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What is Digital Marketing Funnel? How to Create One?

What is Digital Marketing Funnel? How to Create One?

Updated on 29 November, 2022

5.51K+ views

• 8 min read

A digital marketing funnel is a well-designed model representing the steps involved from the time product is revealed to the time it is purchased. An online marketing funnel aims to direct enough organic traffic to the top level and to support them through content marketing and other strategies. Therefore, the visitors eventually convert into customers.

Essentially, a digital funnel helps you evaluate various stages the customers pass through, from when they get familiar with your products/services to when they make buying decisions. The digital marketing funnel has proved inevitable for marketers in achieving their goals. This is because marketing success is guaranteed when marketing actions are segmented depending on the content ads and other relevant aspects. This is where the digital funnel proves its worthiness.

A digital funnel’s every stage represents the implementation of various techniques to motivate customers to move down the funnel and approach closer to purchase. With this overview, let’s look at the steps to create a digital marketing funnel.

Steps to create a Digital Marketing Funnel:

1) Analyse your target market:

Analyzing your target market helps you to design customer profiles that will eventually help you to formulate targeted content matching their needs. Moreover, you can use this information to evaluate the best channels to approach them and the content type they will most likely react to.

2) Competitor research:

After thoroughly understanding your customers and their needs, it’s time to conduct competitor research. You need to get answers to the following questions:

Are the competitors’ strategies effective?
What competitors’ strategies don’t work?
How can you stand out from your competitors and prepare a unique and better digital funnel?

Learning and tweaking your funnel is essential to make it as cost-effective as possible. You can use your competition as motivation but remember not to copy them altogether. You need not revamp all the strategies but aim to improve your digital funnel.

3) Define goals:

Your online marketing funnel must aim to convert your website visitors into purchasing customers. Hence, your goals must be dependent on what actions you want from customers. It can be purchasing a product, downloading a white paper, or signing up for a newsletter.

After defining your goals, you must prepare an action plan that helps you to achieve the defined goals. This plan must entail all the steps you may need to implement from start to end. So, the steps could range from creating reliable and appealing content to making customers click through your website. Furthermore, you must set a real-time timeline for accomplishing each step; otherwise, you may get confused.

4) Creation of a Content Strategy:

It involves developing content that solves your customer’s queries. It must be relevant and valuable to your target audience at every funnel stage. At the initial stage, i.e., the awareness stage, your goal is to seek the attention of potential customers and familiarise them with your products/services. You need to create informative, interesting, and convincing content.

Your content strategy must enlighten the potential customers about your products/service and also make them aware of the benefits. You can use case studies, videos, cheat sheets, e-books, and more to compare your products/services with others.

Not just the awareness stage, but content strategy is also helpful in the purchase stage. Your goal must be to persuade potential customers to purchase your products or services at this stage. So, your content must be convincing and able to build up confidence. You can create compelling content at the purchasing stage by creating product demos, testimonials, pricing pages, webinars, and more.

5) Website designing for lead conversion:

The key idea behind designing your website is to convert visitors into leads with an optimal conversion rate. The following tips will help you to create a website guaranteeing optimal conversion:

Create easy-to-understand content on your website.
The website must be easy to navigate, and visitors should be able to easily and quickly find what they want.
Your CTA buttons should be easily visible and clickable.
Use images and videos to make the content interesting.
Test various website versions to determine which offers the best lead conversion.

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6) Analysis and Optimization of Funnel:

You can effectively analyze and optimize your created digital marketing funnel using data inferred from your Google Analytics account. With Google Analytics, you can have comprehensive information on how people search and engage with your website. Also, this tool helps you to track aspects like the number of visitors to your website, which pages they visit, their location, and their stay duration on your website.

By analyzing these data, you can discern what improvements are required in your funnel and how to make relevant changes to optimize your conversion rate.

7) Creation of advertising campaign:

One of the key purposes behind creating a digital funnel is that whenever potential customers search for their query, they must get your website at the top of the SERP results. You should create a blog post resonating with your customer persona and must invest in search engine optimization to get long-term benefits. You can hire an SEO agency to manage your SEO efforts.

