Marketing Archives - Ava Carmichael

How to Create a Sales Funnel (For Beginners)

Digital marketing and lead generation isn’t exactly rocket science, but it needs to be data-driven and strategic. Lead magnets and sales funnels are pretty essential these days for any business—online or not.

If you want to create a successful marketing campaign or attract your customers, it helps to create a sales funnel.

What is a sales funnel?

A “Sales Funnel” is essentially a series of steps or the flow of the sales and lead generation process. It usually starts with an offer, valuable information, a giveaway or anything that attracts your target audience to your service, product or business.

For example, the food sampler at your grocery store is a type of live-action sales funnel. She attracts you with a yummy food enticement and you pay attention. You sample the food, maybe you’ll buy, maybe you won’t. But when you’ve entered her area to sample, you have basically entered phase 1 of a sales funnel, and the food sample is a “Lead Magnet.”

What happens next depends on how well she nurtures you, engages with you, or how much you like (or think you need) that breakfast sausage.

Creating a sales funnel online is an essential element in your digital marketing campaigns. Without it, you are likely missing out on reaching targeted customers and leads.

How to Create a Sales Funnel?

Step #1: Create your Lead Magnet. Depending on what you do, offer, or sell will determine your lead magnet. If you make products, a free sample is usually a good start. If you sell info, a free PDF download of valuable info is a good lead magnet. If you offer a service, a free estimate or evaluation is good. No matter what you give away, however, the most important aspect of your lead magnet (especially online) is gathering that potential customers’ email address. Without it, you are just giving away freebies with no real way to touch back or nurture those leads (potential customers) again. So make sure you are getting something in return when creating your lead magnet. Which brings me to step #2 of your sales funnel:

Step #2: Create an Opt-in Landing Page. For anyone who isn’t sure, an opt-in basically is that all-too-familiar page that kindly asks for our email address before letting us in, downloading, sending a free sample, taking advantage of a discount, etc. In any successful sales funnel, the opt-in landing page is crucial for your sales funnel. In order for your tempting lead magnet to convert, you need a landing page that gathers customers’ details.

Your opt-in landing page should address the following:

It should explain your lead magnet. What is it? What’s the value?
It should include why your prospective customers should request it, download it, etc. What they’ll learn, what they get, how it will improve their situation.
Your copy should be well-written and focused on advertising the RESULTS and benefits of the download, info, product or service they are getting.
Don’t ask for too many details if you can. You really need a first name and email address to reconnect. Too many steps or too much requested info may scare your potential customer away.
Use data or testimonials! Add credibility to your offer. Examples: “10,000 downloads can’t be wrong!” “Loved by over 1,000 women” “Featured in big-time Magazine” “Rated #1 by so and so.” (You get the idea. Just make sure the data, testimonials, PR and claims are REAL!)
Create an easy to read bullet list of all the benefits of your lead magnet
Including the problems it solves or how it improves their life or processes
Make your download button big, use a bright color (Red or Orange), and easy to find.

Once you have your lead magnet and an opt-in landing page (with minimal steps!), you’re ready to create your follow up emails.

Step #3 Create your E-mail Follow-ups Also known as drip emails or email campaigns. I have written another post on creating an easy email sequence if you need even more details. I recommend creating 3-4 follow up email sequences. This is where you nurture your customers. Remember the nice lady at the grocery store offering free samples? This is where you get to make a more lasting impression and create a personal touch with your potential clients. Your first email is engaging. Tell a story, offer even more free value, ideas or even another download. The second email creates authority and trust in your product or service and your third email hones in on a call to action (or your ask).

Step #4 Create a Service landing page with CTA. This will be your redirect page after they opt-in. This service page highlights or outlines your products or services with a clear CTA Call to Action such as Contact Us, Visit Us or Schedule an Appointment form).

Include more value proposition of your product/service as well as client testimonials on this page; what makes you better or different. Provide reviews (also known as social proof). If you don’t have social proof online just yet, ask some previous clients to write you a testimonial. There is no need to be too wordy. Bullet points are great and easy to read. But don’t forget: Client testimonials are key!

Step #5 Set up Data Insights and Track Conversions. You MUST know the data and stats behind your funnel system. How else will you know if it’s working?? You have to plug into Google Analytics and use insight tools to determine who is landing on your page, how they got there and what they do after they get there. Tracking can be set up in your Google Analytics account. Here you can set up conversion tracking and understand your visitor and customer behaviors better.

