What is an Online Marketing Funnel?

What is an online Marketing Funnel? If you have been in internet marketing or have been trying to build an online business (or any business really), you may have run into the term. I know that I have seen many different versions and many different opinions about it. In a traditional sense, picture a funnel:
The idea is simply to get as many leads as possible into your "funnel". Then as you build a relationship with those leads and get to know them, you will be able to "sort out" those who are not a good fit for your business opportunity, and those who are a good fit for your opportunity. Typically the number of leads that enter your funnel are a lot less than those who "exit" the funnel by joining your business opportunity.

The idea sounds really simple, but how do you go about setting up your "funnel"? How do you attract people to want to join that funnel once it is set up?

The first advice I have, is to think about what is your selling...If your answer is "my business opportunity" than you will struggle. Your "funnel" will have to be really big (i.e. you will have to bring in a lot of leads) in order to get some to end your business opportunity. The goal is to pick a target market and think about what that market really needs. For example, here are some of the broader "target market" for an online business:

• stay at home moms
• internet marketers
• bargain hunters
• non profit fund raisers
  
• college students, etc

Once you identify your target market, you want to determine what it is that they are interested in. If you immediately try to sell your business opportunity, there is so much competition, you will not see a good return on your efforts. Really what you are selling, is not your opportunity, but you and what you know! Tell your story and attract your target market to you. Once you have attracted your leads to your "funnel", you want to spend time building a relationship with them. This means that you need to share content about how you can help them accomplish their goals.

Once you have built a relationship with your target market, your leads will know you, they will like you and then they will trust you. Otherwise, they will have stopped following your information been eliminated from your funnel. This is the time that you will find many will ask you about your business opportunity and want to find out more about how you are reaching your goals through your business opportunity.

Please follow my blog to follow my journey of setting up a marketing funnel...

Sandy W.