Marketing Funnel

What is a Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel describes your customers journey with you.

From the initial stages when someone learns about your business, to the purchasing stage, marketing funnels map routes to conversion and beyond.

With careful analysis, a marketing funnel lets you know what your company must do to influence consumers at certain stages. By evaluating your funnels, you can potentially drive greater sales, more loyalty and stronger brand awareness.

The Evolution of the Marketing Funnel

At the end of the 20th century, Elias St. Elmo Lewis created a model highlighting the stages of a customer's relationship with a business. The AIDA model indicates that every purchase involves:

Awareness: The prospect is aware of their problems and possible solutions for them.
Interest: The prospect shows interest in a group of services or products.
Desire: The prospect begins to evaluate a certain brand.
Action: The prospect decides whether to purchase.

Defining the Marketing Funnel

The basics of the marketing funnel have stayed the same since the 1900s. However, no single model is universally accepted by all companies. Some prefer to keep their model simple, using the TOFU-MOFU-BOFU strategy which refers to the top of funnel, middle of funnel, and bottom of funnel as distinct elements.

Others believe that adding loyalty and advocacy stages to the funnel improves the marketing strategy.