The Marketing Funnel: Engaging with Consumers at Every Stage

We were recently at the Ad Age Digital Conference where we listened as the world’s top brands took the stage and shared how they’re driving quantifiable results, by producing effective consumer engagement at each stage of the marketing funnel.

Here’s what we took away:

At the top of the funnel, don’t overrun your engaging content with too much branding. 

Andy Goldberg, Chief Creative Director of GE, spoke of the success of their serial sci-fi as a way to align the GE brand with their target audience. Andy said he purposely went with a "light touch” on GE branding to ensure a great experience for the podcast’s devoted audience. A great example of branded content done right.

At the consideration stage, infuse emotion to create a bond with your brand. 

Marc Pritchard, Global Brand Officer of Procter & Gamble, talked about engaging content that resonates with target audiences. He spoke of the success of their “Like A Girl” campaign, the expansion into their "Unstoppable" campaign and how tapping into this emotional connection in such an honest and real way can ultimately lead to a movement.

At the purchase stage, make it easy to customize and buy, and buy again. 

Dennis Maloney, Chief Digital Officer of Domino’s, talked about how the company makes it seamless for their customers to customize and purchase through their “AnyWare” initiative. He spoke of the success of Domino’s app that lets you order, track the creation and delivery of your pizza then easily re-order again in the future. Domino’s has been able to capture every consumer touch point along the way and enable their customers to buy with ease, no matter where, how or when that need for pizza comes up.  

Connections are key at every stage of the marketing funnel, no matter the brand or the target audience. Because when the connection is authentic, the result will trigger an emotion, and the result will be a win for your brand. At A&G, we believe there’s no limit to how, when and where any brand can make an impact. It’s about immersing ourselves in those micro moments in the customer journey, and using them to ignite a conversation. Because disrupting the ecosystem with the unexpected gets consumers to take notice, and makes that connection happen.