What is funnel marketing

By funnel (literally funnel) we mean the consumer's journey, within a previously defined strategy, towards the goal you have set, starting from brand awareness and ending when said brand turns into a customer.

In other words, it is the path that a consumer takes before reaching conversion.

Conversion refers to a goal that you want users to achieve. These vary depending on your objective: it can be signing up for a newsletter, making contact, or completing a sale.

The phases of the marketing funnel

The sales funnel is divided into 3 main stages:

• Top of the funnel (TOFU): this is the highest part of the funnel, the entry point of our
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• Middle of the funnel (MOFU): this is the intermediate phase of the funnel. It is the stage where the consumer, after getting to know your brand, seeks information about the product or service offered and evaluates whether to purchase it or turn to the competition. From this point on, the consumer will consider your brand for future purchases.
• Bottom of the funnel (BOFU): is the lowest phase of the funnel, where the consumer is ready to become a customer. The consumer has decided to choose your product among possible alternatives.

An example of a funnel

Let's take a practical example: let's talk about a newly opened restaurant that, like all others, wants to attract as many customers as possible. 

We will use the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) technique, a very popular method in marketing.

Here is the funnel divided into 3 phases:

Phase 1 - TOFU (Top Of the Funnel)

In the first phase, the restaurant must let potential customers know it exists.

Online promotion can be done through advertising campaigns on social networks (like Facebook and Instagram) or on search engines (like Google). In the case of social networks, the post is shown to people who live near or pass by the restaurant, while in the case of search engines, people will search for a nearby restaurant on their own.

In this phase, you capture the consumer's attention with engaging posts that might show off some photos of the dishes offered.

Phase 2 - MOFU (Middle Of the Funnel)

The second phase of the funnel involves arousing interest among those who discover the existence of the restaurant.

Advertising campaigns on social networks and search engines lead to a landing page, that is, a page where only one service or product is offered.

The contents of this landing page are very engaging and generate interest in users who visit it. Thus, users will continue to scroll through the page looking for something else of interest.

Continuing to scroll down, towards the end, they will see a gallery with the best dishes of this restaurant.

Here comes the phase of desire: anyone would be attracted by a nice plate of well-stuffed lasagna or a dish of french fries with various sauces.

Stage 3 - BOFU (Bottom Of the Funnel)

This is the final stage: where the user truly becomes a customer.

At the bottom of the landing page, after having aroused Attention with captivating ads, Interest through content, and Desire with the display of dishes in the gallery, there will be a Call to Action (that is a prompt for action) in the form of a reservation form (technically called a booking engine), with an additional incentive, like a 5% discount if you book online. This is the Action phase, where the customer makes a table reservation.