Most of us have heard about the sales funnel or the
buyer’s journey. Many marketers have different stages, some have 4 others have
5. All will agree that people move through a series of stages before they
eventually buy a product or service. This process can happen in minutes, hours,
days or even over months depending on the product.

I think that this process can be cut down to 3
simple stages:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Conversion

The question is how do you market to your
potential customer in each part of the cycle and what platforms should you use.
Well, that depends largely on what type of business you run.

In this article we will cover an overview or framework a small to medium-size business can use when thinking about digital marketing and the sales cycle.

Awareness

In this stage, the potential customers are aware
they have a need but they are not aware that your business can solve this
problem for them. 

So your job in this stage is to make yourself
known to the customer but what channels are best at this stage?

Here you have to ask yourself how do you find
what you are looking for online? My guess is you go to Google and type
“services near me” or “product cape town”.

So your clients are exactly the same, that is
why in this stage of the cycle we make use of search engines like Google, Yahoo,
etc.

The great thing about Search Engine Marketing is
that it is intent-driven. What I mean by this is that when someone searches for
let’s say “plumber near me” or “divorce lawyer in cape town” we know that this
person most likely needs that service.

That is why we want our business to rank well on the search results, we do this in 2 ways, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC).

Making sure that your business appears on top of the search results will get you the best results in driving cold traffic to your website.

Consideration

In this stage, you are moving people that have
recently discovered your business closer to the conversion stage. This is also known
as the remarketing stage. 

Here we will use social remarketing to get back in front of people. We will use marketing tools like testimonials, case studies, and helpful content to show people that your business is the best option.

In this stage you could use:

• Facebook retargeting
• Email marketing
• Google remarketing

This stage is critical and is where most small
to medium size businesses drop the ball because your potential customer now has
endless options and are overloaded with information, you must remind them why
you are the best choice to solve their problems.

Conversion

This stage involves crafting a great offer that your potential customer can not resist as well as making sure that your website or landing page is optimized for conversions and speaks to your client’s pain points while positioning your product or service as the solution.

Here things like website speed, copywriting and
layout of your website are important. Remember not to overlook this part
because a small increase in your conversion rate can make a huge increase in
the profits of your business.

Each stage will look different for every
business but if you keep this process in mind the next time you are launching a
marketing campaign for your business I’m sure you will start seeing better
results.