If this is you + marketing funnels, that’s a-okay. In fact, this is the safest space for you to learn more about marketing funnels, which funnel(s) is/are a good fit for you and how to take the next steps in your business to get rolling with funnel marketing magic. Ready? Set? Goooooo!

what is a funnel, anyway?

If you think the term funnel is a little buzzword-y and nebulous, you’re not wrong. That’s mostly because funnels can apply to many different marketing activities. The simplest way to boil it down is a funnel helps your customers complete a prescribed journey. That could mean they go from strangers to customers, new to onboarded clients or small purchasers to high-ticket leads. That’s the end game: you’re nurturing them along a journey that helps your target market alleviate pain points while achieving your business goals. Funnels are typically:

Automated
Whether you’re using Leadpages + ActiveCampaign or Hubspot, funnels include elements of automation. This can include (but is not limited to) list membership, email sequences, purchase delivery and up-sales.
Nurturing
One of the biggest benefits of funnels is that they’re like dating: you get the opportunity to build a relationship before you pop the question. Instead of constantly asking your customers for a sale on the first “date” (think: Instagram post), you’re building rapport, earning trust and proving your value through email sequences, retargeting and “touches.”
Repeatable
Another hallmark of a great marketing funnel is that it’s repeatable. We have the technology to rebuild a customer relationship. So, if your customer gets in an email sequence and doesn’t say yes to your pitch at the end (rude, right???), you can add them to an entirely different sequence that nurtures a different product or addresses different pain points. It’s, like, really cool.

WHAT KINDS OF FUNNELS EXIST?

OMG. There are endless types of funnels. You can almost build a funnel around any kind of marketing activity. I’ve heard of podcast funnels, webinar funnels, application funnels and more! Name a value-based asset, and we can turn it into a funnel. Here’s a basic funnel formula. Funula? We’ll work on it.

I think the better question to ask yourself is: “What is my goal for this funnel?” That will help you better understand how to craft the perfect formula. Here are a few funnel-related goals:

Lead Gen
The old “lead gen” trick. This is essentially a way to get more people on your email list. You can do this by offering a free asset (aka a lead magnet) or a tiny purchase (aka a tripwire), and when they put their contact info in, boom. You’ve just gotten a new lead.

Nurturing
The object of many funnels is to simply nurture a relationship. This is especially useful for big-ticket items that organizations offer and are building newer relationships with new clients. A nurture sequence is a great way to warm up cold leads and turn them into customers.

Sales
Okay, so obviously the goal for many marketing funnels is to close a sale. This could mean booking a paid consultation, scheduling a sales call or creating a direct purchase of a physical or digital product.

Upselling/Referrals
Let’s say you have a client base that’s established, but you’re looking for a way to generate additional revenue from that client base. Some of the best uses of funnels is selling deeper into your current customer base or reaching out for referrals. This is a great time to offer incentives or bonuses to make your customers feel like royalty.

Administration
In my opinion one of the most underutilized types of funnel is the admin funnel. This is a great way to automate some of your customer processes and procedures to reduce your business costs by automating some of the things that historically would need staff (or your own time) to accomplish. Examples include onboarding, offboarding, seasonal activities and appointment setting.

do i need a funnel?

That’s such a good question, and the answer is I have no idea. Some businesses aren’t ready at all for a funnel, some should invest in direct outreach first and some are waaayyy past due for an awesome client-generating funnel. But I can help you Scooby-Doo this a little bit and look for some clues that you might be ready to funnel it up! Here are a couple of markers that it’s funnel time.

You’re Super Comfortable in Your Lane in Business

If you love what you do, you have your offer down pat and you know exactly how to service your customers, it’s a good time to funnel up and offer that to more peeps.

You’re Primed to Scale
Most business owners go through a phase where they have to build the ship while they’re on the ocean, meaning they have to create processes and procedures to meet their client base. That’s 100% fine, but if this sounds like you it’s not the right time to find new customers.

You Have Enough Customers… For Now
A lot of the customers who reach out to me are in a spot where they need more customers yesterday. I’ve been there myself; but this is time to employ a more 1:1 outreach strategy, and as soon as you’ve built revenue back up, start funneling.