This week we are really starting to get into the nuts and bolts of running an online digital business that is truly scalable, and I am so excited to get into it with you!

While there are so many things around thinking like an Integrator that I want to share with you, I love talking about Integration through the eyes of a digital product business.

The majority of the clients that we serve run digital businesses and it’s very much our niche within the industry. So I love, love, LOVE talking about content like this!!

We’re going to be talking all about creating a marketing funnel. I’m going to share what a marketing funnel is and all of the steps throughout a marketing funnel.

Today, I also have a freebie for you that is very specific for this topic and it’s worksheet style. I’m going to be sharing some tips and tricks to use as you are working through the worksheet. I want this to be very, very practical so you can implement what all of this looks like in your brand. So let’s get to it!

WHAT IS A MARKETING FUNNEL?

So, this is something that sounds funny because the term marketing funnel is used everywhere.

Now, you have probably heard the word funnel. And marketing is the lifeblood of all businesses everywhere, whether you’re a digital product creator or a service provider.

So realistically, you already have a marketing funnel or marketing funnels in place.

But it’s kind of like when we talked about the operating system where it might sound like a big, scary business word. But you’ve done it before and you’ve probably been doing it in your business for a while!

But I think it’s helpful, even for those of you that might have several marketing funnels, maybe several wildly successful marketing funnels, to kind of take it back to the basics, so to speak, and really break down the various entry points and strategies in each area of the marketing funnel, so that you can make sure you’re being as strategic as possible as you’re continuing to grow and scale.

Here at the KS Agency, we specifically work with Visionaries who are creating, growing and scaling digital products. In a nutshell, it means that we are SO immersed in their marketing funnels.

As I said, marketing is the lifeblood for your business. It’s how people find you. It’s all the different things that you do to grow brand awareness and work to convert leads to clients or customers.

And at the KS Agency, we are working on the top of funnel content: free resources, social media content, things like that. We’re also working inside of the funnel with nurture campaigns, and evergreen funnels, live launches, and then all the way down to the very bottom of the marketing funnel, which would be the paid offer.

So I share that because I know marketing funnels like the back of my hand!!

And yes, there are different strategies and things that you can implement within your marketing funnel, but at the end of the day, there is also just a basic marketing funnel so you can start from scratch with this or you can audit your existing funnels, too!

A VISUAL OF A MARKETING FUNNEL

A funnel is just like what it sounds like – if you were to close your eyes and picture a funnel, what would you see?

Remove the word marketing from it and think about: what is a funnel? What is a funnel used for? What does it look like?

And now I have a little visual hack for you. (This is really simple, you guys!! But once we talk about it you’re going to be like )

I want you to picture an upside down triangle. That, my friends, is a marketing funnel in its simplest form.

The widest part of the triangle is now the top of your triangle, because you flipped your triangle upside down. That represents the entry point for all of your potential customers.

And then the pointy end, at the very bottom, represents your product.

You want as many people as possible to see your brand, to be aware of your freebies, and to enter into your funnel!! The ultimate goal of your marketing funnel is to convert them into a buyer of your product.

They’re at the top, they’re entering in, and they’re slowly funneling down all the way to the very bottom, where they would then convert into a student and/or customer, depending on what that product is.

4 STAGES OF THE MARKETING FUNNEL

So let’s break down the four stages of the marketing funnel.

Stage 1. The Awareness Stage

At the very top, the wide entry point that is called the Awareness Stage. This is where you cast a very wide net. You want to attract a lot of people because you are repelling, and attracting, and they are not totally bought in. They don’t know you yet, they don’t know what you have to offer. They are just now hearing about you, your expertise, what you have to offer, what you have to say, and the ways that you can help them.

Think of this as the gathering area where people first hear about your product.

What does this actually look like for you? This could be social media, SEO, YouTube, podcast, anything organic, and anything that you are putting time and effort into on any of those marketing channels. (Paid ads are also a part of the Awareness Stage, because you’re still attracting a wide group of people!)

With this section of the funnel, it is incredibly important to know where your people are so that you can be there, too.

There are a lot of different options for this top of funnel, and this is where I see a lot of business owners spread themselves too thin. (Trust me, ‘ve done it too!!)

There are SO many options and different places to market, and none of them are bad, but you need to find out where your people are and start SMALL.

I do not want you to leave today and all of a sudden create a strategy where you’re gonna start posting on 6 or 7 different social media or marketing platforms, because that is not sustainable.

