What Is a Content Marketing Funnel & How to Build One
When mapping out the kind of content you want to make for your business, it’s easy to be confused.
But, if you understand what your content marketing funnel looks like, it will be much easier to have clear directions on your content creation efforts.
That’s why in this article, we’ll be covering what a content marketing funnel is and a few tips on building one.
What Is a Content Marketing Funnel?
Before we start building your content marketing funnel, let’s first define what it is.
Content Marketing Funnel Definition
The term content marketing funnel is something you’ll always hear in content marketing 101 articles.
Your content marketing funnel is a visualization of your customer’s journey before they purchase or convert to your business.
This funnel can show you how the customer understands your business and the content you can serve them to get them closer to a conversion.
It is a big part of helping you have a clear content strategy for your business.
Is a Digital Marketing Funnel and a Content Marketing Funnel the Same Thing?
There are a lot of instances where marketers use these terms interchangeably.
Since digital marketing often involves content creation, it makes sense that many marketers and marketing firms use these terms interchangeably.
The important part here is that you and your team are clear and consistent with the use of these terms between one another. Other marketers consider these two to be different while others don’t mind considering them to be the same.
Why Should You Care About Your Content Marketing Funnel?
What is the point of making a content marketing funnel for your business anyway? 🤔 Why should you care? 🤷♀️
These are valid questions since it sounds like content marketing mumbo-jumbo if you don’t know what it’s for.
What this marketing funnel offers you is a powerful tool for brainstorming content ideas in a structured manner. It creates a more data-driven content creation approach so that you can create content that is truly relevant to your potential customers.
It’s a sort of benchmark to measure your content ideas against to figure out whether they are what your business needs or not.
Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash
Your content marketing head or your content marketing team can use your content marketing funnel to understand where the content gaps are in your production efforts.
That way, you aren’t just making content to say that you’re producing them.
Content that matches your understanding of your content marketing funnel will be able to catch your potential leads’ eyes better and keep your current customers with you as well. 🌟
Four Stages of a Content Marketing Funnel
Based on the Customer’s Journey
When marketers describe the content marketing funnel, they describe it in two different ways.
They either bring up the four stages of the content marketing funnel, which are the Awareness, Evaluation, Conversion, and Retention stages.
OR they will bring up the content marketing funnel content types you create based on the customer’s journey in your content marketing funnel.
I think it’s a good idea to be aware of both, so I will be bringing up both of those in this article.
Right now, we’ll be starting with the four stages of the content marketing funnel, which we’ll start with the Awareness stage.
Awareness Stage
The Awareness stage would be the phase of the customer’s journey where they are yet to know what your business is about.
They aren’t familiar with your brand name. Logo. Imagery. Nothing. Especially, the services or products you are offering.
In this stage, your content goal is to, you guessed it, make them aware of your business.
Also, in this phase, your buyers are aware of the problem that they have that needs solving.
Since they know that they have a problem, they’re looking for a solution. This opportunity is when you can start hinting to them what the solution is.
You won’t exactly start pointing out that you are the solution to the problem. But the act of creating content that helps them arrive at the solution might make them look deeper into who you are and what your business is about.
It’s about positioning you for the right moments.
However, at this stage, your lead is least likely to convert just yet.
BEST TYPE OF CONTENT TO MAKE AT THIS STAGE: ToFu Content
Evaluation Stage
Leads that have realized their problem or need will start to go to the next step, which is to look for solutions. This phase would be their Evaluation Stage.
Your potential customer will start looking for the possible solutions available to them. At this stage, you should then create content that positions yourself as someone that provides said solution for them.
You’re not yet saying that they should buy from you. You’re just saying, “Hey, a solution I so happen to provide can help you solve your problems.”
They are most likely going to weigh the pros and cons of your product or service.
Your previous ToFu content during the Awareness stage is helpful during the evaluation stage because it should’ve made you more familiar to them, even if they didn’t know that you provided solutions to their problems at first.
However, since they’re now more actively looking for the kind of products and services that you have, the type of content you create to address them should change.
The best kind of content to make here would be ones that show how others with similar problems to them have fared when they used your services/products.
It should demonstrate that you are a reputable source to them. Show that you are trustworthy and that others have experienced success with your help.
BEST TYPE OF CONTENT TO MAKE AT THIS STAGE: MoFu Content
Conversion Stage
This is the stage when your lead or potential customer is most ready to buy or convert.
Armed with all that they know, they aren’t shopping around as much or information gathering. Instead, they are all ready to buy whatever product or service they need.
At this stage, your goal is to have content that would push them to convert and turn that “potential” customer into an “actual” customer.
Landing pages for free trials, advertising coupons and discounts, and more are the kind of content that you should be sharing at this stage.
BEST TYPE OF CONTENT TO MAKE AT THIS STAGE: BoFu Content
Retention Stage
The last stage of your content funnel that you shouldn’t forget about would be the retention stage.
Just because your customer already converted doesn’t mean that you should stop nurturing that relationship.
That’s why with the retention stage, you are serving content that will encourage your current customers to remain your customers for a long time.
You can, for example, start a newsletter to keep them interested in your brand and any changes that you make to the business. Giving discounts to repeat customers through this newsletter can encourage them to stay with your business.
The Three Main Types of Content Based on the Content Marketing Funnel
Another way to picture your content marketing funnel is through the content you produce as you go through the funnel. Here we start with the top-of-funnel content.
Top-of-Funnel (ToFu) Content
Located at the very top of content marketing funnels is the ToFu content or top-of-funnel marketing content.
What is ToFu Content?
This content refers to ones that you serve customers when they don’t have any idea about who you are, what your services or products are, and, in some cases, what the solution is for whatever problem they have.
