartphone owners. Users can search anywhere and make purchases.

A vast amount of information is also available to them. Consumers can browse articles, view reviews on social media, and watch YouTube videos. Users can create their own, non-linear shopping experience with all these options.

The original Internet marketing funnel was ineffective due to this evolution. Its linear, structured approach made it difficult to take into account all possible routes a user could take. This led to businesses missing crucial opportunities to reach and convert consumers.

This is why the online marketing funnel had to be changed.

What is the purpose of the digital marketing funnel?

Digital marketing in Phoenix funnel can be a great tool for your business.

  • Find the best strategies like Content Marketing that will benefit your audience the most
  • Learn the motivations of your target audience for research and purchase
  • You need to understand why certain strategies like downloading content only work at certain stages
  • Learn how to nurture customers and leads.
  • Create a marketing plan that targets users at all stages of the funnel.

You can improve your marketing strategy by taking the time to study the marketing funnel and the buyer journey. Instead of trying to guess what your audience wants, use your data to create a data-backed campaign that attracts and nurtures new customers.

Three types of digital marketing funnels and how they work

The digital marketing funnel today captures the non-linear journey shoppers take from businesses to consumers. There are many versions of the online marketing funnel, as each user follows a different route.

These are the top three forms of website marketing funnels in 2021.

1. Hourglass digital marketing funnel

This online marketing funnel focuses on the customer journey stage. The hourglass digital marketing funnel is a more focused approach than previous funnels. It emphasizes the importance and maintenance of customer relationships. This is the reason for the funnel’s hourglass shape.

This marketing funnel includes the pre-purchase stages.

  • Building brand awareness: Engagement
  • Education: Identifying a Problem
  • Search: Finding a Solution
  • Evaluation: Identifying the solution to a problem with a product/service
  • Justification: Validating a purchase of a product/service   
  • Buy: Buying the product/service

This funnel’s post-purchase stages include:

  • Adoption Using a service or product
  • Retention Ensuring user satisfaction
  • Extension: Upselling to a user
  • Advocacy Becoming an advocate for your brand

The post-purchase stages can be linear but users can still enter the pre-purchase stage at any point. A user might identify a problem before a brand. They may also discover a brand by evaluating the product of a competitor.

2. Looping digital marketing funnel

The looping digital funnel is less structured than the hourglass-shaped online marketing in the Las Vegas funnel. It only has six stages which allow for flexibility to meet every user’s journey to purchase.

These are the stages of this marketing funnel:

  • Awareness – Becoming aware of a problem or need
  • Consideration – Finding a solution
  • Research and Discovery Loop – Uncovering solutions and brands
  • Buy: Purchase the product or service
  • The Post-Purchase Experience: Enhancing the Buyer’s Experience
  • Loyalty Loop – Building shopper loyalty

Because of its flexibility, the looping Internet marketing funnel can be used for any industry. The funnel can be customized to meet your needs by adding a loyalty loop focus or another step before purchasing.

3. Micro-moments digital marketing funnel

Micro-moments is a Google-developed concept that inspired the micro-moments digital funnel. This online marketing funnel focuses on what motivates users to use the funnel.

This marketing funnel includes the following components:

  • Want-to-Know Moment: Answering a question
  • The moment You Want to Do: Doing Something
  • Moment: Going someplace
  • Want to-Buy Moment – Buying something

The micro-moments digital funnel does not explore user actions after a micro-moment, unlike the looping or hourglass online marketing funnels. Your business should instead brainstorm what your target customer might do in these moments.

Five tips to reach shoppers at every stage of the digital marketing funnel

There are much digital marketing in NYC funnels, so it is natural to wonder which one you should choose. Or how to use the funnel to reach your target customer. You can optimize your reach and conversion rates by making a few adjustments to any funnel that you use for digital advertising.

These are five strategies to reach shoppers through the 2021 online marketing funnel:

1. Assist 24 hours a day

Consumers are always seeking assistance at this age of assistance. You must provide 24/7 customer support if you want to convert a user into a client. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be available 24/7 for customer support.

Other ways you can help include resources such as:

  • FAQs
  • Chatbot
  • Guides
  • More

What questions are they most likely to ask when looking at a product? What information will they need to use your business? Research your target market to determine what resources are most valuable to them.

2. You should not be focusing on just metrics.

Digital marketing is all about data. Your team can get incredible insight into your online marketing strategy’s performance using data. Learn more about your audience.

