What Is A Content Marketing Sales Funnel (and why you need one)

PinterestBusiness TipsContent MarketingSEO

Nov 18

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I don’t know about you, but I am dead. tired. of social media. Sure. It’s full of positive news and puppy pictures. And I love keeping up with my friends there. But that’s all I enjoy about it. In fact, I keep my newsfeed turned off most of the time. 😏

Which is why I love content marketing so damn much. I don’t spend time on social media unless it’s for my clients or completely social. No posting in Facebook groups looking for clients. No writing long, drawn out posts that nobody reads.

This post covers what content marketing is, how to use it as the beginning of your sales funnel, and how it turns cold leads into warm, ready to buy leads.

Let’s go!

This is for you if…

you keep hearing the buzz around content marketing, client attraction, and sales funnels but aren’t sure what any of it means
you’re tired of social media and are looking for another way to attract new clients
you know you need a sales funnel but you aren’t sure what it looks like or how it works
people are joining your email list but that isn’t resulting in more sales for your business

What even is content marketing? or a sales funnel?

Okay let’s start with some basics. What the eff even is content marketing? Is it just a buzz word or is there something to it? How do I even do this content marketing? And do I need to add it to my social media marketing strategy?

Slow down there, girlfriend. Let’s start at the top.

WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?

Content marketing is creating content that helps your ideal client get to know you and what you do.

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as a “strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

This could be blog posts, social media posts, YouTube videos…
anything you create to connect with your audience and teach them about what you do.

But content marketing isn’t just about creating the content. It’s about getting out in front of people and warming them up to make a purchase from you. Which brings me to…

WHAT IS CLIENT ATTRACTION?

Client attraction is simply the art of attracting your ideal client through target content, SEO, and Pinterest.

You can also include social media posts in this, but I’ve found that focusing on the places clients are looking for you returns much better results than posting constantly and hoping the right person sees it.

Targeted content just means content created specifically for what your ideal clients are searching for. Which is also why using SEO and Pinterest works for this client attraction framework better than social media.

People don’t search for answers to problems on Instagram and Facebook, typically. They do search for answers to problems on Google, Pinterest, and YouTube.

If your content is targeted towards what they are looking for, it will show up in search results, bringing new eyes to it and kicking off the next piece…

WHAT IS A SALES FUNNEL?

A sales funnel is a marketing strategy that moves people through the process of finding your content, getting to know you, and making a purchase.

It turns cold prospects into hot leads.

This doesn’t happen all at once (or overnight) and there are many different ways to set up your sales funnel. We’ll cover some of that in the next section.

The main idea to take away here is that the sales funnel starts when your ideal client or prospect first lays eyes on you or hears about you. And it never really ends.

You might hear that it ends when they make a purchase. That’s true to a point. But ultimately, your funnel will also encompass what happens after a purchase is made.

Keep them warm and top of mind by sharing lots of value so that when you have another product or service available that will benefit them, they are ready to buy again.

How does a sales funnel work?

This is where the magic happens. Think of your sales funnel as, well… a funnel. 🤯(I know right!)

SOMEONE FINDS YOUR CONTENT.

This is most likely them landing on a blog post. They could also find your website home page. Or a social media post or account.

They may have found it through a Google or Pinterest search. Which, again, means they were looking for an answer to a specific problem.

This is most likely their first run-in with your brand.

THEY JOIN YOUR EMAIL LIST.

Now that they’ve read the amazing piece of content they found (by searching for you), they join your email list.

This can be kind of tricky. You can’t just ask them to join your email list. We all have more than enough emails hitting our inboxes daily, amiright?

You have to give them a reason to want to join your email list. This starts with valuable content. Make sure they take something away from the blog post they’ve read or the video they’ve watched.

Then, offer them something for free in exchange for their email address. Ideally this free thing compliments the piece of content they’ve landed on. But if your free gift is related to your overall brand, business, or framework, that works great as well!

The idea here is to offer them something of value to stay in touch with you. They’re part of your inner circle now. Reward them for that.

