A Must-Do Series on Marketing Funnel for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs: Part 6

Understanding funnel marketing for D2C brands: Acquire more leads with strategic funnel activities

You're in the middle of a book, and we recommend that you get some context. Last week, we covered funnel activities for B2C companies.

But, if you are entirely unaware of marketing funnels and why brands need them, start from the beginning.?

Moving on, here is everything you need to know about marketing funnels for D2C brands.?

D2C stands for 'Direct to Customer,' and as the name suggests, D2C is a business model where companies produce, market, and ship their products directly to their customers.?

Although the D2C industry comprises many small businesses, it isn't limited to just that. Many high-performing and popular companies like WOW, Mama Earth, and Sugar cosmetics fall under the same category. They also present suitable examples of scalable and sustainable marketing efforts for D2C companies.?

Let us dive deeply into how D2C companies can strategize their funnel activities for fast and lasting results.?

Marketing Funnel for D2C companies

Marketing funnels for D2C companies aren't very different from the B2C and B2B companies, except that their lead nurturing cycles can be longer or shorter than the other two.?

Because the reciprocity of marketing efforts is usually measured through app downloads and subscriptions, leads tend to stay a tad bit longer in the middle of the funnel.?

Per the regular structure, the funnel for D2C brands is divided into three parts — ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu — and they all need properly distinguished strategies.?

Top of the funnel for D2C brands?

The marketing efforts at this stage aim to achieve awareness and attention.?

Marketers must consider that they are targeting prospects who either:?

• are using an alternative product?
• haven't considered using a similar product?
• are not using a similar product but trying to research the best fit

So they usually only employ digital marketing techniques since the entire business is conducted online through the company’s website, and it's easier to direct people to their virtual stores.?

For most companies, the goal at this stage is to build a rapport with prospective customers and get them to:

• download applications
• subscribe to social media
• feel connected to the product?

So, ToFu marketing strategies for D2C companies include:?

• Commitment and community-building activities?
• Social Media Advertising?
• Influencer marketing?
• Paid promotions?
• SEO traction?

Take a look at Mama Earth's very successful influencer marketing campaign, where an accomplished vlogger endorses the product. The influencer is also seen using the product in sever videos to amplify retention for viewers.??

Source

If only it were as easy to take the leads to the middle of the funnel as it is with you!?

Middle of the funnel for D2C brands?

The part of the funnel includes prospects from the ToFu stage that expressed interest. Leads convey interest by getting in touch on social media or registering or consuming marketing content regularly.?

This stage includes people who downloaded the application, visited the website, and logged in or carted items (even if they abandoned the cart).

The marketing strategies usually include:?

• Personalized messages and notifications?
• Email marketing?
• Paid targeted google ads where high intend leads are automatically targeted
• Effective brand storytelling tools and techniques to massively increase the company's reach.?

This is a perfect example of a targeted ad on YouTube for WOW skin care products.?

Once this stage is through, marketers can take a deep breath and shift their focus from gathering quantity to executing precisely.??

Bottom of the funnel for D2C brands?

At this stage, marketers must push leads at the right intensity.?

The burden and benefit of this stage are that all leads must be pushed in the same direction, as it's the only place to hit sales.?

Leads are often redirected in a matter of seconds from informative blogs to the website and immediately to the middle funnel as they download the application.?

If the TOFU marketing efforts are compelling enough to intrigue the leads, marketers can often seamlessly slide them down to the middle or bottom of the funnel.?

It isn't as worrisome if leads are suspended in the TOFU for a bit longer as long as they consume the marketing content.?

Especially with tools like influencer marketing and social media marketing, your leads will subliminally continue to form a connection and build trust for your brand. This means that these particular prospects might as well skip the middle funnel and slide straight down to the bottom funnel and make a purchase.?

The marketing strategies for this stage usually include:

• Offers?
• Discount Coupons?
• Testimonial and review-based advertisements?
• Referrals

For example, here is user testimony-based marketing content for the leads in the bottom funnel.?

Source

Look at yet another compelling example of discount marketing by Sugar Cosmetics.?

Source

Now that you've made it?

A D2C marketing funnel allows marketers to envision and target the leads in all stages of the customer life cycle separately.?So, knowing about funnel management for your particular company is vital if you are a marketer or a business owner.?

We hope that you'll stay put through our series, in which the next part is about C2C funnel strategies.