You should determine which social media platforms your target audience use frequently and smartly place ads over there to reach them. Remember that the content and ads must be educational and unbiased.

If you are targeting consumers, Facebook and Instagram are recommended social media platforms to run ads. The reason is these platforms help you to market your products or services efficiently. If you want to directly interact with your audience and market your products/services, go for Email marketing. It is one of the leading digital marketing channels helping you to build a reputation by providing useful resources like case studies, e-books, cheat sheets, free trials, etc., to your audience to attract them.

Consider the following when creating an advertising campaign:

Blogs
Videos
Social media ads
Pay-per-click ads
Checklists
Quizzes
Industry studies

8) Creation of a landing page:

A landing page demonstrates your expertise. Creating a landing page on your website is inevitable because it brings potential clients to your website. It is the page where users ultimately click on an ad, and also it is the place that guides visitors.

Your landing page must include all details of your offer along with appealing visuals. You can include a form that accepts the visitors’ contact information so that you can follow them later.

Visitors will be more likely to share their details if you include security badges and testimonials on your landing page. Based on your campaign’s objective, you can include a captivating call to action, for example, ‘Buy now’ or ‘Subscribe to our newsletter.’

9) Perform A/B testing:

The A/B testing process allows you to compare your landing page’s two versions and ad copies. Based on this comparison, you can determine which one works better. Also, this comparison suggests which one explores positive customer behavior. Using this test, you randomly demonstrate one type of landing page to half of your traffic and the improved version to the other half.

Although A/B testing involves generating twice the amount of content, it offers valuable insights into what works effectively and entices your customer most. Based on the results, you can amend your campaign.

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10) Work with online influencers:

If your budget allows, it is recommended to work with online influencers. They are people or companies with a following that might be intrigued by your product. Influencer marketing can use mutual promotion or sponsorship to reach a broad audience effectively. Moreover, it makes your services always available to your audience. Furthermore, you can create a useful FAQ section that answers all the frequently asked questions.

11) Creation of a powerful brand presence:

Consumers already have a myriad of options to choose from. So, you should create a powerful brand presence and value that will make you stand out from the competitors. You should be able to make your users believe that you care for them and understand their concerns, irrespective of their digital marketing phase.

SEO strategies and content marketing can improve your brand presence. Including testimonials on your website makes sure you align with consumers’ expectations and that your product/service would meet their needs.

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Embark On Your Digital Marketing Journey With UpGrad

You can now become a Digital Marketing expert by pursuing UpGrad’s Advanced Certificate in Digital Marketing and Communication. This course focuses on all aspects of digital marketing, including content marketing, social media marketing, marketing analytics, branding, public relations, etc. It is a suitable course for freshers, entrepreneurs, traditional marketers, sales professionals, and brand and communication managers.

The course covers 15+ case studies, live projects, and a video library with 90+ tools. The course completion will offer you a Certificate from MICA and Meta and MICA Executive Alumni Status. The fortnightly coaching from industry mentors helps you learn all digital marketing aspects effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the last stage of the digital marketing funnel?

In the digital marketing funnel’s last stage, you must convince first-time customers to continue using your service or product. Also, the last stage involves maintaining contact with your past customers via email campaigns and social media platforms.

2. Which metrics evaluate the efficiency of a digital marketing funnel?

(i) Rate of conversion –Denotes how many prospects convert into customers. (ii) Source of exit and entry –Identifies effective marketing strategies. (iii) Time devoted in each stage –If a customer stays longer at a stage, it is more difficult to convert them. (iv)Content engagement rate –It assesses your content’s efficacy using bounce rate, page depth, etc.

3. How can technology help improve your digital marketing funnel?

With the use of technology, you can get a personalized user experience, insight into user’s intent, connect and collect data associated with user behavior, perform keyword research, and explore opportunities for content generation.

4. How do you leverage your brand value using a digital marketing funnel?

(i) Determine your customers’ requirements. (ii)Determine how your products/services best meet those requirements. (iii)Explore how your company can fulfill users’ expectations.

