Content marketing is a hot buzzword right now. It is being hailed as the silver bullet to achieving marketing success online. 

When it comes to content, everyone wants to have their content seen, read, and shared. But how effective will content marketing be for you? To answer this question, let’s start by looking at your marketing funnel.

The marketing funnel is a standard framework for looking at the various stages of marketing your business goes through — from lead generation to nurturing those leads and finally converting those leads into clients. 

In this article, we will look at how you can use the content as a tool to take you from “idea to purchase.”

Content Marketing Through the 3 Stages of Marketing Funnel

From a small business owner trying to quickly increase brand awareness to an established company looking at process improvements and innovation, content marketing is a tool they all will benefit from using. Our Austin SEO company has over 8 years of experience in helping SMBs with content marketing. 

While there are many different approaches and techniques we use for using content marketing, one thing is clear — businesses that implement a content marketing strategy enjoy a host of benefits like: 

  • Increased website traffic
  • Better SEO rankings
  • Greater conversion rates 
  • Improved reputation

So how can you plan your content marketing strategy to fit in through every stage of your marketing funnel? Let’s find out.

Content Marketing Through the 3 Stages of Marketing Funnel

Awareness: Getting Brand Lift & Driving Traffic

The first stage of your marketing funnel is awareness. This is when you let people know about your brand and what they do. There are many ways to create awareness in people’s minds and content marketing plays a crucial role in your funnel as a gatekeeper. 

Awareness of a product or company is more than just getting its name out there. It’s about creating an emotional connection with people to be more likely to engage with your content and take action.

In this first stage, we need to create content that gets noticed. This type of content gets shared on social media, shared with friends, and followed through on. It shouldn’t be too complicated or time-consuming to create. The main goal of awareness is to get people talking about your brand and spread the word about your company.

Awareness may help people find your company and products online, and it also helps build your brand visibility. 

Here are a few examples of content marketing used in the first stage of the marketing funnel:

  • A well-designed website with relevant content and SEO could easily lead to an increase in traffic.
  • A well-distributed email campaign could drive visitors to your site and remind them about your brand. This is used majorly for repeat customers.
  • You can also include free products or digital downloads in your marketing campaign to encourage people to buy or try out your product.

Consideration: Lead Generation & Social Engagement

First and foremost, consideration is about getting people to take action. This could be an email, a phone call, or even a face-to-face meeting. But whatever the step is, it’s crucial to make it as simple as possible. 

For example, if a customer is interested but doesn’t have enough money to buy something, then offering them a discount or coupon is a great way to get them to buy now. Customers aren’t interested in hearing a litany of reasons why something isn’t right for them. Instead, they want to know what’s in it for me.

Consideration is the ability for your audience to recognize and value your brand, even if you haven’t told them about it yet. You add value to the customers and give more information about your company through educational content. 

In this stage, the focus shifts from creating awareness and building trust to nurturing relationships and turning leads into customers. We typically see an increase in engagement from existing customers (particularly those who have interacted with us previously) as well as an increase in leads.

There are three types of consideration tactics: inducement, positive feelings, and negative feelings. 

  • Inducement tactics involve getting people to do something that they otherwise wouldn’t have done. This could be anything from inviting people to come to an event to get them to buy something. 
  • Positive feelings tactics involve making people feel valued or appreciated, like offering them a discount or giving them something extra. 
  • Negative feelings tactics involve giving people a reason to feel worried.

Conversion: Sales or Any Form of Transaction

This is the most complex stage of the marketing funnel because most of the information needed for successful sales is gathered. 

After building a list of potential customers, the next step is to start converting them into sales. There are many ways to do this, but the most common is collecting the leads’ contact information. Once you’ve collected this information, the next step is to start contacting potential leads via email, phone, social media, and other online means. 

At this stage, the marketer has to decide what type of sales tactics will be used and how best to market them. 

 The answer to this challenge depends on what type of product or service you are selling. For example, if you are selling a service, then direct sales may be the best tool for converting leads to sales. However, if you are selling a product, you might need to consider using other channels such as email marketing or social media to generate interest in your product.

Wrapping Up

The most successful marketers know how to sell with power. They’re not simply selling something, they’re selling an experience. They’re selling more than just a product or service; they’re selling something innovative, something that changes the way people think or feel about something.

And this is exactly what we do at YellowFin Digital. Our Austin SEO company has worked with several SMBs and startups, guiding them to leverage the potential of content marketing. We have maximized the responsiveness at every stage of the marketing funnel through our Austin SEO services. Reach out to us now to discuss your challenges with our experts.