The idea of a marketing funnel is one of the oldest strategies found in marketing books. How are people getting to know you? What methods are you using to get more people to get to know you? How do you bring them in and get them to convert into a customer?
At Craft & Cloud, we like to expand on that idea a little in something we call your Marketing Path. It’s not entirely original with us, of course. Ryan Deiss’s customer value journey is our main source of inspiration coupled with ideas from StoryBrand by Donald Miller. The aim with this process is to broaden our focus beyond just getting customers in the door. We want to map out our customers’ entire experience, since this is the way we make sure we can continue to provide value and ongoing business to our customers.
We divide this up into stages. Much like any other relationship, we have to approach our customers in a way that is appropriate to how well we know them. If you propose marriage to your girlfriend on your first date, you shouldn’t expect the response you’d like. A relationship must be built. In marketing, we want to make sure we are approaching people at the right level so there is a path toward them becoming a customer that gives them enough space to feel comfortable and confident about their decision, while also making it easy for them to move forward. I’ll explain the steps here.
Aware
The first step in the marketing journey is simply for a customer to learn that we exist. In this stage, they know of our existence and what problem we solve, but nothing more. This is probably going to be a very large number of people, most of whom don’t currently have any reason to do business with us. But some of them will, and they can’t work with us if they don’t know we exist.
Brand recognition is important at this stage. It’s estimated that a customer needs to see a company between eight and eleven times before they are familiar with it enough to become a customer. The more consistent and memorable (unique) a brand is, the easier it will be for a person to remember the company between different times of seeing it. Our customers will trust a brand they know and have seen. This is why we need to be easily recognized and remembered.
We increase our awareness by placing our information wherever people who need our services are likely to be. This is done by traditional methods (like print ads in papers and magazines, billboards, signs, etc.) and by online advertising (organic traffic, paid traffic, social media and ads, etc.)
Engage
Some of the people who know who you are will have interest in learning more. They will need some way to engage with your business or content that doesn’t involve too much risk or commitment from them. They might stop by a brick and mortar location to look at items, browse a website, or call in to ask basic questions about your products or services.
We encourage engagement by offering something of value. Stores run specials and events to get people to come to the store, where they’ll look through other items as well. Websites offer guides and detailed product information so people can think through the product or service they are considering. If we provide a reasonable value with minimal difficulty to get that value, we can help people engage with our content and move toward becoming a customer.
Subscribe
Sometimes, people will be eager and easy to sell to, going straight from the basic information stage to a purchase. This isn’t something we should assume, though. Often people need one more step before they make a purchase. The step between their interest and the sale often involves them making an investment of some sort. For example, a business that is aiming for repeat business might have a “loss leader” item that they make little or no money on that is just to get people through the door. Other times, it’s the time and effort needed to pull together a quote. Businesses also do this simply by asking for information for marketing in the form of an email signup or other contact request.
If we want to encourage someone to make that investment, we need to make sure they can be confident it is worth it. The more we communicate value in our marketing and interactions with them, the more ready they will be to test the waters.
Convert
Conversion is the number that matters most. Growing the conversion value grows your business. This number is what we compare all our marketing efforts to to make sure we are running an effective campaign. If our marketing spend was, say, fifty thousand dollars for the year, did the money brought in by the conversions make enough for that fifty thousand dollars to be money well spent? If it was, then let’s keep it going while analyzing what it is that is making it work so we can double down on that. If it isn’t, what do we need to change to make it worthwhile?
Excite
Now we’re done, right? We made the sale and got the money.
That wouldn’t quite be correct; the reputation of your company continues. It’s important to pay attention to the time between when the customer places the order and when they receive the product. Are they as satisfied by the product as they expected? Is your product easy enough to use for them to actually use it? This matters partly just because you promised them value and have an obligation to fulfill it, but also for your own benefit. One of the greatest assets a business can have is happy customers.
Ascend
Customers become repeat customers. They might add items to their original order. This is a way to increase the value we can offer to our customers. Packages, add ons, installation services, etc. all become ways to further help your customers. We encourage this by presenting more information about what we offer, adding a discount for further upgrades, etc. We can also remarket to customers by adding them to a mailing list. This takes them back to the engage stage, where we try to continue to offer them value to keep them coming back to us for any future business. All of this depends quite a lot on the type of work you do, but there are many different ways of continuing to market to customers who you already know are interested in your product or service.
Promote
Loyal customers do more than just come back to do more business with you. They become your most valuable, irreplaceable marketing asset. They’ll leave online reviews. They’ll give you positive testimonials when you need them. They’ll talk about your service with people they know, recommending you to friends, colleagues, and more. They’ll help you refine and improve your product. Don’t ignore them at this stage. Most importantly, pay attention to whether you have them or not. If you aren’t getting customers that love your product, ask the hard questions about why you aren’t able to do that and make the necessary changes.
Conclusion
This is all great in theory, but how do you use it? Here is our process: We start at the beginning. How do people get to know you? Where do they first hear about you? We build a “node” for each way someone might discover you, then say, “what next?” How does the client work through the process? What are the ways they get to know you? How do they invest, and finally make the conversion? This allows us to look at your current set up, and lay out ideas for how other marketing materials or work would fit into your current path.
More importantly, it helps us determine what to track to see if it’s working. We’ll regularly track things like web traffic, number of calls, number of quotes given, sales revenue, and more to see how well your marketing work is working. This allows us to make informed decisions that adjust the things that need to be adjusted, instead of blindly doing “random acts of marketing” in hopes of seeing results.
Marketing doesn’t have to be random. It doesn’t have to be stressful. It doesn’t have to be a money sink. It can be a directed, strategized effort that you understand and use strategically to bring in new business. The understanding of your customers and your own business is worth the effort it takes to market well. We’d love to help you work through your marketing process.
If you need help organizing your marketing plan, reach out to us on our website or call us at 717.340.5539.