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Social media management entails everything – from conceptualizing social media campaigns to getting them executed to receiving and implementing feedback. Since most businesses have shifted online – and the remaining ones are also looking to – there is always a need for social media managers to help them increase brand awareness and recognition, improve traffic, and enhance customer relationships. With brands steering more towards digital platforms for promotion, social media marketing is indeed a very lucrative and rewarding career option in 2021. Let us explore the social media manager salary in the US, the key skills required to exceed in a social media career, and the core responsibilities of social media profiles! Social Media Manager Salary in the US The salary for the Social Media Manager role varies based on many different metrics – from experience and location to the organization you have applied for. Additionally, many other job roles fall under the social media manager umbrella, like social media director, social media strategy specialist, and community manager. That said, the average salary for a senior social media manager in the US, with more than five years of experience, is $63,000 and can go as high as $90,000. Entry-level jobs like social media coordinator or similar ones begin at $32,000, and with increased experience, the salary will keep on growing and can reach well over $100,000. The data collected by PayScale suggests that currently, people in this job role don’t have more than 10-15 years of experience, owing to how young the entire field in itself is. The salary increases steeply throughout the 10-year journey as you keep gaining more skills, knowledge, and expertise. Further, there is also higher pay for social media managers with experience and strategic planning skills. In this case, the average salary is $63,294, with the highest being easily above $100,00 per year. PayScale’s data also indicates a steady increase in the salary based on the number of years of experience, somewhat in the following manner: Entry-level (0-5 yrs): $44,000 Mid-career (5-10 yrs): $59,000 Experienced (10-20 yrs): $65,000 Late-career (over 20 yrs): $71,000 The pay also varies based on location. So, the social media managers in San Francisco can expect to earn 50% more than the national average, while those in Houston should expect 6% less. According to Indeed, the average salary for a social media manager in the US is approximately $108,449. Key Skills for the Social Media Manager Role Generally, it is good to have a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in marketing, journalism, communication, or PR. That way, you will have all your bases covered. However, that is not a strict requirement. You are expected to have some working experience or knowledge of digital marketing, especially if you are not looking at just entry-level positions. Any added skill in the form of advertising, community management, and sales is a bonus. Knowledge of SEO, SEM, competitor analysis, website auditing, and marketing analytics will come in extremely handy for social media positions. Social Media Manager – Roles and Responsibilities The precise roles and responsibilities of a social media manager vary from company to company and even project to project. However, here are some broad responsibilities that you will surely be taking care of as a social media manager Developing, implementing, executing strategies: This would require you coordinating with stakeholders across different verticals of the company to ensure that your plans are relevant to the organization. Manage social campaigns: This would include working with photos, videos, gifs, editorials, and more – basically all the community outreach promotions, efforts, and more. Manage the company’s voice: Since you would be managing the company’s social media handles, you must reflect the voice of the company. You will be representing the organization on different platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Measuring success, implementing feedback: You’ll need to set benchmarks and make sure the team meets them. You will be analyzing, reviewing, and visualizing the impact of your social media strategies in an easy-to-understand way. Enroll for the best Digital Marketing Certificate course online from the World’s top Universities to fast-track your career. Bag the Social Media Manager Job You Desire! The jobs under the social media umbrella are highly diverse, and if you go about exploring, there is no way you won’t find a niche that precisely fits your taste. You can manage the social media of tech companies, lifestyle companies, healthcare organizations, fintech institutions, and basically whatever you think of – because that is how pervasive social media has been in the last decade The good news is that this field is also very open and welcomes people from different backgrounds and walks of life. So, even if you aren’t from a conventionally relevant background, you can still ace in the field of social media management with just a little bit of guidance and effort. Lucky for you, you are just in the right place!

by Aaron Edgell

29 Aug'21

5.26K+

Top 10 Ways for Successful Brand Management [Explained]

