5 terrifying funnel mistakes + how to fix
It’s October, which means it’s time for all things scary: haunted houses, slasher flick fests and all the monster mashes. Can you tell how much I love Halloween? Me either.
One scary activity I DO NOT recommend is a funnel that isn’t generating revenue for your small business.
You shouldn’t be losing time, money or bandwidth on a funnel that won’t produce results for your business!
So here are 5 terrifying mistakes you could be making with your funnels + how to fix them now!
1. NOT HAVING A CLEAR VALUE LADDER
The Problem:
One of the biggest mistakes I see in B2B Marketing is what I call the First Date Proposal.
Essentially, it’s asking for a BIG SALE with the first contact.
Sometimes it’s disguised as a free consultation, but we all know you’re gonna pop a big question with one touch. No bueno.
The Fix:
Map Your Value Ladder, Boo! Come up with three or four steps for someone to go from stranger –> customer.
The higher-ticket your final offer is, the more steps you should have in this journey, btw.
ALSO, your intermediate steps should be chock-full of lots of treats for your customer, especially for a hefty price tag.
Just for reference, here’s what a great value-ladder looks like:
2. KEEPING YOUR CUSTOMERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
The Problem:
I know it seems like the “now” thing to do (that’s what the kids are saying, right? RIGHt???) is make sure your audience is following you on social media.
And that’s a stellar start, but what would happen if that platform went away, or made changes to user agreements?
Your customer base would be slashed faster than a cheerleader in an 80s horror movie.
The Fix:
Your social is just the gateway to the relationship you want to build with your customer, so the best thing you can do is get the names off of your social and into your mailing list ASAP.
You can do this via lead magnets, tripwires and direct outreach. Just move them into your email server stat.
3. USING UNTESTED MATERIAL
The Problem:
Anyone else remember their teachers telling them to make sure their parents look at their Halloween candy before they OD’d on Snickers fun sizes all night?
Using untested content for a campaign is kind of like that. It’s just not worth the risk.
It’s imperative to ensure that the pain points, benefits and solution all resonate with your target market before the campaign even starts.
The Fix:
This is another benefit of organic social: it’s a great thermometer for taking the temperature of your audience.
I would take the top 5-10 posts you have in a quarter to compare and contrast. Is there a topic theme? A type of graphic? Pain points? Can you tweak it for your next offer?
Start with what’s already working and use THAT to drive business.
4. ONLY USING ORGANIC SOCIAL
The Problem:
I know I might seem like that classic angel/devil combo right now telling you two different things, but I promise this makes sense.
Starting with organic social is advisable. Never using paid social and/or ads is bad news bears.
The Fix:
The quicker you can nail down your promotions for your offers, the faster you can scale your business, period.
But it must be done correctly, and that’s something that’s mega hard for the average business owner to do while maintaining all of the other aspects of your business.
5. USING THE WRONG NURTURE PLAN
The Problem:
I recently bought a course from a provider who proceeded to call me twice (back-to-back) and follow up with an email DAILY.
Guess how fast I hit the unsubscribe button? On the flip side, I get an email a couple of times a day from another brand with a few deals, and I’ve never unsubscribed.
Why? There is more perceived value for me in the second provider. The key to nurturing is hitting JUSSSTTTT right for your target market.
The Fix:
This is industry specific, so I’d have to know more about your business before I could recommend a cadence; but there are a couple of principles at play here:
- The longer the sales cycle, the more space you should put between messages.
- Time your messages with key events in your clients’ lives that amplify the need for your services.
- Incorporate value into your touches. You can get away with more frequent touches if your customers are getting something out of them, even it’s just a new blog post or reminder.
IT DOESN’T SEEM SO SCARY NOW, HUH?
I triple-pink swear that applying a solid funnel or two to your business can help you generate revenue, nurture customers and reduce manual processes in a way that makes all the difference in the world to a small business.
Done correctly it makes the difference between chasing clients and working until midnight or being the boss you know you are.
IF YOU’RE READY TO FUNNELIZE YOUR BUSINESS, CLICK THE LINK BELOW FOR NO TRICKS AND ALL TREATS!