The goal of this content is to attract potential customers to you. Let them know that you exist but focus more on having them identify a problem that they may be having (that is relevant to you).
ToFu Content Examples
Here are some of the types of content that you can make that fall under ToFu content:
- Blog posts
- Infographics
- Ebooks
- Data Graphics
- Social Media posts
- Introductory video content
These are non-committal content pieces that aren’t a hard sell to your potential customers if they encounter them.
Middle-of-Funnel (MoFu) Content
Once your customers are aware of a problem they have and are seeking solutions, it’s time to serve them MoFu content.
What is MoFu Content?
You start serving your MoFu content in the middle of the content marketing funnel.
This type of content is when you start pitching the idea of your business being a solutions provider for your lead. However, you’re also comparing other potential solutions that your target audience can try.
The goal of this content type is to make potential customers start getting closer to a conversion and to also start making your business look like a top contender as their solutions provider.
MoFu Content Examples
Here are types of content that you can make that cater to your target audience in the middle of the funnel:
- Product reviews
- Case Studies
- Whitepaper
- Email campaigns
- Customer Interviews
The content should be an assessment of all solutions, as well as providing highlights of your products from outsiders’ perspectives whenever possible.
Bottom-of-Funnel (BoFu) Content
Once your leads know their problem, the possible solutions to it, and how you could be one of those solutions, it’s time to tie it all in with BoFu content.
What is BoFu Content?
BoFu content is the content you serve once your leads are ready to convert or are ready to purchase.
Even though at this point you should be peddling your service and product, that doesn’t mean that your content is all about selling still. You should still aim to be informative or helpful with your leads.
Your goal here is to get leads to be comfortable in trusting you to be their choice when it comes time to purchase.
BoFu Content Examples
Here are pieces of content that you should have at the ready to accommodate your leads that are intent on purchasing:
- Case Studies
- Comparative blog posts
- Reviews & Testimonials
- Pricing comparisons or pricing page
- Product reviews
- Product/Service alternative articles
- Product usage video/tutorials
- White papers
These content pieces should now start explicitly including your service or product in some way. Highlight your features and benefits in your BoFu content.
How To Develop Your Business’s B2B Content Marketing Funnel
Hey, look at us.
We’ve come out of the other side and now we should all have a better understanding of what marketers mean when they mention a content marketing funnel.
Now that we’re on the same page, here’s my general advice and tips on how to develop your business’s B2B content marketing funnel.
Assess Your Current Content Inventory
You first start by looking at the content that your business has already made.
There might be hidden gems there or pieces of content that need to be more relevant and help your business.
The specific thing, though, that you should pay attention to when assessing your content inventory would be the types of content that you have.
You should check how many pieces of content you have that are for the top of the funnel, the middle, and the bottom. You might find content gaps there that can guide you on what types of content to make next for your funnel.
Figure Out What Type of Content You Need to Prioritize
Let’s say after your content inventory you find that you currently have 60% BoFu content, 25% ToFu content, and 15% MoFu content.
Is your next step to stop making BoFu content altogether and just fill up your inventory with more MoFu content?
Not exactly.
The ratio of content type that you should make comes down to several factors.
If your business is relatively new to the game, focus on ToFu content.
If you’re starting to gain more traction, focus on MoFu Content.
Once you’re a bit more known in the industry, BoFu content will be beneficial to get more conversions.
Overall, though, you should always have a bit of content for each stage of the funnel at once.
Most of the time, for B2B businesses, MoFu and BoFu content is their priority since their approach to marketing is much different than B2C businesses.
My advice? If your content inventory is bare bones and you’re a newer B2B business, create a really valuable piece of BoFu content.
It could be a robust case study, a comparative review of your product vs. a popular solution, or a free trial landing page.
This is the kind of content that drives conversions more. Plus, your sales team can use a lot of BoFu content as a form of sales enablement materials too.
Since you’re just starting out and likely have a limited budget, start with BoFu content.
Create Content Based on Your Content Gaps
Now that you know your content gaps and the best type of content to focus on for your business, it’s time to start making content.
By creating content to fill in your content gaps, you ensure that you have something that reaches out to prospects or leads no matter what stage they may be in the content marketing funnel.
You also fill up your content marketing funnel, which can be helpful for creating potential interactions with your target audience for crucial touchpoints in their customer journey.
You can also do competitor analysis to identify content gaps that they have and make content based on that.
Don’t Forget Your Current Customers
Once your leads convert, that doesn’t stop your content marketing efforts.
After all, you want to make sure they stay a customer.
Remember: finding and getting new customers costs five to seven times more than simply retaining your current customers.
Since customer acquisition is more expensive than customer retention, you want to make sure that your customers feel that you value them.
You can do that by creating content for them.
As mentioned earlier, you can curate content for your current customers through content like newsletters.
Another reliable way to retain customers is through community building, which is why you should create content for social media as well.
For B2B businesses, you can create content that helps your customers use your product and make the most out of it.
By creating content for current customers, you can remain their top solutions or product provider that they will be hesitant to leave behind.
Overall Content Marketing Funnel Recap
The content marketing funnel is there to help marketers and business owners understand their content production and how relevant it is to their target audience.
Hopefully, this article has helped you better comprehend what a content marketing funnel is, the types of content you should make based on the funnel, as well as tips on how to make your B2B content marketing funnel.
If you want to build out your business’s content strategy funnel, then understanding your content marketing funnel is a huge help.
Have questions about a content marketing funnel or how to make one?
Think I missed anything in this article? Any parts of this article that you wish I would expand on?
Leave a comment below!