What is the Marketing Funnel?

Name: What is the Marketing Funnel?
Author: Mark Preising

Learn how a marketing funnel works.

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 4 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(gentle music) What is a marketing funnel, and how can it help build brand equity? Having a marketing strategy can help organizations evaluate customer needs, make products stand out in a competitive market, and create brand equity. Marketing funnels use key information and involve various stages before converting leads into customers. In these lessons, you'll discover how a marketing funnel functions, learn important elements of the marketing process, and understand how to build brand equity. Marketing funnels are based off sales funnels. Sales funnels are built by contacting potential customers and describing the organization's products and services, determining their level of interest, and suggesting that the customer make a purchase. The marketing funnel has no universally agreed upon stages, but it generally has several steps of development before the conversion of a sale, including awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation, and purchase. Following the marketing funnel can generate more leads, which, in turn, translates into more sales. Marketing is part of the process of bringing an organization's products and services to a marketplace. It involves researching and preparing both the overall brand identity for the organization and its products or services. The marketing process includes product, price, place, and promotion. These are the four Ps of marketing. These points help an organization determine if it will be successful in bringing its products and services to buyers who are both interested in and will purchase enough to support continuous growth. A good marketing strategy calls for a product or service to be relevant and meet customer needs. A best practice for doing this is to identify the target audience for the product or service, and determine how it benefits the customer. Determining a product or service price, locating a place to sell it, and creating promotions all reflect effective marketing strategies and planning. Market planning involves creating tactical and strategic goals, along with benchmarks, to help drive the organization to success and brand equity. Brand equity is the favorability your organization and its commodities hold with their target market and buyers, in general. Ask yourself, do customers trust your brand? Do customers believe your organization lives up to its marketing message and brand identity? Does your organization deliver what it promises? And has your company researched what consumers want or need? Brand equity allows your organization to sell products and services at higher prices. When your equity is high, your organization can demand higher distribution prices for suppliers. During the marketing funnel process, you are recommended to save your potential consumer's name and contact information to build the funnel for future sales. Adding more contacts and making more calls increases your odds of finding someone who's interested enough to buy from you. It's best to communicate with as many potential clients as you can. Communicating with potential consumers is important, but even more important is learning from each call or contact. You can ask yourself, what did and didn't work with the contact? What comments did you make about your products and services that stimulated the consumer's interest, and what turned them off? It's best to change your script when necessary. Scripting is important to sales, because what you say and how you say it to the consumer is vital. You can find out what they want and need, and show them how your products and services will meet those needs. Also, it's recommended to continually research what your target market wants and needs, and stay on top of industry news.

Beginner Provider : Mark Preising 4 Lessons · 15m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

You may be wondering what a marketing funnel is, or how it functions. Put simply, a marketing funnel is the process of using marketing to convert leads into customers. Your potential customers move through multiple, segmented stages before finally arriving at a purchase.

In these lessons, we’ll discuss the basics of how the marketing funnel works. We’ll go over marketing in general, as well as the customer decision-making process. We’ll also discuss customer experiences and product branding. Finally, we’ll look at buyer journeys, where a buyer is converted to a purchaser.

What You'll Learn

Learn how marketing funnels work and convert leads into customers
Understand how sales funnels work
Discover how customers move through the segmented stages of the funnel
Examine the customer decision-making process and customer experience
Explore product branding within the marketing funnel
Trace the buyer journey through customer feedback to purchase conversion

Key Takeaways

A marketing funnel is the process of using marketing to convert leads into customers.
Potential customers move through multiple, segmented stages before arriving at a purchase.
The course covers marketing in general along with the customer decision-making process.
Customer experience and product branding are part of how the funnel works.
The buyer journey is where a buyer is converted into a purchaser.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

It covers the basics of how the marketing funnel works, including marketing in general, the customer decision-making process, customer experience, product branding, and buyer journeys where a buyer is converted to a purchaser.

What is a marketing funnel according to this course?

A marketing funnel is the process of using marketing to convert leads into customers, where potential customers move through multiple, segmented stages before finally arriving at a purchase.

What skills does this course focus on?

The course focuses on Conversion Marketing, Drip Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Channel, Referral Marketing, and Sales Funnel.

What lessons are included?

Lessons include Marketing and Customer Decision-Making; Customer Experience and Product Branding; Buyer Journeys, Customer Feedback, and Purchase Conversion; and a Test Your Knowledge section.