How to Create a Successful Content Marketing Funnel

What is a content marketing funnel?

A content marketing funnel is a system that helps new leads join your business through different types of content. A successful content marketing funnel is a multi-stage process that guides people from the product awareness stage until they become satisfied customers. It is also a clear path of return on your content investment.

The leads captured by your funnel are converted into possible customers by progressively “funneling” them through different types of content.

Marketers may slice the funnel into a number of sections, but there are generally three key points need to remember:

• Top of the funnel (ToFu) — is the part that grabs people’s attention, focusing on brand awareness and site traffic.
• Middle of the funnel (MOFU) — educates and informs, focusing on lead generation and nurture.
• Bottom of the funnel (BOFU) — offers content that is personalized and product-focused. This part of the funnel focuses on converting site visitors to paid services or products.

Top of the funnel (ToFu)

The top of the funnel is the first stage where you get to capture your audience’s attention. At this stage, you want to make an impression using some type of value-added content, answer questions or solve problems for your audience — this content must be provided for free, because all you want at this stage is to get brand awareness. Distributing your content through various marketing channels like blogs or social media networks is a great way to get your audience’s attention.

The best types of content to create for this part of the funnel:

Blog posts – these are incredibly powerful SEO tools and also an effective way to display your expertise in helping your audience with certain issues. Make your blog posts highly shareable so you can leverage your efforts even more.

Content curation – this is the easiest type of content that you can create since it implies sharing posts on your social media accounts. To avoid getting ‘spammy’, make sure you are sharing high-value content with your customers.

Videos – these take some time to make, but can dramatically increase conversion rates.

Podcasts – also known as modern versions of radio shows, podcasts can be transcribed to create blog posts that can target your specific keywords.

Middle of the funnel (MOFU)

Once your site visitors go through ToFu, they end up in the middle of your funnel where you need to convert them into sales leads. These people have already been introduced to you and have also received some degree of free value from you, so it’s the perfect time to convert them to actual leads. To do so, entice them with an offer they can receive in exchange for their permission to contact them via email. Once you get this permission, you can begin to “nurture” the relationship and build trust with them. There are many ways to capture a lead, but email lead capture is the main goal here.

The best types of content to create for this part of the funnel:

Free guides or eBooks – including “How-to” articles that help your audience solve a problem. You need to remember though to describe how your product or service can help your customers achieve a more efficient solution.

White papers – these can help convince your audience that your product or service can be a solution to a certain problem they are experiencing.

Case studies – these are data-driven forms of content that often include statistics and other data gathered at the end of a test or a project.

Worksheets – these are great since they allow the reader to tangibly apply what they’re learning.

Bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

The bottom of your funnel convinces leads to buy the product or service you’re offering. So, once you’ve nurtured your leads and helped them to discover your brand, it’s time to convert them into actual customers. At this point, they’ve gotten free value from you, you’ve also emailed them useful, relevant information to help them out, so now you need to present them with an offer that naturally transitions them into paying customers. This conversion can be tricky — it requires shifting people from being receivers of free value to people willing to give you their hard-earned cash in exchange for something they can use. At this stage of the funnel, personalization can be very useful

The best types of content to create for this part of the funnel:

Free discount codes: offer your audience limited discount codes (mention “for a limited time only” or “only available today”, etc.) they can use for their purchase.

Testimonials from happy clients: create a series of emails where customers tell their success stories.

Webinars and advanced classes: if your business allows it, hold advanced classes for your audience or offer events for those who are already familiar with what you do.

Why should you create a content funnel?

In short, these would be the reasons behind creating your own content funnel:

• Increase your brand awareness
• Increase organic search traffic
• Get higher conversion rates
• Spend less money on paid ads

Creating a successful content marketing funnel is no easy task — it takes a lot of hard work and discipline to pull it off. However, if you try to focus on your audience rather randomly dishing out content, your content system will prove highly beneficial for your business.

George R. Khayat

Partner

Mr. George Khayat is a partner with Meirc Training & Consulting. He holds a bachelor of science in management from the Lebanese American University, a master in marketing and communication from ESCP-EAP University in France, and is currently completing a master of science in management from St. Joseph University in Beirut. George is a certified marketing analyst (The Graduate Board of Management, USA), a chartered marketer (Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK), a certified Lego® Serious Play® method facilitator, and a certified sales professional (Sales Training International, USA). He is also certified in Action Selling® (USA) and Guerrilla Marketing (Australia).

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