Your marketing strategy is only as good as its weakest link. But sadly, many marketers tend to overlook the importance of the middle of funnel (MoFu) in favor of more vigorous attention to the top and bottom of the funnel.
It’s like building a house without a middle floor—the upper and lower floors may look beautiful, but without a middle floor to support them, they won’t last. Similarly, without the middle of the funnel, getting customers from interest to conversion is impossible.
Understanding Middle of Funnel Marketing
The middle of funnel (MoFu) is the halfway point between the top and bottom of the funnel. Again, it’s about narrowing the pool of potential customers and nurturing brand awareness.
Content such as product comparisons, customer success stories, case studies, detailed product demos, webinars, or resources like buyer’s guides and whitepapers can be effective in showcasing the product’s value and the potential benefits the customer will experience.
The key to successful MoFu marketing is understanding your customers’ journey, tailoring your content to each stage, and using data and insights to measure the effectiveness of each campaign.
Goals of MoFu
MoFu marketing aims to move customers from awareness to consideration—and ultimately to conversion—with a well-thought-out strategy addressing each portion of the funnel.
By investing in an effective MoFu strategy, brands can position themselves as experts in the space and develop lasting relationships with prospects. For example, specific goals of your MoFu strategy may be:
- Generate qualified leads
- Expand brand reach
- Educate prospects
- Encourage engagement
- Foster relationships
- Showcase product features
- Increase conversions
- Build trust & loyalty
With each goal, marketers should focus on developing personal, educational, and valuable campaigns for the customer.
It’s like a garden: marketers have to lay the groundwork by planting the seeds of trust and loyalty, nourishing them with personalized and educational content, and then watching them blossom into solid relationships with long-term value.
Lead Qualification & Nurturing
Nurturing MoFu leads requires a flexible strategy that leverages tools like email automation and customer data tracking to nurture leads through their customer journey.
For example, marketers should use data to understand each lead’s needs, interests, and behavior. This helps to deliver personalized messages that cater to their needs.
It’s also essential to adjust tactics depending on the customer’s stage in the funnel. For example, leads in the awareness stage may need more educational content, while leads in the consideration stage may need more detailed product information.
Marketers can also leverage lead scoring systems to track each lead’s engagement and assess the quality of each lead. This can help to ensure that only the most qualified leads are sent through the funnel for conversion.
Questions to Ask Yourself
To build an effective MoFu marketing strategy, it’s essential to understand your customers’ journey, as well as the goals of your campaign.
Some questions to ask yourself when creating your MoFu strategy:
- What types of content will engage prospects at each stage of the funnel?
- How can I use data to create personalized experiences?
- Is my messaging on-brand and tailored to each customer’s needs?
- How can I measure the success of my campaigns?
- How can I leverage automation and lead scoring systems to nurture leads?
- What tactics will I use to convert leads at the bottom of the funnel?
- Is my product/service offering clear and understandable?
- Are the benefits of my product/service clear?
- Is my competitive advantage clearly stated and easy to find?
By asking these questions, you can ensure that your MoFu strategy is comprehensive and practical.
MoFu Tools
Here are the most effective tools and strategies MoFu marketers should use to build successful campaigns in the consideration stage:
Search Ads
In the context of MoFu, search ads can provide customers with content that matches their search queries, making it an effective tool for finding qualified leads.
For example, marketers can target queries related to their product or industry, as well as queries related to their competitors’ products—which can help to identify potential leads who aren’t aware of the marketing brand but are aware of their competitors.
Display Ads with Increased Targeting
Display ads, when used in the MoFu, are effective in targeting customers who have already been to the website at least once—or those who have been exposed to earlier brand awareness or retargeting campaigns.
Marketers can use display ads to introduce their brand, product, or service to prospects in the MoFu. The goal is to build recognition and foster conversions at the consideration stage.
For example, a car company can use display ads to target prospects in the MoFu by offering a comparison chart of the company’s newest car model compared to competitors’ models.
Remarketing Ads
Remarketing ads are effective for reconnecting with customers who have already interacted with the brand and attempting to re-engage customers who have fallen out of the funnel.
MoFu remarketing campaigns effectively target prospects who have previously viewed certain products or pages or taken specific actions. This helps marketers nurture customers through their journey, from awareness to conversion.
For example, marketers can use targeted messaging to remind leads about their abandoned carts or offer discounts or incentives to encourage conversion.
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) increases site visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
When used in the MoFu, SEO helps marketers appear in relevant searches by optimizing their content for specific keywords related to their product or industry. For example, a marketer may optimize their website content to appear in searches related to “luxury kitchen appliances.
Since the searcher is looking for a more specific product, they’re more likely to be in the MoFu—closer to the conversion stage—than someone entering a more generic search term.
Email Marketing
Email marketing lets marketers send personalized and engaging messages to prospects on their lists. Email campaigns should be tailored to each lead’s stage in the funnel and contain relevant information to move the lead further down the funnel.
For example, marketers can use emails to educate leads on the features of a product or service, to illustrate how the product or service solves a customer’s problem, or to showcase customer success stories.
These emails provide leads with the right information at the right time to move them further down the funnel.
Social Media
Social media helps create brand awareness and show prospects that you’re active and engaged. 91.9% of U.S. marketers in companies with more than 100 employees use social media for marketing purposes.
Marketers can use social media to share content that educates and builds trust with prospects in the MoFu. This content can range from customer testimonials to product reviews to customer stories.
Types of Content
To nurture leads, marketers need to create meaningful content. Here are some types of content you should use in your MoFu campaigns:
Comparison Posts
Comparison posts are great for nurturing MoFu leads because they help prospects weigh the pros and cons of different products. In addition, they can compare overall features, pricing, and customer service levels to make an informed decision.
