When you’re trying to better market your brand, the first step is to master the art of generating buzz about new products and boosting brand awareness. Then, you want to create a well-rounded bottom-of-funnel marketing strategy that drives sales and generates healthy revenue. But once those tasks are taken care of, what else can you do to drive sales?
The answer is simple: you should focus on mid-funnel marketing. Many companies don’t realize that customers often get caught in the middle of the sales funnel, which keeps their businesses from reaching their full growth potential.
If this situation sounds like your firm, you’re certainly not alone. Mid-funnel marketing is one of the trickiest stages of the sales funnel because customers are considering your product but aren’t quite sold yet.
To convince them to take that final step, you must present high-quality, curated content that speaks to their unique priorities and values. Let’s take a closer look at how you can win at mid-funnel marketing.
3 Steps to Effective MOF Marketing
If you want to create an effective middle-of-funnel (MOF) marketing strategy, you must:
Segment Your Audience
Segmentation involves dividing your audience into subgroups based on shared attributes such as:
- Age
- Income
- Online browsing history
- Other demographic and behavioral factors
If you are already segmenting your audience, you can likely apply some of these subgroups to your MOF marketing strategy.
However, you may need to modify each group slightly to maximize the impact of your MOF content. For instance, suppose that you’re repurposing top-of-funnel audience segments. In that case, identifying each subgroup’s preferred social media channels could help you determine where to display your content.
Create Curated Content
Speaking of content, that is the next step to effective MOF marketing. You need personalized content that addresses each subgroup’s needs and interests. While any MOF content should highlight your brand and product’s positive attributes, choosing which aspects to emphasize is integral to content personalization.
If you are targeting a budget-conscious subgroup, drawing attention to your competitive price and low cost of ownership would be a great tactic. However, perhaps you’re targeting a subgroup that wants the latest and greatest product. In that case, highlighting your offerings’ unique features would be the most effective approach.
Deliver Your Message
If you want your message to hit home, choose the ideal medium. There are more options out there than ever, including connected TV, social media, email, and paid ads, to name a few.
When selecting your medium, prioritize the most popular channels among your chosen audience segment. And make sure to adopt an omnichannel approach, as connecting with audiences across multiple touchpoints will maximize your reach.
Choosing the Perfect Medium: 3 Channels to Consider
There is no one-size-fits-all marketing medium. The “right” channel will depend entirely on your specific audience’s preferences. Go where they are and target them with personalized mid-funnel marketing content that speaks to their needs, goals, and interests.
That said, three mediums tend to be particularly effective for mid-funnel marketing. These are:
Social Media
Social media platforms represent some of the most versatile and effective mid-funnel marketing mediums. With social media, you can use paid ads and organic content to nurture leads, improve awareness, and support customers’ decision-making processes.
Another powerful mid-funnel marketing strategy you can use on social media channels is influencers. Working with an influencer allows you to tap into the power of social proof by having a trusted social media personality review one of your products.
Connected TV
Connected TV, which features content accessed by apps and streamed over internet-connected televisions, has revolutionized mid-funnel marketing. You can deliver curated content to audiences through CTV advertising as they stream their favorite TV shows and movies.
Advertising on connected TV allows you to reach leads when they are attentive. For that reason, it is one of the most effective mid-funnel marketing strategies available. If you catch someone in the middle of a binge-watching session, they may see your ads several times over in just a few hours.
Email remains one of the best marketing methods. Email marketing delivers an ROI of $36 for every $1 you spend. That translates to a return of 3,600%.
From a mid-funnel marketing perspective, you can use email to target brand-aware customers with ads, infographics, or discount codes. You can also include links to webinars or white papers that answer frequently asked questions and take a deep dive into your product or service.
What’s Next?
Want to learn more about how you can integrate these strategies into your brand-building strategy? Check out this guide to mid-funnel marketing tactics. In it, we highlight 10 unique strategies for targeting customers who are caught in the middle of their sales journeys.