I want you to think, where are my people? If you look at where your current leads are coming from, where are they coming from?

For me personally, I know my top 3 are from SEO – getting inquiries from Google searches, which is amazing, the podcast, and our Instagram. I could branch out but I don’t want to spread myself too thin. I want to make sure that I can go deep and be very, very intentional in the places where I am focusing on.

So that is my biggest piece of advice. When you are thinking about your own awareness stage, think through where are people finding you, and then where do you want to be?

How can you create a very intentional strategic strategy in 3, at least just pick 3 places, for the Awareness Stage, and as you grow in those, as you become stronger, as they optimize, as your team becomes more efficient, then you can add on additional places to be.

Stage 2. The Consumer Stage

After the Awareness Stage, the next part of your funnel is the Consumer Stage.

This is where things are starting to narrow down, but they’re not quite ready yet to purchase. This is where people are getting to know you, and they’re starting to consider everything that you have to offer.

This is where my teaching on this differentiates from some others in our industry. I actually consider a consumer stage where they haven’t even given you their email yet.

In my mind, they’re still not ready. This stage could last a day, it could last an hour, it could last 6 months. We don’t know how long somebody is going to hang out at the Consumer Stage, but essentially, the Consumer Stage is where they haven’t given you one thing yet.

They don’t trust you enough to give you their email, they don’t trust you enough to purchase a product, and it’s all about them. They want to consume. They are taking everything that you have to give and ultimately deciding: Do I want to be here? Do I have a seat at this table? Is this where I feel like I can learn? Do I trust this educator enough to give them my credit card number to give them my email address?

They are still deciding. Are they being indoctrinated into your brand while they’re deciding? Yes, absolutely, and you’re still repelling and attracting in this process, and that’s good. That’s what you want.

This is where that like finding your niche mentality comes into play. You can really start to own your brand voice more, you can own all of the messaging that you want when it comes to the content that you have to give, because you know that your ideal customer is going to consume, consume, consume, consume, and then ultimately decide where they want to go from here.

Stage 3. The Explore Stage

If they want to continue down into your funnel, they’re then going to enter into what I call the Explore Stage. They’ve consumed, they’ve liked it, and now they are all in!

The action item for them at this stage is that they’ve signed up for your email list.

They are not just consuming and this is a huge, huge differentiation that we need to discuss!! Because in the Consumer Stage, again, they’ve given you nothing, not even their email, whereas in the Explorer stage, they have said they’re ready to put some skin in the game.

They’re all in. They want that freebie. They want that download. They will go ahead and grab the $19 product that you have to offer. They are exploring you more fully.

The reason that I think it’s so important to explain the difference between these two stages is I cannot tell you how many times a really incredible online business owner has come to me and said they want to launch a product and they have 50,000 people on their Instagram, or I have 10,000 people or 6,000 people that follow them on Instagram and then we get into their emails, and they have 200 (or even 500 or 1,000) people on their email list.

Are those still good email lists to start with? Absolutely!!

But I care about the email list more than I care about the Instagram followers. Instagram is the the Consumer Stage. Yes, maybe those people have started following you on Instagram, but you’re trying to fight an algorithm to be seen. They haven’t said they’re in, send them an email every wingle week when the podcast goes live, or give them details about what else you have to offer.

So when I’m thinking about a launch strategy for a client, I am not looking at Instagram as a good way to track conversion, because there are so many things that you, as a business owner, are up against when it comes to posting on Instagram.

What I am looking at is your email list, and even more fully, I’m looking at your open rates and your click through rates and how many people are joining your funnels on a daily and weekly basis.

That’s the biggest difference between the Consumer Stage and the Explorer Stage. They have skin in the game now.

Stage 4. The Action Stage

The very last step in the process is the Action Stage. This is where they are now taking action with whatever that bottom of funnel content is.

Is your bottom of funnel a $49 product, is your bottom of funnel a $500 product, is your bottom of funnel a $3,000 product? There are so many different things that it could be.

Your bottom of funnel is a paid offer, and this is the conversion. This is where they are grabbing your course, your membership, your shop product. It is not free.

They are paying to join and now they are moving from your funnel to a customer.

Now they have joined in with your brand, and the really, really cool thing is the bottom of a marketing funnel does not just have to stop there.

This is where a product suite, having complementary products that cater to the different needs and preferences of your customer, is so important! This is what’s so cool and scalable about a digital online business.

It all starts with one marketing funnel.

