William Townsend proposed the marketing funnel metaphor in 1924, and it’s been taught to aspiring marketers in business schools ever since. But a century on from funnels first being proposed, some might argue that they’re dying at the hands of impulse sales driving social media algorithms.

 

Let’s explore.

History of marketing funnels

There are many marketing funnels in existence, and there’ll likely be many more as modern-day thought leaders attempt to constantly update ancient theories to keep them up with the changing behaviour of the modern-day consumer.

 

The most recognised funnel however is the original proposed by William Townsend, who realised the closer you get to completing a sale, the more prospective customers are lost. The funnel idea comes from the fact that you can fit more at the top of a funnel, in this case, prospective buyers, and less at the bottom of a funnel which represents the point at which the buyer converts.

 

Employing a marketing funnel strategy is often used to segment a business’s target audience by splitting individual customers into one of three stages. Those at the top of the funnel are considered to be aware of the said brand but nothing more. Those who are considering becoming a customer or have already taken smaller actions are thought to be in the middle of the funnel and those at the bottom of the funnel are considered to be in the conversion stage, about to make a purchase.

How have marketing funnels been used over the years?

Marketing teams have long been challenged to pass their target audience from one end of the funnel to the other. To do this, marketing campaigns will often be targeted towards one sector of the funnel, with the aim of pushing prospects further down the funnel.

 

Campaigns that aim to increase the number of prospects in a company’s funnel, or that are designed to add more people to the top of the funnel, will mostly focus on increasing brand awareness. To achieve this, a company’s marketing will usually be designed to reach as many people as possible.

 

Examples of common top-of-funnel tactics include:

SEO: Increasing the visibility of your website in search engine results and ranking for more searches organically

PPC: Using pay-per-click ads to appear at the top of search engine results pages for terms that your audience will be searching for

Media ads: Putting your brand in front of a large audience such as those watching a television programme or listening to a radio show can get instant eyeballs on your brand.

 

Once prospects are in the funnel, teams need to work on passing them closer towards the bottom of the funnel where they’ll hopefully take a desired action such as completing a purchase or a lead capture form. 

 

To do so, marketing efforts need to be concentrated on fostering a relationship with customers by removing barriers that may be preventing them from converting or showcasing the benefits of the product or service in question.

 

Once potential customers move into the consideration stage of the funnel, they need a different approach. Marketing teams will now have the benefit of knowing their target is aware of who they are. As such, strategies need to focus less on the who and what and more on the why they should buy.

 

This is why middle to bottom-of-funnel strategies usually focus on tactics such as:

Content marketing: Web pages, articles and blogs can be a great way to target people who have moved into the consideration segment of the funnel. For example, a financial advisor may write an article titled, Does having a criminal record affect your credit score? – this is far more likely to be searched by people who have moved beyond the top of the funnel.

Trials/demos: If someone is considering buying your product, the best way to edge them closer towards the bottom of the funnel could be to give them a free taster. This is common with video games where game developers release a demo version of a game which allows users to play a small section of the product in the hope that they will go on to pay for the full version.

Email marketing: Emails have become a great way to target prospects more personally based on their previous actions. For example, customers who have started a purchase and then abandoned their cart could be sent a discount code to prompt them to go back and complete their purchase. 

How TikTok and FYPs changed marketing funnels

Funnels haven’t been eliminated by TikTok and For You Pages, maybe it would be more accurate to say they’ve shrunk or narrowed. See, while TikTok gains much criticism for some things, one group of people it should be music to the ears of is marketers and sales teams.

 

If the process of passing prospects through a funnel was once seen as a long, drawn-out process, short-form interest-driven video has flipped this on its head. But how?

 

Using the tactics mentioned before, a standard sales funnel for a debt advisor may look something like this:

 

  1. PPC ads target users searching for ‘debt advice’ and take them to a landing page that explains how the service can help the user. 
  2. The page prompts users to sign up for a debt advice newsletter by offering them a free consultation in exchange 
  3. Finally, nurture leads by regularly sending them testimonials and case studies of past clients

 

But this has all changed. Social media algorithms of today are geared around presenting users with content they want to see, not just content from those they follow. As a result, someone currently searching for debt advice may be targeted by content based on saving money and managing debt. 

 

The big advantage for businesses and creators is that the three stages of the funnel are in some ways merged into one stage. One video can be enough to take a user from unaware to conversion.

 

For brands that can visually demonstrate their product, this is particularly true. Consider a fashion brand releasing a new line of men’s swim shorts that record a short-form TikTok video displaying the goods and include a discount code in the caption. 

 

A user consuming content around men’s fashion or beach holidays could have the content served up to them without actually going searching for the brand or even the product. They like what they see so click through to the brand’s website to get a closer look. Their size is in stock and they subsequently add to cart, apply their code and checkout. 

 

This interaction, which is typical today, completely flips funnels on their head. In this new age of social media marketing, including AI marketing, prospects don’t need to be nurtured, brands don’t need to worry so much about who’s following them and the whole middle-of-funnel sector is in some ways removed.