Brand management, or the art of utilizing several marketing techniques to bring attention and awareness, is the ladder for brands to establish a stable base for themselves. A competitive world demands equally dynamic competitors, and the rapid growth of brands is why this area never ceases to witness emerging entities every other day. Brand management puts proven marketing techniques to use in hopes of leading any organization to the top of its niche. Conventionally, it took years for a brand to become established and gain a broad user customer base. However, modern brands and organizations can quickly become a hit with the audience thanks to digital technologies and strategies. With the rise of various brands and small businesses, creating a new brand space and catching their admiration gets more challenging than it usually is. Simply offering high-quality service is no more the only parameter for brands to succeed. Using various strategic brand management tools to create an enjoyable experience for customers is now a focal point for brand owners. Consistent work that speaks of the brand more than you do allures people to keep returning towards your brand, but before that, establish some basic marketing strategies supporting your brand voice with its methods. Amid the wave of proven and valued business management strategies, listed are the ten most important ones to take inspiration for a successful journey. These steps vary with the demands of the market and are liable to change accordingly. 1. Understand the brand Strategic decisions may come after you fully comprehend the purpose of your brand to initiate the process. Before reaching out to the customers and stepping into the market to compete, understand your brand. You may have created it, but there are crannies yet to be discovered that may help to endorse it better. Start by knowing the purpose behind its establishment. What motivates the brand to choose the relevant service instead of any other, what does your brand have that no other brand can offer, or simply why should people care. The simple what, why, and where can help to know the brand better. 2. Research the market Taking inspiration is a sure shot way to stay relevant, but knowing where to draw the line is equally essential. Research but don’t copy. Strategic brand management involves keeping up with the trends, what competitors are taking part in, and which trends are relevant to your product. Whether it is about visuals, taglines, or products, follow your niche and dive deep to learn more about what your brand lacks or delivers more than required. 3. Deliver the ultimate brand vision The role of a new age customer does not simply exist till the time they consume our product. They are more than likely to explore the goals and vision of a brand they are associated with. Every brand has a story to tell. Don’t be afraid to share your brand’s story that encapsulates its beliefs and vision with your target customer base. Sharing beliefs serve as a great way to attract a like-minded audience, ultimately slipping into the niche around the brand’s target audience. Make sure the visual aspects of a brand reflect its beliefs. 4. Highlight individuality of the brand Among the 100+ brands of any particular product, what makes you the strongest candidate to be chosen by a buyer, ever wondered? The unique voice of a brand is what makes it different from others. This unique voice can be promoted through creative marketing techniques that target niches to gain maximum interaction. Strategic brand management identifies that individuality is more than likely to attract brand loyalty when customers understand traits to associate with the brand directly. 5. Add personality to the brand. Talking ‘to the audience always works better for reaching your target user base talking ‘at’ those people. The sure shot way to grow as a brand different from any other is to sprinkle an acceptable amount of personality in it. Your product may not carry a unique selling point, but the brand voice can encapsulate and win brand loyalty through its tone. Allow it to connect and reverberate with the audience. 6. Identify the target audience. Identifying your target audience is a necessity to generate content based on your customers’ likes. Strategic brand management tools would only make sense if the consumer could engage and relate with them. Identifying and targeting the right audience can benefit both the business and customers to achieve their goals. Many analytical tools now allow the ease to analyze and research the clientele base interacting with your content. A perfect way to know who, where, and when your content is being consumed. 7. Symbolize your brand Along with giving your brand individuality and tone, it is essential to grant it the right visual aesthetics to narrate its goals. Visuals are the first thing that anyone focuses on in a product. From minimalist logos to creating taglines, each aspect speaks the language of your brand, delivering a message even before you speak. Triggering awareness among the masses would require the brand to have a face to start with, and a logo is that face. Consult creative agencies to seek the best suitable option as it is one of the most important parts of strategic brand management. 8. Choosing the right marketing platform It is crucial to pick the most relevant option to unleash your strategic marketing vigor and reach the right people. Imagine using Instagram layouts to post on Twitter – a big marketing blunder! Knowing where your target audience spends maximum time is a great way to optimize your brand reach and create a buzz for the brand. Know where your audience exists, aim for that particular area with content and relevant matter to receive the most engagement and customers. 9. Monitor development and improvement After unleashing all your brand management strategies to endorse your brand, the crucial step of monitoring the process begins. Brand managers can use analytical tools to understand the market trends and your performance amid that push-pull. Monitoring development gives room for improvement by analyzing and including the crowd-winning ideas. No one would know your brand better than you. So, make sure to track the entire process and understand which area requires more attention and the ones doing exceptionally well. 10. A matter of consistency Brand management practices are not time-bound – brands cannot expect fixed growth after a while. It all comes down to the consistency of brand management strategies. Effective brand asset management, tracking performance, using the right media tools, and being consistent in these efforts can bring the desired results in the long run. Enroll for the best Digital Marketing Certificate course online from the World’s top Universities to fast-track your career. Additional Tools to Strengthen your Brand Management Game Implementation of brand management strategies only leads to success if created with the help of experts in the industry. Not anymore! Expert-led courses on upGrad invite learners from all over the world to explore the world of brand management through their extensive learning programs. Its PG Program in Management and Professional Certificate Program in HR Management and Analytics are two great options for management aspirants. These courses are open for professionals (both freshers and experienced) and entrepreneurs looking to polish their skills! With an 85+ countries learner base, 40,000+ paid learners globally, 500,000+ working professionals impacted, upGrad strives to deliver industry-relevant courses to learners globally. Along with the paid courses, upGrad also offers free learning programs to encourage upskilling among students and professionals. upGrad success stories are the proof of its dedicated curriculum and 360-degree career assistance that make the learning experience fun! Conclusion Brand management strategies differ with the brand it aims to serve or the clientele it wishes to aim for. Knowing when to implement the right brand management tool makes all the difference. If your current strategy is not working, do not be afraid to experiment. Allow creative ideas to take part in the consistent process of generating awareness.

