Digital and the Traditional Marketing Funnel
Has that much really changed in how we need to approach our marketing campaigns? The channels and tools are no doubt new and varied, with the ability to reach people in innovative ways only increasing, but at their core we’re trying to do the same thing as we ever were.
There are many models of marketing that seek to explain consumer behaviour and how we as marketers can influence it. By definition, they are not looking to predict how every single person will act. They are hoping to explain complicated events and behaviours in a way that we can comprehend a little more easily.
One of the more ‘modern’ versions include Google’s Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT — sorry). This approach has spawned a chorus of books, conferences and courses seeking to help explain what it actually means. In essence it looks to show that consumers consider many more opinions than previously when thinking about a purchase and they do it later in the decision.
“We saw that people are increasingly making these decisions at the Zero Moment — the precise moment when they have a need, intent or question they want answered online. A brand that answers these questions at just the right time scores a double win.” — Google
The more traditional model which many marketers grew up working with is the ‘marketing funnel’. This looks to show a linear process where people move from awareness to consideration to a purchase to some level of loyalty (if you’re good / lucky) and hopefully repeat purchase.
Individuals can spend time at each ‘level’ and are likely to move back and forth between them. It’s called a funnel because it’s assumed you lose some people at each stage — because your product or service isn’t right for everyone.
To me, this doesn’t sound that different to Google’s ZMOT — just that the speed at which people move between states is increased and the amount of information they consider is greater than it used to be.
The more things change, the more they stay the same
This got me thinking — if the model hasn’t actually changed that much, then can we compare the channels that we use at each stage? This is what I came up with:
Here’s the logic behind each pairing:
Magazine Ads & Facebook Ads
Generate interest when people are browsing content that’s highly relevant to them. Facebook still seems to be the only digital channel where we as brands are able to ‘interrupt’ the experience at scale and benefit from it.
The Yellow Pages vs PPC Generic Ad
A generic PPC ad would be targeting someone searching for ‘Window cleaner in South East London’. It’s fairly self evident that this is an enormous opportunity for a window cleaner in South East London to grow their client base, hence why Google are able to charge a premium for placing an ad next to this kind of search. This is just the same reason that the Yellow Pages used to create hundreds of versions of its publication, specific to the areas it was distributed in — the more relevant they could be the more they could charge.
Out of home posters vs Display Banners
When banner ads first appeared on the web you could expect click through rates of 7–10%. Nowadays you’ll be lucky to see anything about 0.15%. Clearly the medium has moved on from being a response channel to an overall branding / consideration opportunity. That means that to make the most of the medium, we need to think in the same way we do with posters. The aim has to be to put forward our brand image, so that when an individual comes round to considering a product we are closer to the top of mind.
In store sales assistant vs PPC Brand Ad
By this point the customer has already declared a level of awareness and possible interest in you by walking into your shop or typing your name into Google. At this stage it’s down to you to sell what makes you better than the rest and if possible, up-sell them to a more profitable product.
Direct Mail Brochure vs Ask email
More likely than not you’ll have this customer’s information from a lead generation campaign or previous purchase history. At this stage it’s time to offer them specific information about products relevant to them as best you can.
Thank you letters vs Triggered emails
Your customer has just purchased — make sure you thank them and give them a receipt.
Call centers vs Twitter conversations
Here your customer has already purchased your product or service and you want to keep them as happy as possible, in order to increase the chance of repeat purchase and to make sure they advocate you to others.
News leaflets vs Facebook posts
At this stage you’re actively feeding information about you, your organisation and relevant topics to your existing customers. Again, this should help to increase the likelihood of them coming back to you and become an advocate.
Customer magazines vs eNewsletters
For those really high value and committed customers, you might even go to the effort and expense of creating a customised aggregation of content that brings them ever closer to your brand.
The point of all this for me, is to show anyone who is intimidated by digital channels that actually, all the skills, knowledge and understanding you have about your customers is just as relevant today as it ever has been. Yes, things happen quicker, but the tools we have at our disposal are faster than they were before.
The core needs that we are trying to meet are the same as they ever were and so the skills needed are also the same — whether that’s insight, understanding or creativity.
Big ideas will continue to win hearts and those brands that can make themselves stand out will continue to be successful, no matter what channel they’re doing it in.
