Before we dive into the nitty gritty about the top of the funnel marketing, let’s take a look at the basics of the top of the funnel.
The top of the funnel (TOFU) refers to marketing activities carried out to raise awareness of a brand or product. It is a component of the customer journey, also known as the “purchase journey.”
TOFU assists marketers in raising awareness, educating prospects, and creating buzz around a product, service, or brand. Measuring TOFU activities can also help you better understand your audience and the marketing landscape in general.
To reach a large number of potential customers, most digital marketers publish content near the top of the funnel. Among the most popular TOFU activities are:
- Blogs
- Landing pages
- Promotional ads
- Social media posts
- SEO
- Video marketing
- Influencer marketing
The content at the top of the funnel has little to do with your products or services but everything to do with your buyer’s interests and needs.
Table of Contents
What are the Key Components of TOFU Activities?
What are the Objectives of Top of the Funnel Activities?
What is the Structure of the Marketing Funnel?
What Makes Effective Content for Top of the Funnel Marketing?
Best Top of the Funnel Marketing Tactics to Consider
Take Away
What are the Key Components of TOFU Activities?
Content at the top of the funnel attracts a wider audience that is interested in high-level topics related to your business. Top-of-the-funnel content is memorable, easy to understand, and beneficial to your buyers. This results in mid-funnel content being:
- Attention-grabbing
- Customer-centric
- Engaging
- Appealing
What are the Objectives of Top of the Funnel Activities?
Top of the funnel content marketing is all about capturing your target audience’s attention and convincing them that your company provides significant value. When potential buyers perceive your brand as a thought leader, they will be more willing to opt in to receive communications from your company and gain access to your insights. This exchange is solely based on value, and the goal of top-of-funnel content is to facilitate it.
What is the Structure of the Marketing Funnel?
Top – Create awareness
Your content should not be primarily focused on selling but rather on educating your audience about subjects associated with your brand. Investigate and analyse what type of content your target audience desires, and then create content around those interests.
Calls to action (CTAs) at the bottom of your content, such as blogs and whitepapers, should compel readers to visit a product landing page. In that case, it is their choice whether or not to click your CTA, and you are not attempting to sell them anything until they arrive at the landing page.
Middle – Provide worth to customers
A blog at the top of the funnel, for example, may be informative and entertaining, but it does not demonstrate that you are the leading organisation in your field.
Customer testimonials, case studies, free trials, and live webinars should be included in the middle of the funnel content to demonstrate that you are knowledgeable—an industry leader who has proven to drive results for your customers.
End – Upsell to prospects
You can offer free in-person demonstrations, limited-time promotional codes for your services, and one-on-one consultations to leads. In this stage, the primary objective is to seal the deal and close the sale.
What Makes Effective Content for Top of the Funnel Marketing?
Content is king if you want to make an impact these days! These days, top of the funnel marketing is all about content.
Content marketing has largely replaced traditional advertising in recent years. Instead of creating outbound content such as billboards and television commercials, brands are now focusing on creating inbound content that will attract leads.
The content at the top of the funnel is critical because it is how you will attract that potential customer. Your ideal lead could be searching on Google when your article appears. She will read it, click the call to action, and land on your landing page, where she will learn all about your products and services. You now have someone who may convert in the future.
When developing your own top of the funnel content strategy, keep the following types of content in mind:
- Native advertising posts
- Infographics
- Videos
- Whitepapers
- Blog posts
- SlideShare presentations
- Social media posts
- Research studies
- Guides
- Direct mail
- Webinars
- Events
Best Top of the Funnel Marketing Tactics to Consider
Blog posts
Blog posts are an easy way to deliver information when you want to give potential customers information at the start of their search journey. You can answer frequently asked questions, offer solutions based on your own research, and show that you are knowledgeable about whatever the primary worry, problem, sore spot, etc. is. Find out how to improve the effectiveness of your blog posts at advancing your readers through the sales funnel.
Webinars
Live or recorded webinars are excellent lead generation tools. Your potential customers give you their contact information in return for access to the webinar’s content. Later, by remarketing or retargeting to that audience, you can use this information to nurture prospects. But in addition to their advantages for your company, webinars also give you a chance to educate and inform your audience.
Social media
It makes sense to focus on social media as a top of funnel marketing strategy given that the majority of users online explore brands while browsing social media or websites. You can launch paid social campaigns to raise awareness and generate leads, as well as supplement these efforts with engaging and informative organic content.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
People naturally begin their information searches on search engines. This indicates that SEO, or optimising for search engines, is a crucial strategy for reaching top of the funnel prospects. When doing this, you should conduct some research on the problems your target audience is attempting to solve, the questions they are posing, and the content you currently have (or can create) to respond to those initial online searches.
Research
Your original research is a potent way to draw attention to the top of the funnel, whether you present it as a report, e-book, or white paper. You’re not only giving your audience in-depth and exclusive information; you’re also showcasing thought leadership in the particular need or interest of your prospect. You can offer the research as gated content in exchange for details like an email address if you want to use this opportunity to generate leads.
Videos
Online videos are a no-brainer when it comes to top-of-funnel marketing strategies because of its widespread use. You can instruct and inform your audience in a way that is highly engaging whether you host your video content on a platform like YouTube or Vimeo or on your own website. Additionally, repurposing your video content will always increase its usefulness.
Infographics
Infographics are a useful tool for showing data visually to potential customers while demonstrating that you have your finger on the industry’s pulse. Your audience will have an easier time finding the information they need quickly if you present the data in an infographic, which is more interesting and digestible. With this strategy, you are promoting your brand while doing so.
Take Away
The audience will have a direct impact on the type of top-of-the-funnel content used. A B2B audience, for example, may prefer detailed blog posts and case studies on niche industry topics, whereas a B2C audience may prefer short and entertaining videos about a business-related topic. Discover which content will be most effective for your audience by researching their needs.
Audiences will be interested in learning more about a company and what they have to offer if top of the funnel content is successful. They will then proceed to the middle, or interest, stage of the marketing funnel, where they will want to know how the business can assist them.
Hopefully, the light at the end of the tunnel will be audiences who convert and purchase goods and services.