by Aaron Edgell

06 Sep'21

5.16K+

Off-Page – The Ultimate SEO Guide [2024]

Introduction If you have been in the digital marketing or content writing field for quite some time now, you must have frequently heard about search engine optimization (SEO). It is one of the favorite and widely used terms in the online marketing industry. Here is how you can understand SEO. Whenever you search for something online, whether it’s a product, service, query, meaning of a particular word, a song, or anything else, as soon as you type something in the search bar, you are bombarded with several results within seconds. We tend to go through the first few search results, gather as much information as we can, maybe scroll a bit below, go through other websites, and then close the tab. However, the first few websites that we go through are only a fraction of thousands of results or websites available on a search engine. We hardly visit websites listed at the end of a page or click on the next page. Now, who decides what search results you will see at the top? It is done through a market strategy called SEO. Businesses optimize their ranking on the search engines to generate organic website traffic and reach a wide audience. There are primarily two types of SEO marketing- on-page and off-page. Now, let’s understand the difference between the two. What is Off-Page SEO? On-page SEO mainly refers to optimizing your website content to get a higher ranking on search engines. It includes incorporating the most frequently searched keywords on Google in the website content, infusing meta tags and descriptions with high-volume and density keywords. On-page SEO is all about how you optimize your website to stay on top of the search results. On the other hand, off-page SEO is all about generating high website traffic through other sources. It is done by generating backlinks, content marketing, third-party advertisements, social media, podcasts, and reviews. All this takes place outside the website through link-building. As soon as customers click on the hyperlink, they are redirected to your website. Thus, it generates more website traffic and also helps to build a large client base. What Are the Advantages of Off-Page SEO? From the outside, SEO may seem like a simple task where one needs to add keywords. However, it is one of the prime strategies for online marketing, especially when the Internet and search engines are ruling the world and businesses are contesting to stay on top of the page results. Most organizations internally optimize their website with keywords and image tags. However, it is challenging to drive website traffic by sticking to online SEO alone in the current digital marketing era. Businesses need to create their brand image on as many platforms as possible. This is possible through off-page SEO. Here are a few vital advantages of the same: 1. Large Audience:- In on-page SEO, a person will probably come across your website only when they search for a similar product or service on Google. However, in off-page SEO, there are various platforms through which customers can get to know about your business, product, or services. For instance, people can come across your website while scrolling through social media, listening to podcasts, reading articles or blogs on your website. Off-page SEO facilitates organic traffic to your website and helps the businesses reach out to a broader audience. 2. Boosts Credibility and Transparency:- From a customer’s point of view, you are less likely to purchase products or avail of services from a website that you have never heard about. Even if a customer lands on your website, he might not be tempted to purchase from your website if it has no online reviews or online presence other than a website. Therefore, off-page SEO helps to boost credibility by gaining the trust of customers. 