Plus, comparison posts are often successful because the content is easily shareable and the research is detailed. This helps the reader to choose an option that meets their needs and builds trust in you as an expert.
Expert Guides
Expert guides are educational content designed to teach the reader about a topic. These can be anything from how-to guides to in-depth breakdowns of a specific topic.
By providing valuable information and creating an enjoyable experience, expert guides demonstrate your authority in the industry and establish you as a go-to source of information.
Case Studies
Case studies give prospects a look at how your product or service has improved your customers’ lives. They’re a great way to show prospects that they can trust your brand and make an informed decision on a purchase.
Plus, case studies are highly shareable and can be used as effective lead magnets. For instance, many software companies use case studies as part of their lead nurturing process, providing prospects with access to the study in exchange for their contact information.
Testimonials
Testimonials are a great way to build trust and credibility with prospects. By showing off what other customers have said, you can prove that your product or service is worth their time and money.
Additionally, you can leverage user-generated content to showcase your brand’s personality. Credible testimonials can increase buying intent by 92%.
Podcasts
Podcasts are an effective way to reach new leads and maintain relationships with existing customers. They’re great for providing insightful, valuable content in an easily digestible format.
For example, an ecommerce platform might create a podcast series around “How to Scale Your Business.” This content can attract new leads and engage existing customers, helping to educate and nurture leads throughout the sales process.
Free Samples
Offering a free sample of your product or service can show prospects that you’re confident in the quality of your offering and help them make an informed decision.
This strategy can be especially effective in the B2B realm. By offering a “free trial” of your business software, prospects can see firsthand how your product works and determine if it’s the right fit for their company.
Demo Videos
Demo videos are especially helpful to prospects on the fence about making a purchase.
By providing an up-close look at your product or service, demo videos can take some of the mystery out of the purchase process. Prospects can quickly see how your offering works and determine if it meets their needs by themselves.
FAQs
FAQs offer quick, valuable information to prospects. They can include answers to questions about your product, company, and customer service.
For example, a software company’s FAQ page might include questions like “What platforms is your software compatible with?” and “What is your refund policy?”
FAQs also reduce the number of customer service inquiries, freeing up company resources to focus on other tasks.
Product/Solution Based Webinars
Webinars can be incredibly effective at extending prospects’ engagement with your brand. By engaging prospects in a webinar, you’re providing them with a personalized experience.
You can introduce prospects to your products or solutions and provide them with detailed information about how they work and the value they can deliver. You can also use webinars to answer prospects’ questions about your product and give them a complete understanding of how it can benefit them.
For instance, you could use a webinar to demonstrate how your product can help prospects manage their customer relationship management (CRM) system more effectively and efficiently.
It’s like a tutorial video showing how to assemble furniture—the more clearly and simply the steps are demonstrated, the easier it will be for people to put the pieces together correctly.
Whitepapers
Whitepapers are an effective way to nurture prospects with in-depth content. They can provide information on a particular topic, show prospects how to use your product, explain a concept, and more.
Additionally, since they’re comprehensive and informative, they can help demonstrate your expertise and authority in your industry. For instance, a whitepaper could explain the importance of a particular service or product and then use case studies to show how customers have benefited from it.
MoFu KPIs
To measure success, it’s important to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for your MoFu campaigns. Here are some metrics you should track to measure progress:
Clicks
The number of clicks your MoFu content receives indicates how many people engage with your material. This can help you gauge the overall engagement level and pinpoint where you can strengthen your efforts.
CTR
This metric shows how often users who view your content decide to click through.
It’s an important metric to track because it helps you determine how well you’re targeting your prospects and how effective your content is.
Impression Share
Impression share is the percentage of impressions your ad receives of the total estimated impressions it’s eligible to receive.
This metric can help you identify opportunities for improvement and either increase your impression share or optimize your campaign to generate higher CTRs.
Quality Score
Quality score is a measure of how relevant your ad is to users. It’s based on factors like ad relevance, landing page experience, and ad and keyword quality.
Knowing your quality score can help you understand what’s working and make adjustments to improve your campaigns in the marketing awareness funnel.
Examples of MoFu Cross-Channel Promotional Strategies
One of the most effective ways to leverage MoFu is to use a cross-channel promotional strategy. This approach combines multiple channels—including email, content marketing, display ads, and more—to reach prospects throughout their buying journey and drive sales
Here are some strategies you can use to create an effective cross-channel MoFu campaign:
Display Ads
Display ads can increase brand visibility and reach a large audience. You can create multiple ads with different creatives to communicate various messages or use retargeting ads to reach users who have already engaged with your brand.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a great way to educate prospects and engage them with your brand. You can use the content on your blog, email, and other channels to provide valuable information and link to resources like webinars and whitepapers.
Social Advertising
Social advertising allows you to target specific audiences. You can use platforms like Facebook and Twitter to create campaigns that target people with specific interests and demographics and tailor your message to the desired audience.
MoFu Dos & Don’ts
Do
- Offer valuable content to engage prospects
- Incorporate multiple channels into your strategy
- Use KPIs to measure success
- Personalize your messages
- Use visuals to grab attention
Don’t
- Oversell or pressure prospects
- Follow up too aggressively
- Use generic messages
- Use clickbait
- Send too many emails
Wrapping Up
MoFu (middle-of-the-funnel) marketing is vital to any successful marketing strategy. It’s all about providing content and resources that help prospects move from considering their purchase to actually making a decision.
To leverage MoFu effectively, you should provide prospects with content tailored to their needs, use multiple channels to reach them, track KPIs to measure success, and engage prospects with personalized messages.
By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to creating an effective MoFu campaign that drives conversions and boosts sales.
