Nov 7, 2022
The Customer For Life (CFL) Trust Content Marketing Funnel
In the last couple of posts, I covered the research behind why your content marketing may be stuck, including 3 reasons why the traditional marketing funnel is broken.
The shortcut to attracting new customers, and keeping existing ones happy, is trust. We also know that emotions matter and we should be seeding loyalty with shared values early and often.
Let’s look at a new version of the content marketing funnel designed to attract, engage and create customers for life.
The Customer For Life (CFL) Trust Content Marketing Funnel
What does a marketing funnel tell us? It reflects the stages of building a relationship. Our job is to deliver content that builds that relationship.
What builds relationships? Shared values to spark emotion. Consistency, familiarity, and trust. Below is the CFL content marketing funnel to convert your audience by building trust.
Phase 1 — Attract Emotion with Shared Values
Attract with shared values because people are emotional about their values. David Allison’s work with Valuegraphics is an excellent resource; you’ll see a bit more about it in Part 3.
Phase 2 — Engage, Build Trust and Teach
Engage, build trust and teach with values (emotional) content, sprinkling in some learning content and information. For some brands, the balance of content will skew toward information and teaching, yet they also must deliver content that speaks to the audience’s whole brain.
People are not robots or the sum of their web browsing cookies. They often process information and emotion simultaneously. To increase engagement and retention, create inviting experiences and hubs to learn more while still engaging emotions and values.
Phase 3 — Prime the Sale and Build Trust.
This is where your customer journey work really comes in handy. Let people know you understand “where they are at” with content personalized to their stage of the journey.
People want brands to be radically transparent and authentic. Beware of exaggerating for effect and be sure you can back up what you are saying.
Provide social proof by highlighting your best projects, clients, case studies, and testimonies. Talk up warranties, customer support, and guarantees. Make it crystal clear what happens after the sale.
Phase 4 — Convert
Convert or ask for sale as a mutual commitment. Be crystal clear as to what they can expect from you next. Let them know you are in this for the long haul.
Phase 5 — Seal the Deal During the Honeymoon
DOUBLE DOWN on your new CFL’s first experience with your product or service. Prove you are trustworthy — be clear, present, and available for them. What is their unboxing or onboarding experience?
Do you follow up in a personalized way during the first week of a service? Would access to a community be helpful to them?
Now that you’ve seen the funnel, you can check out 3 strategies to use trust to turbocharge your content in this post.
Thanks for reading!
This is an excerpt from my complete Customer for Life (CFL) Trust Content Marketing Report. If you would like to access a copy of the whole report, which cites additional resources and tips, you can do so here.
