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1-Page Summary of Flip the Funnel
The Funnel Is Flawed
Marketing can be thought of as a funnel. At the wide end is awareness and at the narrow end is action. There are four stages to this funnel, which are awareness, interest, desire and action. The first stage in marketing is to gain attention from consumers through advertising. This becomes important when you have a large number of people who are aware of your product or service but haven’t formed any opinion about it yet because they’re not interested in it (the second stage). You then try to get them interested by creating an appeal that makes them want what you’re offering (the third stage). Some people will make a conscious decision to purchase your product based on their desire for it (the fourth stage), but only if they aren’t distracted by all the other products available or something else happening online.
The funnel is old and outdated. People don’t act sequentially today, they’re bouncing around from one product to the next depending on what they find online or hear from friends.
The funnel is a bad model for marketing because it’s too simplistic, linear, and open. It doesn’t account for the fact that consumers don’t always go through the same process to buy something. The funnel also leaves out some important stages in the buying process (such as research and trial) and assumes that there’s one path to purchase. Furthermore, once someone buys something from you, they fall into a black hole where you ignore them until they buy again.
“From the Few Come the Many”
Many companies’ strategy is to try to sell more products, at better prices and frequent intervals, to a wider audience. Considering this, why do so many businesses focus their energies on attracting more people? Why don’t they use the same amount of energy sifting through the dross at the top and middle of the funnel as they do trying to find gold at the bottom?
Sales can be divided into two categories: acquisition-related business and retention-based business. Companies spend a lot of money on the former, while neglecting the latter. The focus is to acquire new clients instead of satisfying existing ones. Clients are not stupid; they know that companies only care about them when they’re spending money with them, so it’s hard to get in touch with real human beings if you have a service issue or need help with your account online. Instead of optimizing their marketing budget by putting it toward retention-based activities, companies rely on technology and automated systems for customer service and sales rather than investing in people who will serve as an extension of their brand.
Companies should focus on acquiring new customers, but they shouldn’t put all of their efforts into that. For example, Zappos’ strategy is to focus on repeat buyers and reward them with special offers. This works because first-time buyers spend less than repeat shoppers do. However, most companies don’t use this strategy because it’s not as common in the business world.
Companies that continue to market aggressively in a recession tend to do better than those that don’t because they maintain positive attitudes, communicate boldly and provide continuity for their customers.
Turn the Funnel on Its Head
It is time to take a different approach. Instead of concentrating on the widest part of the funnel, start by focusing on your best clients and turning them into advocates through great customer service. This will give you a wider reach than traditional marketing methods such as advertising.
In order to have marketing control and focus on your existing clients, you can flip the funnel. When you focus on the media market, which is vast, it’s hard to gain credibility with advertising dollars. You also don’t know who is watching or what they think about your product or service. Therefore, instead of focusing on a general audience that will likely not be interested in what you’re selling anyway, why not concentrate on people who already like and trust you? Those are your customers! They’ll help sell your brand for free by talking about it among their friends at work and online in blogs and social networks. To do this effectively requires four stages: acknowledgment (find them), dialogue (talk with them), incentivization (reward those who talk positively about your company) and activation (get more people involved).
