A Guide to Building a Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel is a measurable, visual representation of the process of turning people from prospects into loyal clients.

Whether or not you are aware of it, you are utilizing a marketing funnel. But are you taking full advantage of it?

Correctly implementing a strategic marketing funnel can be the difference between wasting time and money on leads with low or nonexistent follow-through, versus nurturing legitimate leads through the buying process and turning them into steadfast clients.

I will break down the levels of a standard marketing funnel and provide specific steps that financial advisors can take to create their own.

Start with the fundamentals

The marketing funnel has three basic stages: top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU).

The TOFU represents the awareness stage, where potential clients recognize that they have a problem or need. This could be anything from a young professional determining the most tax-effective compensation model to a couple deciding that they want to purchase a vacation home.

The MOFU is where the evaluation of alternatives takes place. Here, a lead starts to do research into their options. Will they invest in property? Invest in stocks? Take out a loan? Open a retirement account? And who will they trust to advise them? The MOFU is the meat and potatoes of the funnel. This is where businesses can separate dead-end leads from good ones, and present convincing material to convert them to clients.

The BOFU is where the conversion takes place. But, advisors should not end their funnels here. In addition to closing the sale, post-commitment behavior, or loyalty, is a crucial final step. After all, word of mouth and client advocacy are invaluable to growing any business.

Leverage Effective Content at Each Stage

Now that you understand the basics, it’s time to more closely examine each individual step, as well as which types of content will work best to market your services.

1. Awareness (TOFU)

The first step at the very top of the funnel is recognizing a need. In the financial advisory world, this can present in many different forms, but it always boils down to prospects who need help managing their finances. While many individuals come to this conclusion on their own, it doesn’t hurt to create content to remind them of the value you bring as a financial advisor. Examples of content that are successful at this stage include social-media campaigns, paid advertising, SEO, blog posts, videos, podcasts, and infographics.

Let’s use an example. Say you are a financial advisor who enjoys serving technology executives who have concentrated-wealth positions. You are trying to market your firm as constructing tax-efficient financial plans to ensure that the right decisions are made as related to their stock options.

Taking the target demographics into account, assume that prospective customers would respond well to a social-media campaign. Create infographics for Instagram and Facebook that showcase basic statistics or facts that grab the attention of these prospects. Produce an informative video that introduces different tips to avoid pitfalls of concentrated stock.

2. Consideration (MOFU)

The next step is consideration. Now that your lead has become aware of their problem or need, they will begin to gather information. This includes a Google search, (making SEO important) and a social media search. Content at this step should be in-depth and go beyond the surface-level factual graphics of the previous step. Examples of useful content include blog posts, white papers, case studies, webinars, and reports.

You should be positioning yourself as an industry leader without being too pushy on the selling front. Try thinking, “if I was a prospective client, what information would I find helpful?” Using the example from earlier, write a detailed blog post about the top 10 reasons young technology professionals should get started with a financial advisor as early in their career as possible. Use digital advertising on Instagram to create a call to action to download a whitepaper or sign up for a webinar. Present options, give examples, and be as transparent and knowledgeable as possible.

3. Evaluation of alternatives (MOFU)

During the MOFU stage, leads will be exploring the market and looking into competitors as well to determine their best option. This is the time to sell yourself as the best option, be it service, scope, expertise, investment philosophy, etc. Typically, content here will be less promotional and more informative. Examples include fee schedules, blog posts on how to choose the best advisor for your specific needs, and case studies that present in-depth examinations of concentrated wealth scenarios.

4. Purchase decision (BOFU)

A lead may decide to invest in your services and officially become a client. At this stage, be reassuring and show the client that they are making the right decision. Set clear expectations, provide a friction-free process and provide transparency.

5. Advocacy (BOFU)

Finally, create a seamless onboarding process for new clients. Instill confidence with open communication and helpful resources. While this step is less content-driven and more service-driven, have informative content to make the transition as smooth as possible. Create an FAQ page, send feedback surveys, utilize email to keep clients informed and remind them that a line of communication is always open. You’ve gained a client, now let your services shine.

Assessing your success

Once you have created your marketing funnel, make it measurable. In order to find out if your funnel is generating new clients, choose a few key metrics that you can effectively measure.

Here are some examples of different metrics you can monitor:

• Entry sources. How many prospects are entering your funnel from each individual piece of content or channels?
• Exit sources. On the flip side, are there specific pieces of content that are seeming to drive prospects away?
• Time in stage. How long are prospects spending in each stage/on each piece of content?
• Sales funnel conversion rate. Monitor how many prospects enter your funnel compared to how many convert into customers.
• Individual content engagement. Keep tabs on each piece of content you have in your funnel to see what is performing well and what could be improved on.

By utilizing a thoughtful marketing funnel, you can monitor and measure which areas of your marketing strategy are working, which need improvement, and what simply isn’t necessary, saving money and time. Don’t worry if you can’t perfect your funnel overnight. Even the most successful marketing funnels should be flexible, as they will likely change over time.

For additional insight into building successful content, visit “How to Develop a Content Strategy.”