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1 Minute Advice: Revisiting the Marketing Funnel

The marketing funnel is a concept that has been around for decades. It is based on the theory that a prospective customer needs to be cultivated from the top of the funnel to the bottom, with the most qualified prospects "dropping out" at the end of the funnel. Generally, it was believed that a fairly linear process was involved in pushing prospects down through the funnel.

Today, however, the marketing game has changed considerably. Now marketing experts think more in terms of a "customer journey" which involves various touchpoints along the way that can be more random and create a non-linear path. MECLABS Institute, the parent organization of MarketingSherpa, revisits the marketing funnel with an emphasis on a more contemporary perspective. Senior Director of Editorial Content Daniel Burstein suggests turning the funnel upside down. He writes, "It’s an effort to move your customers along this path, and that effort must be powered by a value proposition that propels your customers up through the funnel. ...This process often isn’t linear, and you may discover that your product(s) essentially has many funnels, based on different buyer types (e.g., influencer vs. decision maker or healthcare industry customer vs. publishing industry customer)."

Read more about the idea of an inverted marketing funnel in this excellent analysis: https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/website-and-landing-page-design/marketing-101-funnel-creation/

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1 Minute Advice: The Role of Value and Emotion in Marketing

How can some brands charge premium prices that customers are willing to pay? The answer has a lot to do with two factors: Value and Emotion.

Speaking at the Wharton Customer Analytics Conference, Ridhima Raina, a customer strategy and marketing consultant with Bain & Company, said Bain has identified 30 "Elements of Value." According to the Wharton Schools Knowledge@Wharton newsletter, these elements are "fundamental attributes in their most essential and discrete forms across four categories: functional, emotional, life changing, and social impact.  The [Bain] research has shown that delivering on more elements leads to a higher net promoter score (NPS), a measure of customer experience, and drives revenue growth."

Raina's colleague, senior analyst Ilker Carikcioglu, discussed the key role emotion plays in attracting customers to products and creating loyalty. Bain research suggests that "emotional elements are twice as powerful as functional elements in predicting NPS, so companies should think about how they can focus on those factors." Knowledge@Wharton reported that Carikcioglu indicated "according to consumer behavior and behavioral economics studies, human beings are fundamentally 'irrational, emotional and impulsive.' That doesn’t promise to change anytime soon, he said, so we can assume the emotional appeal of products and services will continue to be a potent selling tool."

 This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.