Marketing to Sales Funnels – What To Expect

To an outsider, marketing doesn’t seem like it’s a very tough job. 

I mean, really. All you need to do is fabricate a campaign and blast it out all over social media. Once your brand becomes well-known and everyone is talking about it, sit back and reap the benefits.

Right?

Should you really pay attention to sales funnels when formulating your marketing plan?

Chances are, while you want everyone to know who you are, your end goal when it comes to a marketing campaign is to increase your conversions: the number of people that elect to open their wallets for your product or service. 

With that goal in mind, all your marketing should be examined through the lens of its value as part of that sales funnel.

Lesson Learned For a Marketer

Consider a really talented marketer. This person had the uncanny ability to turn products and services into a household name. She grew the audience and social media followers ten-fold. She figured out how to avoid paying for most advertisements and got big earned media instead. She propelled the name of her company to the top of the charts. Her brand was recognized everywhere and she expected to be lauded with accolades and a raise. 

Instead, she was let-go. Her work had not translated into revenues. 

Sadly, this is a common scenario these days. The crux of the problem is a communication misstep. The company assumes that the marketing will lead directly to sales revenue, and marketers are focused on building the brand. 

In order to overcome this, both must mutually recognize the reality of the marketing to sales funnel. 

Are Marketing and Sales All That Different?

To put it briefly, the marketing department generates leads, and the sales department closes them. The two are actually very closely intertwined, and rarely do sales actually happen without marketing. 

More specifically, sales refers to the short term need to close a sale, get an agreement signed, or ultimately do what needs to be done to sell whatever it is you’re selling. Sales techniques and strategies focus on closing the deal, a step crucial to any business. 

When marketing is done effectively, it can make sales a much easier job, as the client is already prepped and convinced they’re at least almost ready to buy by the time they walk through the door. 

If customers aren’t walking through your door, lack of marketing is probably to blame. If customers are walking through your door, but you aren’t getting conversions, then your sales is probably at fault. 

So how can you create great marketing that supports a high sales volume?

Designing An Effective Marketing Sales Funnel

There are many different sources to get information on marketing and sales funnels – the internet is full of colorful diagrams showing you how to build one and demonstrating the different steps that ‘should be’ required for success. These are roadmaps that can be helpful to you in understanding what a funnel looks like, but they can rarely be used without adjustments specific to your business. 

There are a few key elements you need to be aware of when designing your funnel. Think of the funnel as a metaphor for the work involved with selling your product or service. A large, open mouth tapering down to a smaller catchment area. In this way, the marketing is catching as many people’s attention as possible, with some of them turning into clients or customers.

This is like AIDA, straight out of Marketing 101: attention, interest, desire, action – the process by which a relationship is built. Essentially, you are taking people through several stages from catching their attention to closing a sale, and in the case of good marketing, post-sale customer follow-up. 

Every single funnel should, at a minimum, include operational plans to increase visibility, engage the potential customer, give that customer one-on-one attention that demonstrates how their needs or desires will be solved, close the deal, and follow-up. 

Good analysis through that process will be your best friend. That is where Clock Tower Insight comes in. They can help you capture and analyze the data that will propel you to success.

Imagine how successful you’ll be if you have a clear direction of where your marketing is headed, and when you’re linked into your sales team. Focus your work on maintaining that funnel so you can translate your marketing strategies to successful sales.