The concept of a sales funnel has been popular with marketers across all the industries, mainly because it provides a systematic way to view the journey of prospects as they pass through the different stages of the buying process. In addition, marketers are able to capture important metrics for strategic planning at any stage in the entire buying process. An effective sales funnel can provide marketers with insight into the behaviour of prospects at various touch points –from the moment they come into contact with your brand (at the wide of the funnel), to their conversion and continued loyalty to your brand (at the narrower end of the funnel).
Many companies are quick to integrate the sales funnel approach in their marketing strategies before checking if all the pieces are in place. But to be a successful internet marketer in 2014, it’s not just enough having a sales funnel in place. You need to stand out from your peers and competitors in order to attract the attention of your target audience. You should know the key ingredients to include in your marketing mix for a successful sales funnel. Marketers out there are competing to net as many prospects as possible and especially qualified prospects who are likely to convert and become loyal customers.
Here are 3 keys to enable you to break through the noise from your competitors and help you build an effective sales funnel.
Make your sales copy compelling and interesting
Today’s empowered consumers do not just purchases before first carrying out extensive online research as well as reviewing information from other sources for instance referrals from friends and family. We are currently in the days when content is king and it behoves any company that wants to stay in the game to have in place a really interesting and compelling sales copy to stand out from the competition.
The top of the funnel is wide because it represents the stage where random prospects come into contact with your brand or online presence. You want to ensure that you fully engage with the people visiting your website, micro site or landing page and build lasting relationships that may finally win their loyalty to your brand. One way to capture the attention of your prospects is by writing great content.
This first point of contact is characterized by a high number of people who may not even be aware of your brand or sceptical prospects. Therefore, you need a compelling sales pitch to change their perception. You need to fully utilize the opportunities offered by this first touch point to ensure that you generate as many leads as possible and to nurture those leads through the remaining stages in your sales funnel to conversion.
Your writing style and tone plays a critical role in determining the number leads generated from web traffic. When it comes to web content, you stand to gain more by using original, awesome, shocking, creative, Unique, and interesting content because you want both search engines and prospects who are researching about your niche to find your site and even come back for more.
Map your sales pitch to the relevant stages in the sales funnel
It is important to know which stage in the buying process that your prospects are passing through so that you can target the sales pitch in your follow up emails, blog posts, social media posts or calldowns accordingly. Even though it’s tempting to stick to one pitching angle that has proved successful in the past, you stand to gain more by customizing your reach out effort to be in line with the progress of your leads through the sales funnel. You don’t want to scare away random prospects with CTAs (Call-to Actions) before they even realize that they need your services or products.
Memorable engagement
Try your best to make your engagement with leads as memorable as possible so that you can always be their top-of-mind whenever they think of making a purchase. Remember that your competitors may also be reaching out to the same leads but, they will likely remember your company if they’ve had a memorable encounter with your sales team or web content.
Personalize follow up emails and reach out to your leads across all the major social media platforms. For hot leads, you can even arrange for live call downs or engage them in-person – do not underestimate the power of personal encounters.
