All You Need To Know About Funnel Marketing
Have you heard of marketing funnels before? If you haven't, don't worry - you're not alone!
I speak to so many practitioners about what sorts of systems they have implemented in their clinic to ensure they are getting new leads (aka potential customers) and building a relationship with them (otherwise... how will they become customers, right?). It's not really a surprise when I hear a resounding, "Ummmm, I don't really do anything... I'm too busy".
I hear you! Amongst everything else to think and worry about and plan for in a clinic and as a practitioner, marketing often takes a backseat. The thing is, if you aren't marketing, you're putting all your eggs in the basket of word-of-mouth-referrals. Don't get me wrong - word of mouth (WOM) is the absolute best form of marketing because
a) it's free
b) it's a genuine recommendation coming from the mouth of a happy customer whose life you've changed
c) they are usually talking to their friends or family, who usually are pretty similar to that person... which makes it pretty probable that they will want to come and see you because they identify with key factors that your happy customer is telling them about... for example "She was so amazing - she really listened and I felt so cared for - go and see her, she'll be able to help you with X, Y, Z problem."
We have all had WOM referrals, and sometimes the customer isn't actually our ideal client. I can personally vouch for many times where it's been a bit of a hit and a miss, but, hey, it's getting people through the door and it's building your reputation.
When we look at funnel marketing, we are looking at acquiring new leads and building a relationship with them so that we can convert them into customers. This requires several steps, but once you have it nailed, these funnel systems can function automatically - bringing you in new clients while you're working (or sleeping, or beaching, or holidaying).
Funnel marketing is all about developing a relationship with your leads, offering them valuable content, and educating them about all the unique things that you do and all the people you've helped. Building and nurturing this relationship turns a cold lead into a warm lead, and warm leads have a higher conversion rate of actually purchasing something off you (whether it be a consultation, package, ebook or ecourse).
The most important thing in creating a funnel is having that first piece of valuable information that your lead wants soooo bad that in exchange for it, they give you their contact details. This bit of information is called an opt-in. This is one of the major reasons I developed the State of Health software - it offers people visiting your site the chance to see what their current state of health is... to get a deeper insight into what is going on in their bodies and why they might be feeling the way they do. This not only gives your lead great information that they can connect with and learn from, but it also gives you more information to work with than you would ever get from other opt-ins. Your opt-in can be whatever you feel is valuable to your ideal client.
From there, you continue educating your new lead about the problem that they are concerned about... teaching them more and more about why their concerns are validated - and how you can help. Build the relationship, and strengthen your position as someone that knows their sh*t by telling them all about what you do in your clinic to help the problem they are identifying with.
At this point, your new lead is solution aware. This means they have passed through the phases of not knowing they had a problem at all, to identifying with a problem, to now knowing what service they are seeking to fix their problem. Sometimes it's at this point that your new lead might start looking at your competitors or other industries that could help to fix their problem. Take the opportunity here to let your new lead know how you are different to your competitors, and what your unique selling points are.
If your new lead hasn't opted out of your communication, you now have a super warm lead! *NB if they have opted out - don't stress! When people opt-out, it's a good thing, because they don't want what you're selling... and that's okay. Watch the opt-out rate, and notice if there's a trend to where people are opting-out, and if there's anything you can do to correct the pattern, like rewording a certain segment of your email.
A super warm lead needs an invitation - something that will cement the image you have been painting for them of who you are and how you can help them. Things of value work really well at this point - like an extract of an ebook, a special promotional offer for an upcoming event or an ecourse, a free webinar (or a free recorded webinar to save you time!), or a discovery call with you to see how you can really address their concerns.
I notice so many people have these end-of-the-funnel offers on the homepage of their website, and are missing all of these opportunities to connect with their audience, refine their audience, and offer these things with a much higher conversion rate. This is also going to build you an engaging database - which is priceless for many other forms of marketing as well (like on Facebook, you can literally create a mirror audience from a list you have on Mailchimp!). But, I won't get into all that right now!
So, step one....
What is your opt-in?
Do you have one? If not, create one.
If you have one and it's not getting bites, how can you make it more appealing?
If you have one and it is getting bites, what are you doing to nurture those leads?
If you love what you're reading, share this with your friends in business. (It's always nice to have someone to share your challenges and wins with, and the weird vocabulary you attain when you start learning about marketing!).
Until next month,
EM (Director, Entrepreneur, Naturopath, Mentor)