If you think your basic funnel is enough to conquer the complex jungle of today’s marketing landscape, think again. Basic funnels are like training wheels – great for getting started, but a bit wobbly for tackling the big hills of real-world marketing. To win, you need a funnel that’s sharper, smarter, and tuned to your brand. You need strategy, not just tactics.
So I’ve put this blog together to look further into how advanced funnels – tailored, measurable, and fiercely strategic – can transform your marketing and deliver the long-term growth every CEO demands.
The Basics Aren’t Enough
Remember the classic ‘See-Think-Do-Care’ funnel? Brilliant for understanding the customer journey. But let’s be honest: most customers don’t march neatly from awareness to loyalty like soldiers on parade. Real-world consumer behaviour is messy, unpredictable, and frankly, chaotic. That’s why advanced marketers go deeper.
Building Funnels That Actually Work
1. Segment Your Audience—Stop Shooting Blind
In the real world, not all customers are created equal. Different segments want different things. They respond to different tactics. A one-size-fits-all funnel is a shortcut to irrelevance.
Take this example: selling luxury watches versus budget fitness trackers. For the watch, the ‘Think’ stage might involve detailed stories of craftsmanship and heritage. For the tracker, it’s all about price comparisons and peer reviews. Tailor your funnel stages to match your segments, or risk missing the mark entirely.
2. The Long and the Short of It: Don’t Just Sell, Build
We’ve covered this before, but it’s worth repeating: the balance of long-term brand building and short-term sales activation is the secret sauce. Advanced funnels must cater to both:
- Long-term: Pump resources into awareness (top of the funnel) to build lasting mental availability.
- Short-term: Make the lower funnel sing with precise, sales-driving tactics. Discounts, flash sales, or whatever gets cash in the till.
Binet and Field’s research is gospel here: roughly a 60:40 split between brand building and sales activation keeps the marketing gods happy.
3. Custom Purchase Funnels—Your Brand’s Unique Blueprint
Not every brand follows the same steps. Your funnel should reflect your customer’s reality.
- Selling a car? Add a ‘Test Drive’ stage between ‘Think’ and ‘Do’.
- Launching a new skincare brand? A free sample stage might do wonders for ‘Consideration’.
Build your funnel stages based on how your customers actually behave—not how you wish they behaved.
Advanced Tools for Funnel Success
Diagnosis Before Execution—Know Your Brand
Before tweaking your funnel, get your diagnosis right. Run surveys, test perceptions, and pinpoint what’s working (and what’s not). Are your customers falling out of the funnel at ‘Think’? Or are you simply invisible at ‘See’? Diagnose, then act. Always.
Objectives That Matter
Be specific. It’s no good saying “increase awareness.” Awareness of what? Among whom? By how much? Aim for clear, measurable objectives. For example: “Increase unaided awareness among 25-34-year-olds from 20% to 35% by Q4.” Precision wins.
Distinctive Brand Codes—A Non-Negotiable
Every touchpoint in your funnel must scream your brand. Logos, fonts, colours, tone of voice—plaster them everywhere. Think of Coke’s red or Apple’s minimalist design. If you’re not distinctive, you’re forgettable.
Optimising for Performance
KPIs for Every Stage
Advanced funnels are data-driven. Track relevant metrics for each stage:
- See: Impressions, reach, brand recall.
- Think: Website engagement, time on page.
- Do: Conversion rates, cost per acquisition.
- Care: Net Promoter Score (NPS), repeat purchases.
Test and Learn Like a Maniac
A/B testing isn’t optional. Don’t trust your gut—test it. Run experiments to figure out what works, then optimise ruthlessly. Faster CTAs? Brighter colours? Tweak, measure, repeat.
Example: Two-Speed Funnels
Here’s how advanced marketers juggle both brand and sales objectives:
- Brand Level: Broaden awareness with emotional, memorable campaigns. Think broad, long-term plays.
- Product Level: Get tactical. Push offers, discounts, and scarcity to drive action now.
These run in parallel—long-term brand health meets short-term cash flow. A perfect marriage.
Why It All Matters
Funnel management isn’t just a fancy spreadsheet or a deck for your boss. Done right, it’s the key to unlocking revenue growth and brand loyalty. Skip the shortcuts, embrace the data, and put strategy at the centre of your funnel game.
Because, in the end, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your customers move seamlessly from awareness to advocacy—all while you look like a marketing genius.
Go on, give it a go. Build a funnel that’s as clever as your brand deserves. And don’t forget—execution without strategy is just noise. Make it matter.