If you know the process of sales funnel, knows that it is very important for companies that know their audience and invest in Digital marketing. For it to work, its steps must be well structured, with specific strategies for the top of the funnel, middle and bottom.
The first phase represents the learning phase, that is, it is at this stage that the public has its first contact with the company.. And, contrary to what many people think, it is not enough to just publish any type of post on social media or blog articles. You need to do much more for the funnel to actually work.
Read the text and understand how to work the top of the funnel in your company!
After all, what would ToFu be?
No, you didn't read that wrong. We're not talking about that oriental food made from soybeans, but rather the top of the sales funnel (nicknamed ToFu), which is the widest part of the entire lead attraction process. This is the stage where your company receives the most visitors, so you need to do something to spark their interest.
The sales funnel is structured as follows:
And it is because of this configuration that the top of the funnel stage is very important, since it is through it that the company can attract and educate potential consumers. But how do you educate? Well, in this case, it's in the literal sense of the word. Your company needs to consider that the visitor doesn't yet know that they have a problem and may have stumbled upon your website by accident. Therefore, this is the moment to grab their attention and show them that you have something that can be useful to them. At this point, they're not yet interested in your product/service; they just want to learn more about the subject that you're an expert in, in a broad sense.
For example, if you are an online course for architecture professionals, at the top of the funnel people still don't want to know about your course specifically, but rather about architecture, construction tips, software tips, among other things that may be useful for their daily lives.
If you are a store that sells chandeliers, at this moment people want to know more about decorating tips, not about changing the chandeliers in their home.
So how do you produce content for the top of the sales funnel?
The strategy of Content Marketing for this stage is to produce materials that have more generalized themes, with very clear and easy-to-understand language. To make the attraction during this stage of the purchase day, it is important to invest in educational content, which will serve to make people interested in the topic of your company's area of activity.
Many people make mistakes at this point, as they try to advertise their product and/or service to these visitors. In reality, at the top of the funnel, you won’t be talking about them or even your company, but you will be providing useful information to readers about what your company does.
If this content is well done, it is natural for the user to advance through the stages of the funnel and, little by little, move towards the purchase.
What content formats can be explored at the top of the funnel?
Since this is the moment when the consumer actually discovers the product, the ideal, as previously mentioned, is to create content that sparks the interest and curiosity of the lead, with attractive and easily accessible materials, with the objective of generating volume and making the public understand that they have a problem and start searching for solutions.
The idea is to arouse the consumer's curiosity, so that they can advance to the other stages of the funnel.
Check out the main formats that can be used at the top of the funnel:
1- Blog posts
These are texts with information that arouse the reader's curiosity, posted on blogs. In most cases, blog posts are the visitor's first contact with the topic that can solve their problem, so they must contain important information about the company's area of activity, aiming to attract those people who search for it in search engines, in addition to also being made available on social networks.
They can be accompanied by a podcast with the audio of the content, making it easier for those who don't have much time to read and can consume the material while doing other activities.
2- Podcasts
Another very effective format for attracting individuals to the top of the sales funnel is the provision of podcasts, that is, audio on demand, which can be listened to at any time through specific platforms, such as Spotify, Google Podcast, Dezzer and several others.
The idea is to use them to attract visitors to the company's website.
3- Newsletters
Who thinks that the email marketing It is an outdated strategy, you are very wrong. Despite being something simple, sending newsletters (emails with different content) is a great way to connect with people at the top of the funnel, being an excellent opportunity to address different subjects in one place.
4- eBooks
Finally, providing introductory e-books on topics related to your area of expertise is also very useful for attracting visitors at the top of the sales funnel. In them, you will group together various pieces of information on a given topic, creating a much more complete material than a blog post, for example.
It is also a way for you to obtain data about users, since you will be asked for their email address so they can download the material. In the future, this data will be very important for the other steps.
5- Infographics
Providing infographics with accurate, quick and objective information is a great way to convey a variety of information in a simple and easy-to-understand way. These materials can be sent by email or through the company's social networks.
6- Videos
Many people think not, but YouTube and other video-on-demand platforms are increasingly growing and becoming very useful for promoting companies.
The idea is to make videos available with relevant tips on content related to the corporation's area of activity and, in this way, attract the public that researches the subject through these networks.
So, how important is the sales funnel for your business?
The sales funnel is responsible for guiding your company's leads through certain stages (customer journey) until they reach the long-awaited moment of purchase. Its main objective is to attract and retain customers who, if the entire process is carried out correctly, will arrive much more prepared at the moment of purchase, saving salespeople effort, which will gain agility and scale.
Nurturing leads according to the stage they are at, with relevant information and content, with the aim of sparking interest and taking them to the next stage of the funnel, is essential to making your consumers understand that your product/service can be useful in their lives.
Does your company already produce something specific for this audience?
Know that if your company still doesn't care about the top of the funnel, it may be missing out on great opportunities to increase sales and save money throughout the process, making the process much more dynamic and faster. Not to mention the post-sales benefits... but we'll get into another subject about the hourglass-shaped funnel.