Every business is an online business now. It’s been true since before the pandemic. But since March 2020, it’s been a hard truth for lots of businesses that had not previously relied on an online presence. And another insight? It’s a funnel truth — they are right for just about every business.
After all, everyone googles you when they’re getting ready to hire you. So you need some kind of an online presence. (If you’re thinking about joining Whomp Whomp to Wow to write your own website this spring, doors open next month — get on the waitlist here to get all the deets.)
And, every business can stand to automate at least a portion of their client acquisition journey (a super jargony way to say “the way they nurture their audience”).
And because every business is different… because everyone’s clients have different expectations and needs, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all funnel.
With that in mind, here are three distinct truths about creating a funnel for your business:
Funnel Truth #1: Building a funnel requires more than asking someone to write a few emails or a sales page.
- You must define your goals, your offer, your audience and their pain points. Your funnel strategist (hey, that’s me, %FIRSTNAME%), can help you pull this together, but you have to have a clear idea in your head.
- You need to decide if you’re using a specific launch window or creating an evergreen offer. This affects the entire structure — see #2.
- And you should communicate that information to your funnel team so they have something to work with and aren’t creating content in a vacuum. You can’t just say “write me a funnel, bibbity bobbity boo,” and not expect some pushback.
Funnel Truth #2: You need a strategic plan and a funnel structure.
In addition to defining the audience and offer, you need to understand questions like:
- How will you drive traffic into it? A funnel in a vacuum stays empty.
- What copy, tech, and design components do you need to keep it running? I can help you here, based on what you already use and your goals, but it’s something to consider.
- What are objections you’ll need to overcome? You probably know this from your sales process, and I can help you tease this out.
- How will you keep people engaged? I have ideas and opinions…alllllways, but your support is needed to keep this moving.
- What will you do with the people who “fall out” of the funnel to re-engage them? Again, I can give you some ideas here, but you need to be ready to discuss it.
You don’t have to have all the answers, but you must be prepared to answer these questions during our funnel mapping session.
Funnel Truth #3: Funnels can be complicated or simple, and they work for just about every business (see the funnel truth in the first paragraph).
- Your funnel may be a relatively simple booking process with a few simple, automated components.
- Or it could be a complex launch funnel with multiple paths, dependencies, upsells and downsells.
The bottom line is with a little strategy (and some killer copy, of course) , you can simplify your workload, improve your conversion rates, and engineer a better client experience.
When should you build your funnel?
The funnel creation stage is part of the “what’s next” after you develop your messaging and build your website. It’s stage 4 or the “C” phase of my flexible framework, the REACH Visibility Trajectory.
You can check out the overview below, or read more about it here.
In the example above, I talk about lead magnets and nurture sequences, but the truth is, it could be anything based on your business.
Have questions or want to schedule a consult to see what funnel strategy sessions might look like? Hop on my calendar here.