However, data can lead to too much commitment from your team. Google says companies should look beyond their data to focus on their business goals and target market.

Your digital marketing efforts will yield the best results if you consider your data and the following:

User intent

You must create an experience that is satisfying users if you want them to go through your buying funnel. You must think about the intent of your users, regardless of whether you are designing a website redesign or a content strategy, or social campaign.

What information should someone know about each restaurant they are considering? They want to know what type of food they serve, whether there is a parking space available, and when the restaurant opens.

One way to satisfy this user’s intention is for your website to have an easy-to-use menu. You can go further and optimize your Google Business Profile to ensure that your business appears in search results when someone searches for nearby restaurants.

User intent is a different form if you invest in content marketing.

Content marketing requires that you research your target market at each stage of the digital marketing process. Next, you must create and publish content that meets that user intent. You might create a blog post about the best new restaurants in your local area.

User interactions

You should think about user interactions when it comes to your business. These interactions can take place online or in person, such as at a tradeshow or in your store. These interactions can be online or offline and provide insights into the way people interact with your company, products, and services.

If you are a manufacturer, for example, the video may be a good medium to reach your target audience. You can answer common questions, show product features and showcase your capabilities as a manufacturer in your videos.

Your target audience’s response to the video suggests that video advertising is an option for you. You can reach customers at every stage of their buying process and in the format that they prefer.

Revenue

When measuring the success and profitability of their digital marketing campaigns, companies should also consider their revenue. Do not focus all of your attention on how many impressions or clicks your latest ad campaign generated.

Instead, look at the results of those campaigns.

Although you might have gotten a lot of conversions through your last ad campaign it was for low-cost products. This resulted in lower revenue for your company. This also resulted in a campaign that was not performing well and did not deliver a return.

Expand your perspective to make the most of your digital marketing efforts.

Analyze the campaign’s analytics, but also consider the impact it had on your business. How did the campaign impact your day-to-day operations? Some examples are an increase in product shipment, appointments, or service fulfillment.

Gross margin

Although revenue is a great metric for digital marketing analysis, it’s just the beginning. You need to calculate your gross margin for a period because revenue does not include the cost of goods sold (COGS).

Your gross margin is the amount of revenue that your company keeps. Your gross margin is one way to express the profitability of your company to investors and leaders.

Gross margin, like revenue, helps you assess your business’s actual performance.

Your company can gain insight into the digital marketing funnel by calculating your gross margin. However, it is important to remember that gross margin can be affected by other factors.

For example, if you lower the price of products to move inventory, it can have a direct effect on your gross margin. Your pricing model is what is causing the low gross margin. It’s not your digital marketing strategy. This is why it’s important to consider your gross margin along with other factors.

Profit

When it comes to digital marketing, companies should also assess their profit. You want to make a profit from your online marketing. This is just like any business.

Refer to the following: Your profit includes your total revenue as well as your operating expenses.

Sometimes, your profit can highlight the importance of directing your company’s attention toward a segment of your target audience. To maximize your digital marketing campaign’s performance, you might target the most profitable members.

Additional factors, like gross margins, can have an impact on your profit.

This complete view will allow you to tailor your strategy for success.

3. Machine learning and AI are two of the best ways to use AI.

machine-learning and AI () are essential in today’s digital world. These tools can be used to help your team analyze large amounts of data and help you develop fast data-backed campaigns.

Additional ways this technology can benefit your company include:

  • Personalizing user experiences
  • Predicting user intent
  • Connecting data pieces, such as user behavior and business goals, can be done by drawing connections
  • Finding keyword and content opportunities

To harness the power of machine learning and AI, third-party software may be purchased if you are responsible for your online marketing. Although this option is possible in certain cases, it can be costly to develop machine learning or AI software.

Whatever your approach to Internet marketing, technology can help you improve your buying funnel.

4. Reach the perfect shopper

Google states that a second way to increase your digital marketing funnel is to narrow your target audience. You don’t have to reach every person in your target audience to promote your business. However, it is possible to benefit by focusing on the most valuable members.

Google explains that some customers spend more, a lot more, and others spend less. This can make the difference between buying profitable customers or paying to acquire customers that your competitors don’t want.

Your digital marketing strategy can increase the return on investment (ROI) by focusing on users that provide the greatest value to your company. What users are more likely to spend with your company and shop more often?

To maximize your long- and short-term success, tailor your online marketing funnel to this audience.