3. Boosts Sales and Revenue:- Another significant advantage of off-page SEO is that it helps in increasing sales and generates revenue. The key purpose of SEO is to get more traffic to the website. It creates plenty of leads for businesses that can be converted into sales. Off-Page SEO Link Building Strategies There is always a tough fight between companies to stay at the top of the search results. One day you can rank on the top whereas, on the other, your website shifts below in the Google page by a few positions. However, to ensure an increase in website traffic, you can follow these off-page SEO strategies: 1. Link Building:- Building backlinks form an integral of off-page SEO. They are also called inbound or incoming links. The primary purpose of creating a backlink is to connect one website to another. This helps the search engine algorithm to verify the authenticity of your website. If many web pages contain a backlink to your website, it generates more traffic to your website and builds trust. There are three types of links involved in off-page SEO – natural, manually-built, and self-created links. Natural links are created by influencers who post a review of your products or services. Manually-built links are generated when businesses contact other website owners to add their webpage links. Along with backlinks, it is also crucial to link your blogs articles on the website. This allows a person reading a blog on your website to read similar content on your website. As a result, people tend to spend more time on your website. It helps in generating website traffic. 2. Content Marketing:- This off-page SEO technique is done with the help of anchor texts. Simply put, anchor texts are keywords in your website content or articles/blogs that match the search engine queries. You need to figure out phrases related to your product or service with the maximum search volume on the Internet. Once you have a list of all the high-volume keywords, you can incorporate them while writing the articles and blogs for your website. These keywords shall be evenly distributed in the content and shall make sense. Your website will appear in the top results when a person types similar keywords on a search engine. 3. Guest Posting:- This is one of the most underestimated off-page SEO strategies. Businesses often focus on optimizing the blogs on their website but overlook guest posting. Guest posting or blogging means publishing your blogs or articles on other websites. Such blogs must have a link to your website so that whenever a reader goes through your guest blog on a website, they can also view your webpage. Over time, it increases your website traffic and also improves your position on search engine results. 4. Social Media:- Social media platforms are currently ruling the marketing game. It dramatically impacts consumer behavior and marketing strategies. Nearly all brands focus on social media to attract potential clients. An engaging social media page is a vital factor for the growth of small businesses. In fact, there are plenty of small businesses that operate only through social media platforms and do not have a website. Therefore, having an impressive social media presence is quintessential for boosting sales and revenue. How To Learn Link Building For SEO? Generating organic traffic to your website requires a lot of time and patience. Most importantly, it requires the right SEO skills and strategies. Businesses that do not use off-page SEO strategies struggle to generate website traffic and lose potential customers. Therefore, it is best to learn link-building SEO techniques from professionals. For this, you can enroll in online digital marketing courses. upGrad’s Advanced Certificate in Digital Marketing and Communication course can help you learn the nitty-gritty of digital marketing. It offers you a specialization in any of the following areas – branding and communication, marketing analytics, social media and content marketing, or marketing communications. This course will help you acquire technical SEO skills. It can also be a stepping stone if you are looking to build a career in SEO. You get an opportunity to receive mentorship from industry professionals, work on practical projects, and access more than 70 tools. Moreover, upGrad offers comprehensive career guidance to all its learners. Enroll for the Best Digital Marketing Certificate course online from the World’s top Universities to fast-track your career. Conclusion SEO is a crucial aspect of digital marketing. Nearly all businesses and companies use SEO techniques to gain website traffic and boost their revenues. It is also a promising career pathway for aspirants looking to enter the digital marketing domain. In 2018, the number of SEO jobs grew six times in the U.S. It is likely to rise tremendously in the next few years. Therefore, you must consider learning SEO skills. For the best courses on digital marketing and SEO, you can choose upGrad.

by Aaron Edgell

07 Sep'21