Marketing effectiveness and funnel juggling

Customer funnels are a fundamental part of marketing planning, where specific steps designed around your target customer profiles should be laid out for each stage of the brand-building and purchasing journeys.  

A funnel model signifies a linear activity, where marketers should move from top to bottom in sequence, however in some cases, this may not be the most effective approach. Instead, ‘funnel juggling’, in which a variety of customer funnel models are used to create strategic and tactical plans, can be more effective. 

The sequential approach 

The sequential approach, which is the most literal interpretation of the funnel, focuses on the top-of-funnel, brand building activity, before pushing offers and sales messages to drive conversions in a successive model of long-marketing, then short-marketing, in a timely manner. 

The simultaneous approach 

A single funnel approach does not always work for every customer base, especially when there are multiple groups spread across varying demographics and parts of the buying process and journey, therefore undertaking a multifaceted approach of both long and short marketing activities simultaneously can reach these different customers at different times as and when they are needed. 

The singular approach 

Delivering both long and short marketing within the same funnel can also be a successful strategy. By combining both strategies into the same campaign and utilising both brand-building and activate-now communication, the long can drive the short and the short delivers on the long.However, there must be strong messages and calls to action at every stage, otherwise this approach can underperform when compared to the simultaneous or sequential approach. 

Read the full article here. 

Custard tip: Once you’ve decided on which approach is best for your audience, you need to carve out key messages and tactics for each stage of the lead-generation process, creating a variety of content topics and formats and other marketing activities to encourage customers to continue evaluating your brand, or even look to make a conversion.