Step #6 Amp up your traffic game! At this stage, you have set the foundation of your funnel system. Now it’s time to get that traffic count up. We do this will PPC (Pay per Click) ads through Google Ads, Bing Ads or Facebook Ads, for example. You can choose to send your customers directly to your opt-in landing page or the Service page with CTA. Where you send the clicks will depend on your ad campaign search terms and the leads. Warm leads already looking for what you have to offer can be directed to the Service page while colder leads can be directed to the lead magnet.

I have even seen companies go a traditional route and send postal mailers out with a CTA to a website, so if you want to reach your target audience through a postcard, having that landing page online where they can opt-in, learn more or contact you can still be a winning combination. This works great for free giveaways!

Don’t forget (or be afraid) to try A/B testing with different ad campaigns and creatives to see what converts the best. The next weeks and months ahead will need to be monitored and adjusted accordingly to avoid overspending on ads that aren’t converting. If you see a lot of people landing but they just aren’t opting in or contacting you, you’ll need to figure out why.

I have written another article on what makes a customer buy. If you hop over there, it’ll offer useful insight into consumer buying behaviors.

What is Intentional Marketing?

What does Intentional Marketing mean, and how should you be doing it??
Well, intentional marketing is a lot like great branding. Intentional marketing embraces the highest level essence of your brand and continues to offer value for its customers at every turn. It’s like a 4-star resort where no details have been spared. Always.

To be intentional in your marketing strategy means this:

You’re very in touch with your brand and company mission
You’re very in tune with your customer’s wants and needs
You consider the needs of potential customers
Everything you do and say has a purpose and leaves a lasting impression. (Even in the business cards you use or product packaging)
You see outcomes, strategies, and foresight in all of your marketing efforts
You aren’t lazy in your efforts and you’re always thinking of ways to woo your clients (your office is 100%, your website is 100%, the experience is 100%, marketing materials are 100%, etc)
You believe in details, quality and always strive to be above average and consistent with these aspects.

Examples of Companies Who Use Intentional Marketing

Apple, Disney, Nike, Tiffany & Co., Whole Foods Market are all great examples of companies who are great with intentional marketing.

Have you ever stayed at a Four Seasons Resort or visited Disneyland park or even purchased an Apple product? Everything that you experience from beginning to end with each one of those companies uses intentional marketing.

How do you Deploy Intentional Marketing Tactics?

Plan ahead. Always be planning ahead with your marketing strategies and goals. Plan every move precisely and with a clear vision of the outcome you’re seeking and execute that plan with your best tactics.
Understand the scope, objectives, and goals you need to reach. Plan according to who you intend to reach and how you plan to reach them. Depending on how wide or narrow your target audience is will determine how much money needs to be budgeted to execute properly, and far in advance you’ll need to plan.
Make sure you and everyone on your team clearly understand your target customers like they know their own friends. In my Branding Course, I teach ways to get to know your target customer like a personal friend. Learn her, know her and make her happy. Create all of your copy, creative around this special target customer. Stop trying to speak to everyone.
Use a project management tool like Trello, Asana or Slack. Keep your team and tasks tight! Stay on track and with the schedule.
Again, there is no such thing as over-planning. Rushing to market with a half-ass/half-executed marketing plan = wasted time, wasted efforts and wasted dollars $$$$$.
Once launched, measure results. If there is time and room to make improvements or adjustments, do it.
Once the marketing efforts are complete, measure again. Read the results and analytics of each campaign and determine ROI.

Intentional marketing means having an eye for detail, knowing what you want to accomplish, knowing your audience and brand and having the patience, capital and tenacity to stick with it and follow through with tight execution.

How To Capture High Value eMail Leads

Here’s how to effectively capture targeted leads, take the grind out of sending daily emails and let automation work it’s magic for you! ⚡️

Say good-bye to weekly newsletters; no heavy lifting in moving email Segments and Groups over to specific email lists, etc. This process will capture emails, segment subscribers and keep your customers connected while you do other important tasks for your business..like making money!

A simple automation flow like this one will take an hour or less to set up and the ROI is priceless in the long term!

Here are the Steps to Capture Leads

STEP 1: Choose your MVP (MOST VALUABLE PIECE OF CONTENT)

Find out which blog post, class, webinar, content, free download, landing page, video, etc. garner the most traffic. You can usually figure this out by the comments, shares or through the dashboard on your Google Analytics.

