Are you struggling to understand how to create an effective funnel blueprint for your business? If so, you’re not alone.
Many companies don’t have a clear view of the journey their customers take when becoming a customer, and this lack of insight can lead to poor marketing and sales results. It’s time to start taking control by creating a written funnel blueprint that is agreed upon by both marketing and sales teams.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss what exactly a funnel blueprint is, why it’s vital for businesses, and how you can create one for your company. By understanding the different stages of the customer journey and creating an accurate roadmap for success, you’ll be well on your way toward improving your marketing performance!
The Different Stages of the Funnel
Before we even think about creating a funnel blueprint, it is crucial to understand the different stages a customer travels through in the funnel.
The traditional marketing funnel is split into four distinct steps:
- Awareness: This is the top of the funnel where potential customers are introduced to your brand and product.
- Consideration: Here, mid-funnel, customers start to weigh their options and consider whether your product or service would fit them well.
- Conversion: Finally, customers make their purchase decision by choosing you over other competitors or solutions from within their consideration set. This step is all about creating urgency and scarcity to drive decisions.
- Retention and Loyalty: At this stage, customers are actively engaging with your brand and regularly purchasing from you.
A funnel blueprint traces the journey from Awareness to Retention and ensures that you can manage and optimize each step. At each stage, you need to define the following:
- The goal of the stage
- The metrics used to measure progress
- The tactics or activities used to reach this stage
Components of a Funnel Blueprint
How can you create a marketing blueprint? While it’s an extensive document and will likely take some time to assemble, the essential components are pretty straightforward.
A good funnel blueprint includes the following.
1. Your Marketing Flowmap
Marketing flowmaps are visual representations of how customers flow through your marketing funnel. It’s like a road map for potential customers — it shows where they go, what they’ll click on, and which actions they’ll take to reach the end goal.
A marketing flowmap is usually composed of three main elements:
- A user journey or timeline that traces a potential customer’s path from awareness to conversion
- Key touchpoints for each stage of the funnel
- Performance metrics that measure your progress against goals
Creating an effective marketing flowmap starts with understanding how customers move through each stage of the funnel — from learning about you or your product, engaging with your content, taking action, and ultimately converting into a customer.
2. Your Marketing Funnel Diagram
Generally, when constructing a marketing funnel for your business, it’s helpful first to create a visual representation of the process. This is typically known as a marketing funnel diagram. It’s an easy way to show how customers move through each stage in the journey from awareness to purchase.
A well-crafted funnel diagram should clearly illustrate the various stages and touchpoints prospects pass through on their journey from leads to sales.
While each business has a unique funnel, it should include the four stages we mentioned:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Conversion
- Retention
In addition, you should also consider including other stages or touch points — such as Evaluation — depending on your marketing goals.
Once you have a diagram outlining the different funnel stages and touchpoints, it’s time to fill out your roadmap.
3. Your Marketing Roadmap
The final component of a funnel blueprint is the roadmap. This is where you map out specific tactics and activities to help move potential customers from one stage to the next. It’s also a great way to track progress against your goals, measure success, and make adjustments as needed. You can organize it according to stages in the funnel or market quarters.
When creating your marketing roadmap, start with identifying the goal for each stage — such as driving leads or increasing conversions. Then determine which activities will help you achieve that goal — such as search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns or email nurturing sequences.
Get Help With Your Marketing Blueprints
That’s how you create a funnel blueprint! If you need help, we offer a 100% collaborative marketing strategy workshop that help serivce-based businesses create easy to understand marketing plans.
Together we will work to develop a customized plan based on your specific needs and budget. From identifying your goals to creating customized roadmaps, we are here to support you every step of the way. See our Market Strategy Workshop for more information.
