The Modern Marketing Funnel for a Digitalized World

The traditional marketing funnel focused on methodically moving prospects from the awareness stage through consideration to the purchase stage. But for today’s digitally-oriented world, where customers are more knowledgeable, connected, and empowered than ever, the traditional funnel fails to serve modern-day business needs and has lost its relevance.

To adapt to the contemporary trends and overcome the issues with the traditional marketing funnel, the modern marketing funnel was introduced. With the introduction of this funnel, there was a paradigm shift in the way the entire process was viewed. Unlike the old-fashioned funnel that focused more on the point of purchase, its contemporary counterpart centered around the buyer’s journey, from start to end.

Let’s take a closer look at the different stages of the Modern Marketing Funnel by dividing it into three sections-

·        The Top Section

·        The Middle Section

·        The Bottom Section

The Top Section of Your Funnel

The top of the funnel represents the initial interaction stage. This is also where most of your qualified audience is. This stage of your funnel is important as this is where you need to build awareness among the audience about your products and services and/or the benefits of collaborating with you.

The main purpose of the top tunnel is to push prospects down the funnel into the ‘think’ stage, where the first intent of purchasing your product arises in the mind of the customer. Two major strategies that are used in this stage are online ads and social media.

The final result of this stage is brand recognition.

The Middle of the Funnel

In this section of the funnel, prospective leads advance from the first interaction towards a sale, or perhaps a successive sale, based on their knowledge of your brand so far.

After gaining awareness about your brand, prospects move to the consideration stage. This part of the funnel is a bit delicate as most of the customer research and discovery take place at this stage. When your target customers are in this part of the funnel, it is important to establish authority and drive them to your website.

Some of the best strategies for this section are SEO, Video marketing, PPC search ads, and Email marketing.

The Bottom Section

This is the final stage of the customer journey and it also includes revenue-building and customer loyalty. This is the part where prospects convert to clients. The biggest challenge that marketers face in this stage is producing content that actually prompts the prospect to make a purchase.

Once your prospects have converted, you can put your customers to work by making them brand advocates to spread the word across the different social media platforms.

Some successful strategies for this part of the funnel include SEO, pay-per-click ads, and email marketing.

The modern marketing funnel works aptly for the digitalized world. Knowing and understanding the different stages of the funnel will not only help you in putting your energy and focus at the right place but will also give you the most effective results.