By Dannii Robyn

Middle of funnel marketing has pillars? Who knew? Well, we call them “pillars” but another term could be checkpoints. Basically, what’s important to consider when sorting your MOF marketing (let’s be honest, calling them pillars of the MOF powerhouse is way cooler).

First of all, let’s sum up middle of funnel marketing. It’s all about turning interest into engagement through ‘nurturing’ a customer that is snooping around your website or app. But what are the pillars? The fine art of MOF marketing deserves its due respect so let’s dive in logically, one at a time – see you’re already thinking like a MOF master. It’s all about logic.

We Like To Plan

It’s oh-so-tempting to start with the shiny, fancy tech. That’s a really common mistake in middle of funnel marketing. So pillar number 1 is strategy – always start here. When planning your communications there are a few elements you need to consider… 

• Personas –  who are your audience? Personas are fictional characters based on who your audience could be. This exercise involves putting people into boxes, essentially stereotyping them. No, we don’t like doing this either in everyday life but as a marketing strategy it can really help! 
• Behaviours –  we love a bit of psychology in MOF marketing, so think about what you want your customer to do and how to get there. Consider why they have downloaded/purchased, what are they doing with the product, and align this with your aims. 
• Value – so now we’re thinking about our aims, let’s make sure they provide value to the customer. Here are some middle of funnel goals that could add value for your customer:
  • Onboarding – introduce your brand, tell your story, and explain the benefits.
  • Engagement – offer the customer something that will benefit them.
  • Retention –  when you have their interest, keep them involved.
  • Education – what can we say, learning has value! People like to learn!
  • Referral – ask for a review or suggest referring a friend.
  • Upsell – this is all about getting your customer to commit more time to you! This could be a repeat purchase or even a loyalty card/points scheme

It’s time to get planning! We call it event mapping, which is basically putting a customer journey in place.
If you’ve followed this step, congratulations – you now have a purpose. This is awesome because without a purpose you benefit no one.

With a strong strategy in place, we can now find the tools we need to do the job. Have you guessed how we’re filling the gaps? It’s the other two pillars…

Time For Tools

We love amazing tech at Favoured, but we don’t just shoehorn our favourites into our clients’ comms. All decisions should be based on the needs of your individual business and be in line with your strategy. However, we do have a few broad categories of tech you should look into…

• Email marketing tools 
• CRM tools (sneaky tip; HubSpot does both email marketing and CRM)! 
• Push/in-app notification tools
• Web tools or plugins
• Analytics tools (we are loving Mixpanel as it can also be used as a product development tool. It’s awesome at identifying trends)

Strategy – we got this. Tools – you’re good to go! What could be next?

The Fun Bit

Congrats – you made it this far! It’s time for the final pillar… creatives. Take a look at your strategy and design your creatives to suit. You’re a clever bean though, you know by now that you need to take certain things into consideration…

First up; be real. Authenticity is so important if you want to make a connection with your audience. This is all about communicating your personality and what you stand for. If you show you’re not just the usual corporate business (whilst staying professional and an expert in your field), you’ll build trust and a real relationship with your customer. 

Validation is also key! Make sure in your creatives you show real people, benefits and results. Sorry to break it to you but “Award-winning” without context means nothing. 

We’ve said it once, we’ll say it again – you need to have value. Do not send anything without value, it will not connect. This includes email, push notifications, ads – any comms from your brand. You may even cause frustration, which could negatively impact your relationship with the customer. We do have a handy little test to make sure you’re doing this called the “Grunt Test”. All you need to do is answer these three questions…

• Who are we?
• What do we do?
• How can we help you?

Many people miss the last question but this is the best way to make sure you’re adding value to a customer journey. Be as selfless as possible and your customers will love you for it.

You ready?

Alright, you are now a middle of funnel marketing mastermind. Go forth and communicate effectively with customers. You’ve got this! 

Still feeling a little apprehensive? We’re here for you. Many agencies only focus on singular pillars for middle of funnel marketing, but at Favoured we cover all bases. But not only do we cover them, we have experts in each! We would love to chat with you and see how we can help transform your MOF marketing.