The vision of marketing has been transformed, it is now 'funnel': let's find out what it means and how it works

The word marketing contains within it a myriad of facets and details, but mainly one great constant: it is a dynamic concept, constantly evolving. A transformation that obviously could not fail to be conditioned by the digital era. Today, in fact, the direction taken seems to be new and completely different: marketing has become ‘funnel’. But what does this word mean, and what are the main differences compared to the past?

At the basis of the entire reasoning, we find content marketing: in essence, the creation and dissemination of useful and valuable content, aimed at a well-defined audience, with the aim of attracting and retaining it. A procedure therefore totally related to planning, regulation of processes and management of the product life cycle; in short, all material prior to the actual production of content, which includes the analysis phase, the alignment of content to business objectives, influencing its development.

Funnel marketing consists of a different conception of the marketing process, considered as a real funnel that narrows and thus progressively reduces the focus on possible customers, leading to the retention of a section of them. This is done by going through the various steps of a normal process of capturing interest and selling.

The funnel marketing funnel is divided into three distinct sections: TOFU, MOFU and BOFU. Acronyms, which identify very precise moments in the commercial process: in simple terms, these are the three opportunities to approach visitors to our website. Assuming an offline strategy, we could identify the various steps in this way: the TOFU (Top Of The Funnel) zone, i.e. the upper part of the metaphorical funnel, is the scenario in which a completely unknown user becomes interested in our product.

The next one, the MOFU (Middle Of The Funnel) sees the diameter of the funnel cone narrowing and depicts a situation in which the public, made up of interested people, want to receive more information about our product in order to know it better and evaluate it as a real possibility to buy. In this sense, the content strategies of reference are certainly demonstration videos, market studies or sector interviews.

Finally, we come to the last section: the BOFU (Bottom Of The Funnel). At this point the customer has been sufficiently informed and is really ready to buy the offered product, but must – and in a sense wants – to be convinced and retained. Key factors (content strategy) this time are free trials, offers and discounts, direct testimonials from other customers, also disseminated via online communities and social media.

The same mechanism can easily be transferred from offline to online commerce, without changing any of the points mentioned above. In addition to these three macro-subdivisions, we can also trace the transformation of the behaviour of the public, which is becoming more and more attached.

The phases vary from Awareness, the moment in which the future customer becomes aware of the existence of the product in question, to Purchase, the moment in which he actually buys it. Immediately after Awareness (basically the TOFU section) we find Interest and Consideration, corresponding in the previous division to MOFU, and then we meet the Decision block, divided into Intent and Evaluation. Finally, the final act (BOFU) is Action, i.e. purchase.

In conclusion, when devising any strategy today, you need to keep this marketing model in mind: turning a simple visitor into a customer is not a flash in the pan, but a race in stages, a path that goes through several layers before reaching the final destination. However, not everyone is aware that the road to conversion is a long and winding one, which is why you should rely on professionals! Contact us to find out more and develop a truly effective strategy for your business!