THEY GET A SERIES OF VALUABLE EMAILS FROM YOU.

This might be the most important part. Don’t ghost them after they’ve joined your list.

It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with the thought of sending out emails regularly. I know I still struggle with this. #transparency

But the goal here is to stay top of mind (see a theme here?) for these new community members so that they come back to you when they need more information.

Your welcome series should be relatively simple. You don’t want to overwhelm them or hit them with too many emails right out the gate.

Send them one when they first sign up that includes the freebie they requested. I then recommend waiting a day or so (no more than two) to send a welcome email that has a little backstory about you and your brand. It’s also a good idea to include the freebie again. Incase they haven’t downloaded it yet.

Then over the next few days (I usually space emails two days apart), send value emails. Send them some old blog posts that are related to the freebie and your framework.

After they’ve gotten a few emails from you to get to know you, they can be added to your regular weekly email and promo list.

The welcome series is very important. But it’s equally important to not overwhelm them right out the gate.

THEN THEY BUY YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE.

Now’s the fun part! Your new prospect has found your content. They’ve signed up for your email list. You’ve wow’d them with your knowledge and they’ve gotten to know you over a few emails.

Now it’s time to make them an offer. Let’s be real. Everyone isn’t going to buy from you. But if your content and your offer speaks to what your ideal client is looking for, the right ones will.

Why do you need a content marketing sales funnel?

People don’t usually buy on first sight. They probably don’t even know they need what you have to offer. So you have to tell them why they need it.

But not a weird car salesman kind of way.

That’s what the sales funnel does for businesses. Especially online business that offer a 1:1 service like coaching or consulting or even online courses.

If someone lands on your blog post who’s never heard of you before, you’ve never interacted with them before, you aren’t going to come at them asking them to buy something immediately.

That’s like parking at the car dealer and and the salesman asking you to buy before you’ve even looked at any cars. #nothankyouplease

Most likely you aren’t going to go to a Ford dealership if you know you want to buy a Lexus, right? That’s why our sales funnel starts out with what your ideal client is searching for. They’ll land on your website and your content because you have what they need.

Now that they’ve pulled into the dealership, don’t ask them to buy before they’ve looked at the cars. Show them around and offer them a test drive ahem, your freebie. Once they love that, they’ll be back.

After they’ve gotten to know you and have seen some valuable content (nice looking cars), they’ll be ready to make a purchase from you.

See how that all flows together so nicely?

How do you use a sales funnel in your business?

Now we get to the fun part. How to put all this to use. We’ve kind of covered this already, generally speaking. But let's put it to practical use in online business.

Let’s say you show people how to use organic traffic and content marketing to sign new clients. 😉

→ Your ideal client is searching for you by using keywords like: content marketing, what is content marketing, organic traffic, organic marketing

→ One of your related blog posts turns up in the Google search results. Throughout that blog post, are calls to action for the reader (your new prospect) to join your email community.

→ You send your new community members a series of emails that lets them get to know you. The first one is a welcome email with some back story, like we talked about above. The next few are pure value emails that share additional pieces of your framework with your audience. Give them more reasons to trust that you know what you’re doing when it comes to organic traffic, content marketing, Pinterest, and SEO.

→ Then you start to send them relevant offers. Not all the time. The key word there is relevant. When you’re promoting your signature offer or a special, send the offer to your community. Those people who have been on your email list and you’ve been giving value to consistently. They know you, they trust you. It’s time to tell them about your offer.

Recap

Content marketing should be an important part of your marketing plan because it lets your potential clients find you though organic traffic and search engines like Google and Pinterest
A sales funnel works by funneling the leads that land on your blogs and website into paying clients by providing them with tons of value so they get to know you and trust you before sending them to an offer.
You need a marketing funnel because people aren’t likely to buy from you as soon as they meet you. They need to get to know you first. That’s what a funnel does.
Use a sales funnel in your business by mapping out the journey you want to take your potential clients on before they even speak with you. From the moment they are met with your content until they make a purchase. What does that look like?