A Must-Do Series on Marketing Funnel for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs: Part 5

Understanding funnel marketing for B2C brands: Acquire more leads with strategic funnel activities

Swear on the funnel and tell us if you read our previous article of the series, or did you jump right in for this one??

We really recommend that you first understand the marketing funnel for B2B brands to get a broader perspective on the subject.?

Let’s get started.?

The B2B and B2C funnel are similar in structure but varied in functionality.?

The B2C funnel is like throwing a fishing net to capture a hundred fish at once, while the B2B marketing funnel is about knowing where to throw in the fishing rod to catch one big fish and then another.

To put it into perspective, B2C funnels are wider than B2B funnels.?

And marketers face a completely different set of challenges as they work around B2B and B2C funnels.?

B2B marketers take a more technical, subject-oriented, and personalized approach, while with B2C, the approach is usually more casual, flexible, and directed at the 'masses.'?

Needless to say, the different stages of the B2C marketing funnel need different marketing strategies to meet their distinct objectives. Let us dive into it.?

ToFu marketing for B2C brands

The top of a B2C marketing funnel contains prospects that are absolutely unfamiliar with your brand, and many of them might not even be the right prospects to begin with.?

At this stage, the marketing activities try to spread the word about their existence, capture attention and filter out the prospects that are most probable to move forward in the funnel.?

The top of the funnel marketing activities for B2B brands consists of two separate strategies:?

Awareness

At this stage, marketers try to make the audience aware of the brand without expecting much in return from the viewers. The audience will retain the brand name later if the marketing is done and distributed at the right intensity.?

Example:?

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Interest

At this stage, marketers try to capture the attention of the audience. They do this by asking the right question or leading with the right problem statement. This stage is crucial to gather the right prospects for your brand.?

Here are some examples.?

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MoFu marketing for B2C brands?

The middle of the funnel contains prospects that have made it through the first stage and have decided that they are interested to learn further. At this stage, marketers engage in two distinct strategies to get the leads moving through the funnel:?

Consideration

At this stage, the marketers have managed to achieve brand retention, and the viewers are invested in the brand in some capacity. However, they are still considering whether or not your brand is worth a purchase.?

They are willing to learn more if the right information is easily and effectively presented in front of them.?

At this stage, marketers benefit from filtering down the exact problems of their customers and giving them a solid reason to consider their brand.?

Conversion

The prospects are beyond interested at this point. You no longer have to fight for their attention every time.?

This is where they trust you enough to surrender their contact information willingly.?

When this happens, you have converted them to an 'inbound lead' or 'high intent lead.' At this point, consider your job half done.?

Example:?

Consideration + scope for conversion?

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BoFu marketing for B2C brands

Activation

This is the moment of anticipation for marketer. This is when the prospective leads that they nurtured from stage 1 have converted and made a sale. Marketers measure activation by measuring sales.?

One would assume that their journey in the funnel ends once they make the sale.?

However, it is significantly easy and more economically viable to retain the already active customers than filtering through a thousand more leads to look for activation.?

Loyalty

This is where marketers induce loyalty within customers by making them feel valued by the brand and continuing to give them great service.?

This can be measured by customer retention rates and measuring how many how customers made a? re-purchase or renewed their subscription.?

Example: Companies like Starbucks often list their users into a loyalty plan that gives them credit points for repeat purchases that they can redeem when they earn enough point.

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Advocacy

This is the bliss stage for marketers. This is when customers bring in more customers through references and word of mouth. This is a huge validation for marketers to stay assured that their marketing efforts are paying off.?

If you have ever been asked by any brand online how you heard about them, they often have an option that says ‘through a friend’. That is how marketers measure their brand’s advocacy rates.?

Example: Many applications like Uber give their users credit points and benefits for referring the app to a friend.?

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The bottom line

So, that was the Marketing funnel for B2C brands and how marketers work around it with unique strategies.?

Stay tuned to our series on marketing funnels, where we will soon explore funnel activities for D2D brands!?