Four Phases of a Content Marketing Funnel You Should Know

A prospective customer goes through several stages of consideration before deciding to purchase. This is where the content marketing funnel comes into the picture. It means that you need different types of content to attract your customer’s attention as they move along their journey towards making a purchase that they are happy with.

The funnel contains four stages: awareness, evaluation, conversion, and delight. It is a tried and true tactic, so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to gain your customers’ attention. You just need to adapt or repurpose your content to meet the needs of your customers and overall business strategy.

Four Phases of a Content Marketing Funnel

1. Awareness

At this stage, you should assume that the prospective customer has no idea who you are and what you offer. It is your job to change that through content pieces, such as blogs, social media posts, infographics, and videos. This stage is sometimes referred to as the top of your marketing funnel (TOFU).

These content pieces should be informational and educational pieces using soft selling tactics. Please refrain from hard selling at this stage; it will undoubtedly turn your customers off. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes; would you want a brand that seems too eager, especially when it is the first time you know about them? Chances are, you will drop off.

Let’s say you are a crypto exchange provider; you could consider writing a piece of content about what cryptocurrency is and its history, or the types of cryptocurrencies available before producing content on why your exchange platform is better than the others. 

During this stage, keep your information short and digestible, especially with shorter attention spans today. Consider creating social media posts, infographics, and blogs.

2. Evaluation

The evaluation stage is in the middle of the funnel (MOFU), meaning that customers are aware of your business and what you offer. This is when they start considering whether your business is right for them. You should give them more targeted information on this phase through content such as webinars, whitepapers, or case studies.

You are trying to build trust and credibility with the public via such content. This is why having case studies or testimonials are important for establishing your standing in the market.

Harking back to the crypto example, you may want to produce content about the know-your-customer process (KYC) during the onboarding process and why that is important for security purposes. As mentioned, customers already understand the basics before entering this stage. They are now looking to dig deeper and learn more about your business.

At this stage, you may want to consider creating video testimonials and case studies from your existing customers about how easy it is to use your service or how helpful your customer service support has been when a problem arises. Videos are a good choice of format as most people are visual learners.

3. Conversion

The ultimate goal of every marketer is to convert prospective customers into users of the product or service offered by the business. At this stage, marketers should create content pieces that can act as “the final push,” to get window shoppers to finally make a purchase.

Continuing the crypto example, in the conversion phase, you may want to write a comparison of other exchanges to yours; explain how your platform is better, either because of lower fees, 24×7 customer support, or security. One exchange platform even published a story on how they helped a user to track and recover their stolen crypto.

While the goal is to convert every customer possible, remember that for them to trust you, it takes time. So, conversions like signing up for your newsletter should also be considered a win, as it will hopefully be converted into a sale down the line.

That’s why creating a newsletter to enable your customers to keep up with the ever-changing crypto news that may impact their investments is another effective content option. You can also include promo codes to encourage more buying and transactions.

4. Delight

Your job is not done once you have successfully converted a prospective customer to a paying one. At this point, it shifts to how to retain the customer and make them loyal. It is an open secret that loyal customers spend more and can become more effective brand ambassadors than celebrities. This is why the delight phase is equally important.

During this stage, you may consider emailing an exclusive newsletter to your existing user base to announce special promos, discounts, or events. If you are a crypto platform, you could hold a webinar discussing how investors should navigate the current market conditions. 

Other strategies include asking your customers to create user-generated content and participate in competitions or quizzes in exchange for free cryptos and tokens. 

Remember, no matter how good your marketing strategy is, it all comes back to the quality of your product and service. Getting feedback from your customers is essential as it makes them feel heard, which further delights them, and equips you to improve your product and suit their ever-changing needs today. This can be done by creating questionnaires or polls, both of which are content pieces. Ultimately, your business can be viable for years ahead by listening to your customers and engaging them with the right content.

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Click2View is Southeast Asia’s premiere full-service independent B2B content marketing agency servicing clients like Microsoft, Google, Visa, Prudential, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.