5. Brand value with Leverage

Your brand is a valuable asset. Your digital marketing strategy must be able to leverage your brand. At every stage of the buying process, show users that you understand their needs and share their values.

You can increase your sales and conversions by showing consumers that you care about them. You can also increase brand loyalty which can help to increase the lifetime value of a client and their spending.

How can your brand increase its value? These are some tips to get you started:

  • Find out what your target audience is looking for in a company within your industry
  • Find out what your target audience wants from your product/service
  • Find out how your company aligns with user expectations
  • Decide how your product/service benefits users and meets their needs

After you have completed all the research, your team will be able to brainstorm ways that your branding can be integrated into content on your website and other channels. You might update product pages, or create new content for your blog or social media.

Are you ready to find out how to reach people at the top, middle, and bottom of your marketing funnel?

How to reach TOFU users with digital marketing

Businesses have the best chance to reach consumers at the top end of their digital marketing funnel. They’re willing to research and find the right solution for their problem, even if they aren’t ready to purchase.

This is why you can reach top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) users using multiple digital advertising strategies.

Top-of-the-funnel SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great online marketing strategy to reach consumers at all stages of the buying process. SEO can help your business rank higher in search results that are relevant to it.

A landscaping company might want to be at the top of search results for queries such as:

  • “Landscaping company near me”
  • “Importance of landscaping”
  • “Effect of landscaping on property values”
  • “Common weeds in lawns”

When you look at the intent behind these queries you will see that many, such as “landscaping company near you”, come from users further down the funnel. The “effect of landscaping upon property value” query, however, hints at someone at the top.

It is possible to assume they are trying to increase the property’s value. Although they have heard landscaping can improve property value, how does it impact the property’s actual worth? Your company can answer this question with some content such as a blog post or guide.

This helps you reach people in your target market who are looking for information. SEO allows you to increase brand awareness and can help your company become an authority for buyers in the TOFU (early stages) of buying.

Marketing top-of-funnel content

Content marketing is a key component of today’s digital marketing funnel. Approximately 70% of users prefer to read articles about companies than see ads. More than 60% of users prefer custom content from blogs to infographics.

Your business can create relevant content that is user-focused through a content marketing strategy. This will help users find the right answer to their problems. You might explain how professional landscaping can increase a property’s value or talk about the most common weeds in lawns.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be used to optimize your content.

Optimizing your content is crucial as 88% of users conduct product research online. It’s nearly impossible for TOFU users not to find your company if your content isn’t in the relevant search results.

It is important to appear at the top of search results.

You will get significantly less traffic if your company is on page 2. Only 25% of search engine users visit the second page. The majority of users stick to the first page. This is why it receives 33% of all traffic.

Social media marketing at the top of their game

On average, 28% of Internet time is spent on social media. This is a clear indication of the importance of social media marketing which is an excellent strategy to reach top-of-the-funnel users.

Social media is an established platform to build brand awareness and it is even more suitable for this section in the digital marketing funnel. You can showcase your brand on the preferred social media platform of your target audience and show how it meets their expectations and needs.

Influencer Marketing can help you achieve even greater results in social media marketing.

Your company can quickly and directly contact top-of-the-funnel users through influencer marketing. You can also leverage the trust of influencers to enhance a user’s first impressions of your company.

If your company is a specialist in home decor, then you might provide an influencer with a product that they can showcase in a social media post. The initial post introduces users to your brand and makes them feel that they have something more.

Top-of-funnel video marketing

Videos are the king of digital marketing today. Videos can be used to provide information about brands and products. This information gives users many options for resolving problems with products or services.

Video marketing can be a great strategy to reach TOFU consumers.

Your team can create video content such as:

  • Question-and-answer videos
  • Informational videos
  • How-to videos
  • More

It can have a huge impact on brand awareness when a user views your video content. Research shows that brand awareness can increase by over 135 percent when a user watches one video.

Another advantage is that 80% of users who plan to purchase a product will watch a related YouTube video. This user behavior can be beneficial for companies that work in industries such as real estate.

Digital marketing funnel: How do you reach MOFU users

User actions can vary in the middle of the digital funnel. Some users are focused on a particular product while others compare brands. This is a big stage, with lots of action. However, there are proven strategies to reach middle-of-the-funnel audience members (MOFU).

These trusted Internet marketing strategies can be used, for instance:

Middle-of-the-funnel email marketing

Email marketing allows your team to reach people who are interested in learning more about your products or brand. These users have signed up to receive emails from your company. The reasons for signing up can vary.