THINKING THROUGH YOUR MARKETING FUNNEL(S)

So I want you to think through:

-What are my top 3 awareness strategies?
-How can I them help my consumer get to know me more and get excited for my brand?
-What’s in the Explore stage for me? What are some free resources I can offer?
-What is at my bottom of funnel? What is my big action item that I want them to grab?

That’s your initial funnel! It’s simple!!

And then from there, you can move them to other funnels. When they buy one product, all of a sudden, you can say okay, come over here and grab this! Oh, okay, now maybe you want this!

You might have some customers that want this all encompassing signature course and you might have others that want quick grab plug and play templates.

Your product suite allows you to tailor make specific offers for your audience and then cross-promote them.

DON’T MAKE THIS HUGE MISTAKE

A huge mistake I personally made way back in maybe 2014 when I launched an online shop. I was educating wedding planners and those who wanted to leave their 9-5.

I had recently left my own 9-5, so I had put together some resources around gaining the confidence on selling your services to really be able to leave your 9-5.

I had a whole slew of ideas. (This was in my Visionary mode, before I realized I was an Integrator!!)

I launched an online shop with not 1, not 2, not 3 online products. I decided that I should launch a shop with 19 online products. I was insane. That is crazy pants for the very first time to come out the gate with 19 products!!

First of all, that was terrible marketing for me, because there was no way I could adequately market all 19 of those products. I didn’t even have a team. It was literally me, myself, and I. it was just a terrible idea.

It was also really bad because I wasn’t as strategic with my product suite. So I basically was just throwing spaghetti on the wall and I threw all 19 products out there. I didn’t think about starting with one, getting feedback, and then growing into other products. Or adding upsells or anything. I wasn’t testing my products or growing progressively in a way that made sense.

If I had just started with one product, and testing that product to allow me to strategically snowball in a great way where I was then adding another product and testing it, and then another, and another, that would have allowed my one marketing funnel to transform into an entire product suite.

So do not, I repeat, do not make my mistake!! Do not take all 19 of your product ideas and start there!!

Start with 1, maybe 3 products, max. Start small!!

I want you to have very clear funnels where people can go to and you can test if people like it. You can find out what resources they want so you can keep cross-promoting within the funnel.

THE POWER OF A MARKETING FUNNEL

The marketing funnel is all about getting somebody to say yes, I want to buy from you, so here’s my credit card. They believe your promises and they want you to help them.

You’ve essentially talked them into it by sharing on Instagram, by sending them weekly content by recording a podcast or YouTube video. They’re getting to know you and they like what you are putting out and they want more of it.

Something that is so beneficial for all of us to remember is that it’s actually easier to talk 1 customer into getting more products from you than having to go back to the top of funnel and convince somebody new to purchase, and that’s what a product suite does.

So start with 1. Convince people to get 1 product, and then start to see where else can you grow from there so that you can pitch them further.

Your products can be interconnected and your customers can seamlessly transition from one thing to the next.

You can use bumps, you can use upsells, you can re-pitch them 5 days later, 6 months later, the possibilities are endless.

As a Visionary, your brain is probably like thinking about all the ideas and the ways you can keep growing and pitching your products!! But I want to reiterate the importance of starting with one idea. Literally start with one.

The power of a marketing funnel is finding one that converts like crazy.

Get people throwing money your way. Get them so excited about what you have to offer and the benefits that they are seeing from your product and one marketing funnel and then grow from there.

CONCLUSION

So, your marketing funnel. How can you start one or audit what you have to create something that doesn’t have you running in a million directions and helps you launch, grow, and scale your digital business?

If you’re thinking of the marketing funnel like an upside down triangle, we’re going to stop at the top with the widest part of the triangle, and work our way down to the narrowest part. Here are the 4 stages that you’ll want to move your customers through.

1. The Awareness Stage. This is where you’re finding your people and they’re finding you.
2. The Consumer Stage. This is where they’re consuming from you without a commitment.
3. The Explore Stage. This is where they’re committing – they’re giving you their email or something else in exchange for what you’re giving them.
4. The Action Stage. This is where they’re all in! They’re purchasing your product, and you can begin to market them the rest of your product suite.

And remember, grab my free funnel diagram and start hashing out an existing funnel. What are all of the stages for you and what are things that maybe need to be tweaked? Or if you’ve never done a funnel before, download this freebie and start creating.

Let your ideas run rampant!! But harness them and have ONE killer marketing funnel that you can continue to grow from there.

I am so excited for y’all to dig into creating a marketing funnel and I cannot wait to hear all about it!!