FOCUS ON THE MIDDLE FUNNEL TO DRIVE BRAND PREFERENCE
The marketing funnel concept was developed in 1898 and has been in the industry for more than 120 years. The essence of the funnel concept has remained the same over the years. What has changed are the strategies and tools utilized by marketers to make the most out of this marketing concept.
The marketing funnel is divided into three sections – top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, and bottom of the funnel. Each section has a significant role in converting leads into loyal customers who eventually become brand advocates.
Often, the top and bottom of the funnel get all the attention, and marketers fail to focus on the middle of the funnel, which is equally important to achieve the ultimate goal of an organization: sales.
What is Middle of the Funnel, and Why Is It Important?
To understand the concept of the middle of the funnel, let us first have a look at the marketing funnel. The visualization below is a typical marketing funnel divided into different stages, each representing a consumer’s journey towards making a purchase.
As you can see, the funnel is divided into 5 segments –
- Brand Awareness
- Brand Consideration
- Brand Preference
- Brand Usage
- Advocacy
Brand consideration and preference constitute the middle of the funnel. Organizations often concentrate more on creating brand awareness, which is important. Without it, consumers will not know that the brand’s products or services are also an option. Also, most of the resources are directed towards the bottom of the funnel so that consumers actually make the purchase. In doing so, the middle portion of the funnel, i.e., brand consideration and purchase, often gets neglected.
Maximum leads are generated by creating brand awareness. That’s the reason why the top of the funnel is the widest. As one goes down the funnel, the number of leads decreases at every stage. Not all awareness stage leads will become a part of the middle of the funnel where consumers begin considering a product for purchase.
Only when a lead thinks of a product and considers it an option in their purchasing decision, only then there are chances that they will switch from the consideration stage and move to the preference stage, where they will prefer your product over others.
That’s why the middle funnel is of utmost importance because here, you have the chance of targeting and converting people interested in your brand to someone who would purchase your product.
Why Do You Need to Focus on the Middle Funnel?
By focussing on the middle funnel, marketers can improve their brand’s consideration and preference to derive positive results. As this is the stage where all brands compete for consideration and preference, implementing marketing strategies relevant to the middle funnel helps improve brand value and build long-lasting relationships with your captured audience.
Consumers who are a part of the middle funnel are exploring and evaluating options available in the market. Hence, one must implement marketing strategies aligning with their requirement. Mid-funnel activities that support consumer research and evaluation will help provide a solution to customers’ problems.
Better solutions will aid in engaging a consumer, eventually building trust in the brand and bringing the consumer one step closer to brand preference and usage.
Mid-Funnel Marketing Strategies to Convert Leads into Users
Advertisements
All mid-funnel advertisements must have the potential to convert leads into end-users. Therefore, the advertisements must have a clean copy with a strong headline and an attention-grabbing visual. In addition, a highlighted call to action must be included in the copy. Online ads are a great way of reaching customers as people nowadays spend a lot of time online and use the internet to explore buying options.
Case studies
To showcase how good your products are and how good is their performance, organizations can use case studies. By providing case studies related to a consumer’s pain point, you allow them to learn about your product’s positive aspects, which builds trust in the brand.
White papers
White papers contain detailed information about a particular product. By sharing specific white papers, organizations can grab the attention of potential customers and explain how the product can be useful to them.
Blog posts
Another great way to educate and inform potential customers is through blog posts. These are easy to produce to share product information. As these are readily available on the internet, they are an easy option for consumers to get the information they need.
Product comparisons
Product comparisons show consumers how a product is better than other options available in the market. But before making any statement, one must make sure what they’re claiming is right.
Social media
Social media has become an important part of our lives. Using it to generate leads and share useful and information-rich content with the audience can be a powerful tool for mid-funnel marketing.
Email marketing
This is one of the proven ways of marketing. Through email marketing, you can generate new leads and educate existing leads about what you have to offer in terms of products and services.
Use Middle of the Funnel Data to Drive Brand Preference
Data must play a role in implementing effective marketing strategies for the middle of the funnel audience. Unfortunately, most organizations fail to leverage the benefits of using data for turning leads into users. According to Attomdata and Invesp, the following statistics were found regarding data-driven marketing.
To make the most out of marketing efforts, marketers can track certain data to see how effective their mid-funnel marketing strategies are. Data like email engagement rates, call-to-action clicks, marketing qualified leads, downloads, landing page conversion rate, average lead score, and cost per lead can help devise new and effective mid-funnel marketing strategies.
In Conclusion
Focussing on the middle of the funnel allows you to convert potential consumers into buyers. Leads at this stage are already aware of your brand. It is time to nurture the leads with relevant information about the product and establish an emotional connection. By doing so, the lead can be further pushed down the funnel to become a buyer finally. Therefore, it is imperative that marketing professionals implement relevant tactics at the brand consideration stage of the marketing funnel to positively impact the leads so as to drive brand preference and usage.
References
- https://latana.com/post/brand-consideration-preference-center-of-brand-funnel/
- https://useinsider.com/glossary/middle-of-the-funnel/
- https://www.clearvoice.com/blog/what-is-middle-of-funnel-marketing/
- https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/unlocking-the-power-of-the-middle-funnel-to-drive-sustainable-growth/5571
- https://aquent.co.uk/blog/marketers-focus-on-the-middle-of-the-funnel
- https://www.ventureharbour.com/5-strategies-to-build-a-marketing-funnel-that-converts/
- https://www.smartly.io/blog/why-you-should-invest-in-mid-funnel-marketing
- https://www.gosquared.com/blog/middle-of-the-funnel-metrics
- https://optinmonster.com/mid-funnel-marketing-tactics/
- https://blog.gorizen.com/data-worth-tracking-for-middle-of-funnel-audiences
- https://www.invespcro.com/blog/data-driven-marketing/
- https://www.attomdata.com/news/company-news/important-statistics-data-driven-marketing-means-business/