Starting your own business can be daunting, especially when you’re eager to make it profitable as soon as possible.
Our initial thoughts often follow a linear path: social promotion leads to followers, which leads to traffic, and eventually customers.
However, this process is not as simple as it seems.
If you dive headfirst into this cycle, you may encounter several obstacles:
You might spend a lot of time crafting posts, but receive little interaction.
The traffic from social channels to your website could be disappointingly low.
Despite an increase in followers, you may not see a corresponding growth in orders.
Assuming you've done your market research, competitor analysis, and audience analysis, here's what you should consider doing before you start the social promotion cycle: Build a sales funnel.
What is a Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel is a crucial aspect of any business, big or small. It provides a structured approach to convert potential leads into loyal customers.
Imagine meeting someone for the first time; you wouldn't propose marriage right away.
A sales funnel is similar to the process that leads from initial acquaintance to marriage. It requires careful cultivation.
If you neglect the other person's feelings and pursue them relentlessly, they're likely to become defensive, or even repulsed.
So, what are the steps of building an effective sales funnel?
Here are the things you can do to get started:
#1 Create awareness content
The first step is to draw people’s attention to your business.
Your products or services offer a solution to a problem your audience faces, and your goal is to make them aware of this.
They may find solutions through various channels such as Google searches, marketplaces, or social communities.
You want to make sure your solution is present and visible on these platforms.
✅ Checklist
Identify your target audience
Determine the main problems your products can solve
Understand where your audience would go to find solutions
Identify where your audience gathers or appears on the internet (Platforms, groups, etc.)
#2 Offer a freemium
After you've got your audience's attention, the next thing to do is keep them interested.
One way to do this is by offering an initial service or a free product, aka. the lead magnet.
It could be a free trial of your service, a free sample of your product, a free consultation or advice session, an informative PDF file, a checklist, etc.
This is something your audience can receive once they subscribe to your mailing list.
However, beware of two common pitfalls:
The free product is irrelevant to your paid product. ✘
If you want to turn freebie lovers into customers, don't give a strawberry cake sample if you only sell chocolate cakes.
The paid product is temporarily free. ✘
This can make customers wait for free stuff and lower the item's worth. Unless you have strategic reasons for doing this, such as trading more product ratings to increase its perceived value.
✅ Checklist
Relevance: Identify an initial service or a free product that relates to your paid offerings.
Value: Make sure it provides a solution to a problem your audience faces.
Product Integrity: Avoid offering your primary product for free.
Email strategy: Develop a strategy to obtain an email list of those interested in your products.
#3 Nurturing Leads Through Email Marketing
After getting people interested in what you're offering, they reaches the decision stage. Here, customers decide whether to make a purchase.
To guide this process effectively, engagement is key.
One of the most efficient ways to maintain this engagement is through automated emails, which serve multiple purposes.
These emails:
Keep your brand fresh in the customers' minds
Offer valuable content that resonates with their needs
Promote your products or services subtly
Help you build strong relationships with them
This relationship can foster trust and loyalty, significantly improving the chances of converting these leads into sales.
And beyond that, a well-nurtured relationship can create repeat customers and brand advocates, further enhancing the growth and success of your business.
✅ Checklist
Email Content: Create valuable content that resonates with the needs of your potential customers.
Consistency: Develop a regular schedule to send out your emails.
Engagement: Encourage interaction by asking questions or requesting feedback.
Promotion: Subtly promote your products or services in your emails.
Automation: Consider using email automation tools to streamline the process.
#4 Checking How Well Your Sales Funnel Works
Checking your sales funnel involves planning the customer journey and walking through it yourself.
Look out for any potential obstacles that might make it hard to move from one step to the next. For example, a confusing sign-up process or a broken link.
This is not a one-time thing.
Regularly review and update your sales funnel to ensure it remains effective and user-friendly.
Bonus Tips
Audience Decline
A sales funnel, similar to a physical funnel, has a decreasing audience at each stage.
So the more people you reach with your awareness content, the higher the chance of increasing sales.
Adaptability
A sales funnel can be more complex than the three steps I wrote in this article.
What’s interesting about marketing is that despite there are principles and concepts, no one-size-fits-all answer exists for every brand or product.
You'll need to experiment, improve, and create your own funnel.
Multiple Funnels
You're not limited to a single funnel for your brand. You can create multiple funnels, one for each product.
Start Building Your Sales Funnel Today
As mentioned, building your sales funnel isn't a one-time task. It requires ongoing experimentation and improvement.
Throughout the process, you'll gain a clearer understanding of your marketing goals and make better decisions, such as which marketing tools to use.
Let's recap:
Create awareness content
Provide a valuable freemium
Nurture leads via email marketing
Review and optimize your sales funnel
Now, it's time to roll up your sleeves and create an amazing sales funnel for yourself.
That’s it for today.
See you next time.