"I'm just looking, thanks." Ever said that when a store associate asks if you need assistance? Sometimes we use the phrase simply to brush off what appears to be a sales pressure tactic that we'd rather not deal with while we covertly user our smartphone to snap a product barcode to compare prices at Acme widget across the street. Other times, we really are just browsing, educating ourselves, entertaining ourselves or satisfying some curiosity. The reality is every time we go into a store, we're not there to buy. So why should you assume that everyone visiting your website is only there to find the shortest path to your check-out page?
Just because we're on a website doesn't mean we're buying. So what's with all the focus on bottom of the funnel offers? A website that is bottom of the funnel focused lacks engagement, looks like a big billboard and probably relies heavily on PPC advertising to generate traffic. "Buy Now" You'll have a much better chance of building lasting, repeat and referenceable customer relationships if your website and marketing cater to the entire sales funnel, especially the top! After all, you can only nurture and qualify prospects when you have healthy activity at the top of the funnel. How do you capitalize on your visitor's need to browse and create engagement that converts to leads and sales? Lots of quality content! Great Top of Funnel (TOFU) offers!
If your website is short on great TOFU offers, check out these tips to quickly and easily create quality content:
- Visitors at the top of your funnel, who have just discovered you, are not ready to commit, let alone purchase, so make your TOFU content easy to consume. Require only a minimal amount of information on your forms, such as first name and email. You can't begin to build a relationship without this critical first step.
- Write broadly. The broader the appeal, keeping your target audience's interests and needs in mind, the more downloads. For example, the Innovative Marketing Sales Funnel Calculator appeals to a broad group of people interested in inbound marketing, marketing, social media or email marketing.
- Did you see the movie Inception? That was wild stuff. But on a more practical level , if you want to get your audience thinking a specific way, TOFU content is a great way to plant an idea in your visitor's mind. Write an educational piece of content that introduces your idea and why it can be valuable to prospective clients.
- This isn't the time to talk about you. That is, it's not the time for chest beating and marketing hyperbole. Great TOFU content avoid those things like the plague. Successful TOFU content relates to your business - such as the sales funnel calculator - but the value goes beyond your company or business, in our case inbound marketing agency services to get the prospect thinking about improving their own business, which is something Innovative Marketing Resources can absolutely help accomplish.
- TOFU is, however, the place to share your product or service's benefits. Write about what makes your business stand out from the others. But here's the catch! Can you do it without talking about your product? Try writing about something related to what makes your offering different and that is generally interesting to your audience.
- Does your support team answer a lot of questions about your product or service? Start writing them down. Create a piece of TOFU content that responds to each question. By definition these are relevant topics to your prospects so you have ready-made quality content that prepares a prospect for your bottom-of-the-funnel offer you have waiting.
It's easy to jump the gun and push every visitor to your best sales pitch, but that's not what every visitor is looking for. You'll miss a lot of opportunity to develop great customer relationships and build your brand by turning your website into a billboard. The top of your funnel is an important part of successful inbound marketing. Focus on it. Grow it. Perfect it. What you'll see when you focus on the top of your funnel is a much more predictable flow of qualified leads that are eager to take your BOFU offer and engage your sales process.