We can get into all sorts of marketing speak about this and make it all scientific and complicated BUT it doesn’t need to be.  Let me tell you what funnels are all about, they are all about introducing new people to your business and the journey you take them on to become customers.  Think taking your crowd by the hand and leading them to the solution to their problems (that’s your product by the way). 

It’s your opportunity to introduce yourself, establishing a relationship, nurturing that relationship and turning that lovely person into a customer.  

Whether you work business to business or business to client we ALL work human to human. Relationships are super important AND your funnel gives structure into building that relationship, establishes credibility and allows your crowd to see that you are the answer to their prayers.  

So when we are thinking about creating a path to purchase we have to consider the multitude of ways that people can come across your business for the first time and how we encourage them in multiple ways to take further action to get involved with what you do.  

It might be that a lovely person comes across you on Social Media, firstly they need to know that you are the right person for them and that you’re someone that is going to resonate with then but perhaps will support them in some way, shape or form (you’re worth following because you bring something to the party).  We then want to showcase your expertise (think good Social Media content) and also encourage them “off platform” to enhance that relationship with you (i.e. sending them to read your blog or over to your website). This continues to showcase your expertise, build a relationship with them and enhance your credibility.  We then want to be able to get in touch with them on our terms so we would LOVE them to join our email list.  

It might be that other people’s first point of contact with you & your business is your website, we can look at the same as above when we think about their journey but we might also want to make sure it’s easy for them to follow us on Social Media too so that we can continue to enhance that relationship. 

Grab a piece of people and have a brainstorm about all the places that people can come across your business for the first time and you can start to consider the path to purchase. 

Before we go anything further there’s some resources that might just help you a little further here…

So, if you already have a crowd on social media and blogs on your website which have visitors to them then it’s a good idea to start to create a path for those lovely people to follow. 

You are stealing from your audience if you’re not telling them how you can help them and a good funnel, once set up, can be doing that work for you all of the time.  

The ONE Thing You Must Avoid At All Costs! 

It’s important that you don’t forget this.  

It’s important that you don’t neglect this.  

It’s important that you don’t get so caught up in the now that you forget about the future.  

What am I talking about?  I am talking about introducing new people into your business (this is the top of the funnel, the widest part – you will always introduce more new people into your business than will become customers).  If you are forgetting about filling your funnel then the funnel will run dry.  I’m absolutely ALL for you serving the pants off your crowd and it’s the answer to moving forwards ALWAYS BUT it’s also important that we don’t do it to the detriment of attracting in new people.  

I talk about this as the buckets we need to fill in our business….

If we want to get into technical speak the new people we are introducing into our business are COLD TRAFFIC. 

You need to be introducing new people to your business all the time.  

You need to be making new acquaintances on a daily basis.

 A few examples of great ways of introducing new people to your business is by:

1. Running Facebook Likes Ads
2. Running Social Media Ads To Your Fantastically Useful Blog Content
3. To Record Videos Introducing Yourself And Giving Away A Tip Or Two
4. Getting involved in conversations on Social Media 
5. Being useful and helpful, perhaps in a group enviroment 
6. Inviting people along to “like” your Facebook page when they involved in a post (you can see how to do that here) 
7. Being consistent 
8. Asking for recommendations from clients, customers, your existing crowd 
9. Make sure you are creating content that your audience are searching for (you absolutely want to be found in those search engines, they are the gift that keeps on giving)  

Getting To Know You & Getting Closer

 This is the next stage of the relationship.  This is about you being consistent most of all.  People, once they come to your crowd, can be looking at your messages on any platform at any point.

It’s important that you continue to nurture your relationships with your crowd, offering them fantastic free resources (this is where you can ask them for their email address in return) and giving them an opportunity to buy products/services from you.

 Taking It To The Next Level

 This is where your crowd have invested their time, email address and perhaps some of their cash in you.  This is where you are going to turn your crowd into raving fans, you are going to encourage them into the epicentre of your business and transform them into return or higher level investors in what you have to offer. I have heard it being explained in terms of a relationship, with the reminder that you don’t ask people to marry you on a first date – well not if you ever want to see them again. I like to think of it as drilling through to the centre of your world.  Look at your business as a world.  When people come across your business for the first time they are on the crust of the planet, they need to work their way to the burning hot epic-centre of awesomeness! Funnels can get beautifully techie and exciting and with the tools available on Social Media now we can very effectively stay top of mind with our crowd, nurture those relationships and re-target your audience lest they forget.

So that’s a little whistle stop tour, think of your funnels as a Relationship Enhancement Combobulator.