The Marketing Funnel updated (Reading Response 2)

In chapter 6 of Groundswell, Charlotte Li and Josh Bernoff describe how the social media age is transforming the so called Marketing Funnel, a long established marketing metaphor, used to describe how consumers "march down the path from awareness.... to loyalty".

 

 

According to Li and Bernoff, traditional methods of influencing customers, Advertising and Public Relations,  are aimed at the large end of the funnel. They characterize advertising as shouting which thrives on repetition and frequency. While Public Relations attempts to influence traditional media to write stories which are then picked up by other outlets.  These forms of marketing are still widely used. The authors cite a Pricewaterhouse Coopers analysis that estimates $400 Billion was spent on advertising in 2009.   However, these forms of  marketing have little influence on the middle stages of the funnel. The authors assert that social media provides companies rich opportunities and challenges to affect other stages of the funnel such as consideration, preference, action and loyalty. They offer an updated version of the marketing funnel which is driven from the bottom up rather than top down similar to the graphic below.

 

 

 

 

 

 In the middle of the funnel top down communications such as traditional advertising  and public relations  are counter productive. The company/customer relationship is redefined. Customers have more trust in friends and fellow customers than in company representatives. There is a word of mouth dynamic which increases the influence of "regular" people. Social Media Customers in the middle of the funnel seek information from blogs, forums, ratings and connections not broadcast media. The United Breaks Guitars video below is a good example of the peril a company runs by ignoring active "regular" people in the Groundswell. It also underlines the marketing maxim that your brand is what your customers say it is. The video is approaching 13 million views.

While the Blendtec Will it Blend video is an example of a company using the medium to engage and entertain. With it's hokey acting, cheesy set and 70's style music the company invites viewers to play along. Blendtec is entertaining and marketing in an interactive way.

The authors suggest methods to engage the redefined funnel and the necessary analysis which should take place before embarking on a campaign. Companies need to ask; What are my customers doing in the middle of the funnel? What is the most effective way to engage, interact, listen and talk to customers? They recommend;

• Use the Technographics profile to verify your customers are in social networks.

• Move forward if people love your brand.

• See what's out there.

• Create a presence that encourages interaction.

Once the analysis is complete companies can engage in a focused campaign. For instance;

Blendtec determined they had a awareness challenge which they addressed with a video that, fortunately for Blendtec, went viral.

HP had a complexity challenge they addressed with targeted blogs produced by internal experts.

Ernst and Young had an accessibility challenge hiring graduates which they addressed with an interactive web site.

Adidas analysed social media responses and determined they had a segmented clientele with different goals leading the company to separate their customers thereby extending their brand within each group.

The authors leave us with the following advice; "If you learn to talk, listen and respond you will master the middle of the funnel.