Why build marketing funnels?

You might be wondering what can I do right now, to help me grow my agency post over the next few months?

My simple answer to you is: build funnels for specific audiences you wish to attract.

Let’s start with: what is a marketing funnel?

Also referred to as a ‘sales funnel’, ‘purchase funnel’ or ‘conversion funnel’, a marketing funnel is like a tunnel that you send your prospects down. As they go on a journey, they will encounter a series of touchpoints set up by you to elicit a response, also known as a conversion.

Why is it called a “funnel”?

If you imagine the shape of a funnel, at the top, it aims to attract a lot of people, for example, landlords (specific audience). Then, as the people continue along and take the next steps, some of them will drop out, and the number of prospecting clients narrows. (And even further along in the process, your negotiators will get involved to help close the deal.)

In other words, a marketing funnel is the customer journey from discovering your agency, all the way to booking a valuation or a viewing.

What is the secret to a successful marketing funnel?

Personalisation is key. Your messages need to be optimised to meet the needs of the prospect and operate in real-time.

1. POSITION your offer to your prospect’s greatest desires or as a solution to their biggest fears.

Here you can either focus on their biggest pain point, which they want to get away from or their biggest desire, which they want to go towards.

Spend time on defining your buyer’s persona – what challenges do they face at present? What keeps them awake at night? What problems do they want to be solved?

What do they want or don’t want? ← Help them achieve this and you’re golden.

Landlords want their rent paid on time, every month. Not late payments and void periods. Vendors want to find the next dream home and move swiftly. Investors want to grow their profits.

When you know what matters to your prospects the most, you can structure your offer to help them overcome that.

The offer could be in a form of a download (a guide, a cheat sheet or a resource list), a quiz or survey, a video or a podcast, for which they have to opt-in to access.

2. CONTINUITY of message.

Building upon the story through each stage of the funnel is probably the most important part of your sales funnel.

Imagine clicking on an ad: “Free Checklist For Letting Your 1st Property” and the next offer you see is trying to convince you to book a sales valuation.

Clearly this is not the right progression for a new Landlord. Instead, build your story along each stage in the sales funnel.

If someone engages and downloads your “Free Checklist For Letting Your 1st Property”, then the next logical step could be to email them about ‘how to find a tenant fast’ or to retarget them with ‘how to check-in your first tenant’. 

See how the message is linear and consistent? Each stage builds upon the previous, offering more and more… providing solutions for the visitors’ desires. If a visitor is a new or accidental Landlord who wants to do all the right things, they are going to walk themselves through the buying process.

3. AUTOMATION of email nurturing follow-up sequence.

Every single sales funnel should be using email automation.

When a visitor clicks to access the free offer, you need to send an email instantly.

Remind them of what they requested, link to it again, build trust, and explain what they will gain from consuming this offer.

Of course, this is just the first email from an entire series. Remember, these are pre-written emails that are scheduled to send out in a sequence, usually 1 per week.

How long are your sequences depends on the typical buyers’ journey? For example, a landlords nurturing sequence could be 52 weeks long. This is because landlords rarely change their suppliers unless their tenants leave, so the nurturing sequence should be longer.

TIP: Check out our 52-week email follow-up sequence template.

Vendors, however, typically act within a few months of starting their research, so the sequence for a vendor could be a lot shorter.

Either way, you must cleanse your list regularly and ensure your messages bring value to the readers.

4. Add RETARGETING

Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a form of online advertising that can help you keep your brand in front of prospects via banner advertising. (go to any news publication and you will see plenty of examples) You can retarget people on the Google Display Network for max of 540 days and on Facebook for 180 days.

Use retargeting to progress your prospects to the next step of the journey.

TIP: Read more about Google and facebook retargeting and how to use it

5. Never forget to add a call-to-action (CTA)

The key to a successful marketing funnel is to always include one call to action with the next logical step of the journey.

Add your CTAs in each of your emails, landing pages, downloads or videos to ensure the prospects take the next step.

To access Nelly’s Covid-proof marketing video tips go to youtube.com/ArtDivisionCoUk