Marketing is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of any business. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to attract new customers and, as a result, your business would fail.
The most effective way of attracting new customers is by leading them to your website. However, not everyone who comes to your website will automatically become a buyer.
The best way to turn a regular website visitor into a customer is by applying a high-conversion sales funnel. As a result, you will also be able to improve outbound sales and inbound sales.
But what exactly are a B2B sales funnel and which steps can you take to build one that will work as you planned?
What is a sales funnel?
The name ‘sales funnel’ comes from the shape it takes. The strategy that is meant to turn a prospect into a customer, when presented in a diagram form, looks exactly like a funnel.
The highest category at the top of the funnel shows your potential customers, while the lowest shows the prospects you managed to turn into buyers. As you convert these prospects, each stage is narrower than the previous one and they all have an impact on customer behavior.
If you want to create a successful funnel that will have a high conversion rate, there are some steps you need to take.
Create buyer personas
After you’ve gathered data from your existing customers through market research, you will have the model of your ideal customer. This model is also known as a buyer persona and it relies on a lot of different details.
Things such as your customers’ needs and what will encourage them to purchase your products are crucial when you’re forming buyer personas. Once you’ve completed this task, you will be able to create the perfect sales funnel that will meet all of your customers’ needs and wishes.
Generate traffic
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As a business owner, you won’t be able to make sales if people aren’t aware of your presence. People need to be aware that your business exists. And the best way to do this is to generate traffic to your website.
Some of the most efficient ways of attracting people to your website are:
- SEO. Search engine optimization is the most important part of generating traffic, as it ensures your website will have a high-ranking position on Google.
- PPC campaigns. Short for pay-per-click, PPC campaigns drive traffic to websites.
- Guest posting. With guest blogging, you increase the authority and credibility of your brand.
- Social media marketing. By building relationships with your prospects on social media, over time you can invite them to visit your website. It also helps to have links leading to your website on every social media profile you have.
All of these strategies are vital if you want to draw attention to your website and your products or services. If you’ve taken all of the necessary measures, you’re ready to move on to the next step.
Engage your audience
The previous steps won’t be beneficial unless the website is engaging enough to keep your audience’s attention. The primary purpose of your website is to inform your prospects about the business, as well as the products and services you offer. If you are serious about growing your business, audience engagement is key.
Some strategies for audience engagement include:
- Writing high-quality blog posts in which you will answer your audience’s questions in more detail.
- Making informative and engaging videos that will capture your audience’s attention.
- Asking for reviews or tutorials from influencers in exchange for free products.
Another step you could take is seeking professional help from a company that specializes in converting digital funnels such as Convincely.
However, when it comes to creating sales funnels, your website is only one part of your marketing strategy. You should also focus on a variety of strategies that will help draw new customers in.
Read on to see examples of other marketing methods that will help you build a sales funnel.
Email marketing
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Email marketing is one of the most efficient marketing strategies. If you use it right, it can help you build a fantastic B2B sales funnel. Provide your leads with amazing content that could benefit them and slowly take them from the top of your funnel all the way down.
An email marketing funnel is a sequence of emails sent to prospects. The first step would be to build your email list. Then, with the help of the segmentation, figure out the type of emails that will work best for your specific audience segments.
The next step would be to send targeted and well-timed emails to your subscribers which will pique their interest as well as build trust towards your company.
Make sure to educate your leads, but also nurture them while they’re in your email marketing funnel. Send welcome emails, special discounts, and coupons to show that you care about them and their businesses. When they finally reach the end of your email marketing campaign, make an incredible offer that will inspire your leads to act on it.
With the implementation of carefully-chosen email marketing strategies, you can bring your leads to the bottom of the funnel and turn them into loyal customers.
While this might seem like a daunting task at first, it doesn’t have to be. If you use email marketing software, you can have an amazing email marketing funnel without too much effort.
Use LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for generating leads and B2B marketing in general. It allows you to build a relationship with your clients and ensure their trust in your company. Here, you can have one-on-one conversations with your leads and slowly turn them into clients.
The steps you can take to generate leads for your sales funnel on LinkedIn are:
- Connect directly with prospects. One of the biggest advantages of LinkedIn is that it allows you to connect directly with clients. You can do this by sending them messages. If you want to connect with a large number of people, you can use LinkedIn bulk messaging.
- Send valuable content to your prospects. If you want to stay in touch with your prospects, make sure to send them content they would find interesting or valuable. This will ensure you’re always on their radar while also building your credibility.
- Expand your network. The best way to do this is by joining a LinkedIn group. If you’re in the same group as your prospects, you will be able to send them free messages and directly connect with them. Just keep in mind that you can join up to 100 groups.
The last step – conversion
After you’ve gone through all of these steps and successfully guided your prospects to the bottom of your funnel, it’s finally time for the last step – conversion.
At this stage, your prospects and website visitors finally become customers.
However, the fact they’ve come as far as this doesn’t mean they’re ready to take the final plunge. You need to guide them through this as well. Since this is the final step, it’s important to make it as simple as possible.
Since the entire process has been long enough, nobody wants to spend too much time here. Some marketers make the mistake of making the purchase process longer than it should be, but don’t allow yourself to do the same.
Some of the ways you can make this process simpler are:
- Minimize the number of form fields.
- Reduce the number of steps needed for purchase.
- Add one-click options for signing in and signing up.
- Include multiple payment options.
