There is a concept in marketing that I like to refer to as the “advertising funnel”. What do I mean by this?

If you look at how a funnel is designed, at the top entrance is wide and then it narrows towards the bottom like a sharpened pencil point. At the top it is wide and open but as you move towards the bottom area then it becomes narrower.

The same must be applied to your marketing. You must make it easy for your potential customer to enter your field of influence and ‘tighten up’ on them as they get closer to the sale decision.

Now let us make this as practical as possible.

If I asked you to just go to my website and make a $500 purchase you will likely turn down my offer. I am asking for too much to early. But instead I offer you a subscription to my fr-e newsletter along with a bonus and it becomes a much easier decision to make. This is where the funnel is wide and easy to enter.

I then may offer you to purchase an ebook for $37. Now because I should have developed some credibility with you then this step is much easier to take. My next offer will be a $97 product and then the $500 product.

This works the same way in normal human relationships. It’s a “hi, hello” and then as we talk more and get to know each other we can talk about more things than just the weather.

Some people attempt the $500 sale before taking the other baby steps and blame their lack of sales on other factors than ignoring the marketing funnel.

It is plain to see that the wider the mouth of the funnel is the greater will be your ‘catch’. Like the Bible says, sow besides all waters because you do not know which seed will bring forth the abundant harvest. The waters you sow beside includes search engines, classified ads, safelist, article writing, joint ventures, posting to forum boards … and the list goes on.

As you try to build your mailing list just ask for a ‘first name’ and ‘email address’. If you ask for much more information than this then you will likely be making your funnel too narrow. Now they have opted to be on your list then you can ask for more. If you under-promise and over-deliver each time then you’re likely to have a customer for life.

So if you were to ask me what was the primary reason for your website? The answer will be to have a wide funnel mouth collecting email addresses. The primary purpose of your website is NOT to make sales but to collect that ever-important email address!

Once they are in the funnel then it becomes easier for them to slide down into your sales bottle. Check your marketing strategy to see if you may have your funnel upside down - few enter but many leaving.

Filed under: Marketing Ideas

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