Once you decide which piece of content is your highest ranking, you’ll want to add an *opt-in on this page to gather emails. This method is way better than a generic “sign up for my newsletter” message.

*Opt-in is an inbound marketing approach whereby a marketer solicits a potential customer’s permission to send them promotional and other types of content about a brand. It is also known as permission marketing and can be single opt-in or double opt-in.

STEP 2. Capture the Emails

Once you’ve established the golden ticket content that gets visitors to give you their email in exchange for that valuable info, it’s time to give them the opportunity to make the exchange by plugging in a great pop-up lead capture form. Try Constant Contact, MailChimp or Welcome Mat from Sumo (which is super easy to use and install on your website in less than 3 minutes. Also integrates with MailChimp).

PRO TIP: Don’t bother your guests with a pop-up that may interfere with the article they’re reading. Make sure you ask for the subscribe more towards the end of the content to avoid the interruption or use a pop-up when your guest signals ‘exit-intent.’

STEP 3. Focus in on your Warm Leads (aka High-Value) Visitors

Who are high-value visitors? People who are ready to pay you for your expertise! Maybe they added an item to their shopping cart but then ditched the cart. People checking out your classes or pages that are focused on what you offer are also your high-value leads.

Group these high value or warm leads into ‘Segments’ that you’ll create in your email lists such as Sumo or MailChimp. You don’t want to spam or harass them, but grouping these segments allows you to tailor your marketing to reach them later, also known as re-marketing.

How to Build a High-Value Lead Segment

Give people samples, free trials, free downloads to demo or try out. Keep in touch, continue to send more value to their inbox. If you need help with creating a welcome sequence, I have written an article about it here.

If your product is valuable, a good portion of your leads will come back to purchase.

Tips to Building a High Value Email List Segment:

Offer a 10-15% off coupon before your visitor leaves in exchange for their email address
Create a compelling sign-up page and CTA (Call to Action) for your free premium content
Repeat Steps 1 and 2 on your second highest ranked content

‘To Do’ List Summary:

Find your most valuable piece(s) of content
Use this content to grow your email list
Create the high-value segment and collected their emails

STEP 4. Creating Email Sequences

The next valuable step is creating a great welcome email sequence! This is an email that will be sent automatically and immediately after they hit the subscribe button.

I use MailChimp for my email marketing, which is very easy to use, affordable and includes tons of integrations.

PRO TIP: Almost every paid email service provider offers automation options (i.e Constant Contact). Based on what we did in steps 2 and 3, we have two segments that correspond to two lists:

General visitors who subscribe through your main pop-up get added to a ‘Main Email List.’
Your high-value segment Subscribers who drop off close to purchase get added to a ‘drop-off’ or ‘retarget’ list.

Once you have that list established, you’ll set up a trigger email sequence when a new subscriber gets added to your “Main list” and set your first email in the sequence to go out immediately after the trigger to deliver the promised content/download/freebie, etc.

Here’s how to set it up on MailChimp:

Go to:
MailChimp Account > top navigation bar > Automation > select “Create Automation Workflow” (this is what email sequences are called in MailChimp)

Next, select the list for which you want to create an automation workflow (main or drop off).

Choose the type of workflow you want to create. To start fresh with a new automation, use ‘Custom’

Name your workflow, set up the email name and “from”. (Check the boxes to track the emails so you know who opens and if it’s working or not)

Configure the Trigger: (the signal MailChimp needs to include the subscriber into your automated workflow). Choose: “Subscriber joins list” from the drop-down menu, and Next.

Now add your first email! The default delay is 1 day, make sure you change that to Immediately if you want the email response with download or freebie to send as soon as subscriber joins.

It’s time to design your emails! (The fun part for you creatives). Hit the “Design email,” button and write a grabby subject about the awesome content they’re getting. Include all pertinent info in the email such as a quick thank you and a link to download the freebie. (You can add that PDF or downloadable content in MailChimp).

Last step: Configure scheduling! Set scheduling to ‘Every Day’ unless you have other ideas for when you want to send this automation.

Now that you’ve delivered valuable content in exchange for their trust (and email), it’s time to nurture those contacts and leads with a continuation of high value content with an email sequence.

To create an email sequence, head over to my article here to read the best practices as well as some free email templates to download!

How to Create a Sales Funnel (For Beginners)﻿