There are a few reasons users might sign up for an email newsletter:

  • Promotions
  • Exclusive content
  • Up-to-date

Your team will need to determine why a user signed up. For example, if you have calls to action (CTAs), inviting users to sign up to receive a discount, it is possible to assume that they are closer to the bottom of the buying funnel.

Segmenting your MOFU audience will help you get the best email marketing results. You can segment your MOFU audience by what motivates them to sign up for emails, such as updates, information, and offers. You can then create the right content for each audience.

This approach to marketing’s buyer journey will help your team optimize the performance of your email campaign. This will allow you to achieve the $44 average return on investment for email marketing.

SEO for the middle-of-the-funnel

Your company can also help you get to the middle of your digital marketing funnel. Instead of focusing solely on exploratory keywords your team should focus on keywords that follow the initial keyword searches.

For top-of-the-funnel users, keywords may be targeted that answer “what” questions. For middle-of-the-funnel users, you might target keywords that answer “why” questions. This allows you to assist users at all stages of their buying journey. 

You can reach people who have not yet heard about your business by using SEO at the end of the Internet marketing funnel. It’s possible to capture users who are resuming their journey. This is because it’s common for customers to stop and start shopping.

Marketing middle-of-the-funnel content

You can adapt your content strategy to the middle of an online marketing funnel, just like SEO. These “why” questions can be answered with content. Businesses can also benefit from creating in-depth content such as online guides to help shoppers make informed buying decisions.

Companies may create gated content in some cases. The creation of gated content can help you earn the trust and respect of valuable users.

Digital marketing funnel: How do you reach BOFU users

Businesses often find bottom-of-the-funnel users (BOFU) to be most valuable. These users are ready to purchase your product, visit you at your location, or contact your business. This is why digital marketing and paid advertising are used by companies to reach these customers.

There are a few ways that your business can reach people at the bottom end of the online marketing funnel.

PPC Bottom-of the-Funnel

To attract buyers, companies use pay-per-click (PPC)advertising.

This strategy is great for people in a micro-moment of “want-to-buy”. PPC can be used to reach customers who have done in-depth research about brands and products. PPC can also be used to remarket to users who visited your site in the early stages of digital marketing.

Your team must determine the value of each potential customer before you begin a PPC campaign. It is important not to spend more than they are worth. You want to return your investment.

It’s important to consider what motivates a user when you’re creating your campaign. Once you have a clear understanding of the user’s needs and wants, you can use their product/service checklist to inform your copy. This will help you convince shoppers to click your ad and become your next client.

Bottom-of-the-funnel email marketing

Email marketing has the potential to generate 50% more sales than other lead-generation methods. This is a proven strategy that BOFU users can use. Your email marketing campaign can be used to encourage subscribers to purchase.

Segmenting your BOFU users is a good idea, just like your MOFU user email marketing strategy. Perhaps some members of your audience are ready to preorder your latest product but need a notification when it becomes available.

You may also have an audience segment that is interested in abandoned shopping carts. Your team might send a reminder email with a coupon code to shoppers. This can encourage shoppers to return and complete their purchases.

Think about the motivations of your audience members. Email marketing strategies that work will be more effective if you know what the user is looking for. This level of understanding can build loyalty for your brand.

Bottom-of the-funnel SEO

To reach the bottom of the funnel users, your business should also use it. This part of the digital marketing funnel should be focused on actionable keywords. Keywords that include “buy” are indicative of a buying intent.

However, SEO that focuses only on the bottom end of the buying process is often very competitive. Your competitors want the same consumers as you. Every business optimizes its website for high-value keywords.

However, this doesn’t mean that your company should not invest in BOFU SEO. Your business should, however, expand your focus beyond the bottom of the funnel. Your company can reach more people and be more competitive by targeting every stage of the web marketing funnel.

Your digital marketing funnel should work for you 

Do you need help creating a digital marketing strategy to work with the current online marketing funnel?

Kobe Digital, a web marketing company has more than 25 years of experience. Kobe Digital’s winning team, which includes digital marketers specialists, can help you adapt your strategy to today’s customers and grow your business’ revenue.

To learn more, contact us online.

About the author

Kobe Digital is a unified team of performance marketing, design, and video production experts. Our mastery of these disciplines is what makes us effective. Our ability to integrate them seamlessly is what makes us unique.