Are you endlessly posting on social media, spending on ads and nothing is working?

Selling online is hard. It can be difficult deciding where to spend your effort and money to improve sales. There are so many different areas to invest for marketing, you might be doing some of it already and not really doing some of the other parts. In this e-mail I am going to talk about a structured approach to marketing strategy called funnels. It is what I use to create clarity and deciding where and how to spend my time when I work on different areas of my business to create interest and nurture leads and close sales. 

The anatomy of a basic marketing funnel

What's a marketing funnel, you ask? It's the path your potential customers follow from first discovering you to eventually making a purchase. In simpler terms, it's how you convert random internet users into paying customers. Understanding a marketing funnel offers two major benefits:

1. It allows you to plan your efforts more effectively, identifying the content or offers needed at each stage.
2. It ensures a seamless experience for your followers, with no more random content—everything serves a specific purpose.

By visualizing your entire funnel, you'll avoid missing important steps.

1. Awareness - People first discover you exist

2. Interest - You've piqued interest of the right people

3. Consideration - You're building a deeper relationship

4. Intent - People begin to believe you can solve their problem.

5. Evaluation - Where you address objections and make it easy for the right people to buy from you.

Alright — let's break down each stage of this journey.

Awareness

Awareness is the very top of your funnel. It's that point in time where people first discover you exist, and it often happens on social media.

Think of this as the "Hello" stage of your relationship with your potential customers. And your goal here is really simple: provide value and show off your expertise.

Your social content or blog posts— all of these serve to introduce you to the right people.

Try not to sell anything yet. Just focus on being helpful.
 

Interest

Once people know about you, the next step is to spark their curiosity. This is your chance to move from "Hey, I'm here" to "Hey, want to learn more?"

This is when they want to dig deeper and learn a little more about your business and what you offer. The next logical place they will visit is your website. Your website will make or break that initial interest quite quickly.
 

In the initial few seconds that a visitor spends on your website, they are forming a fast opinion about your business. Here are some quick stats about what they are actually doing:

1. 48% of website visitors decide the credibility of your business based on your webs design.

2. 50% decide whether to do business with a company based on their opinion of the company's website.

3. 61% of website users will leave a website within 5 seconds if they don’t find what they’re looking for.

This stage is important for creating a great impression, holding their attention and providing sufficient information to take action.

Consideration

Once we’re past the hump of website judgment. A visitor will evaluate your content and offering more closely and they are in a consideration phase.

They may want more engagement with you before deciding to buy. This is the time to invite them to your e-mail list to communicate more deeply with them.

E-mail is a much more intimate and effective with way of communicating with your audience than social media. 

After someone joins your email list, it's important to strengthen your connection with them. Many people miss the mark here by either jumping straight into selling or not reaching out at all.  Instead, concentrate on consistently offering value to foster trust.

One great way to do that is an email nurture sequence.

Here are some helpful basics that your nurture sequence should have:

• Your personal story and why you do what you do

• Case studies or success stories from clients

• Deep, in-depth content that shows off your expertise

• Answers to common challenges or questions in your niche

You're not just sharing information here — you're officially building a relationship.

Intent

After awhile, you’ll have lots of different readers on your list.

Some will drop off because they weren’t really interested, others will figure out you’re not actually the expert they were looking for (that’s ok!), and some will start to seriously consider buying from you.

The last group has started to trust you, they see you as an expert, and they're thinking, "This person might be exactly the right person to help me."

This is where you start to introduce your paid offerings.

BUT — you want to do it in a way that's focused on the customer's needs.

Evaluation

Your potential customer is considering their options. While they're interested, they might have a few hesitations. Your role is to make their decision as easy as possible.

Here's how your offer page can help:

• Provide detailed FAQs to address common concerns and objections.

• Include comparison charts if you have multiple pricing or package options.

• Offer a clear money-back guarantee to minimize perceived risk (optional).

The aim is to tackle objections before they arise, removing any barriers that might stop someone from buying. By doing this, you're more likely to gain some customers.

What's next?

Now that you understand the stages of a marketing funnel, it’s time to start building your bridge from “Hello World” to “Buy Now.”  

Remember, the most critical stage is your website. That possibility to even nurture a relationship with a potential customer will stop at the interest stage if your website just isn’t up to standards.

Finally this is a good time to review your marketing funnel and your website for your 2025 business goals.