What are the marketing touch points you didn’t know you need?

Marketing for small businesses in today’s day and age has so much to do with broad reach, aka the ‘top of the marketing funnel’. This is often managed through social media and general paid advertising, and while these touch points are absolutely necessary for getting your name out there, they are not the only stop along the marketing funnel. If you only focus on brand awareness, you’re not completing the equation to actually convert leads to paying customers.

There are three touch points in the ‘middle of the marketing funnel’ that we recommend you consider to help move your leads toward a potential sale. If you have a strong middle of funnel activity (combined with successful top of funnel and bottom of funnel activity), you’re essentially guaranteed to convert leads to paying customers, growing your revenue and longevity as a business. Depending on your business, at least one of these will fit your business model, and help you quickly gain more paying customers.

The free webinar

If you’re running a small business you’ve probably become an expert at something (whether you always feel that way or not). You’re passionate about what you provide, and you want to share it with the world! A wonderful way to share your expertise and help move people down your marketing funnel is a webinar.

The secret to running a successful webinar is picking a small piece of your overall product or subject matter expertise that is attention grabbing and exciting, and sharing some of that knowledge, for free. On the LKR ROOM Talk podcast we’ve been using an example of a gluten free baker. If we continue that here, a great webinar for a gluten free baker or bakery to have could be reviewing the pros and cons of different type of gluten free flour options. In this example, you’re not giving away any of your proprietary recipes, or selling your baked goods, you’re just demonstrating your expertise and helping others grow a better understanding of your product in turn.

The free newsletter

If you’re posting regularly on social media, YouTube, or maybe even hosting a podcast, a free newsletter is one of the easiest ways to engage people and continue to nurture a relationship with potential future clients. You could send this quarterly, monthly, bi-weekly, or even weekly. The reason I mention top of funnel activities like social media is because one of the easiest ways to use a newsletter is sharing information you’ve already shared elsewhere, but with a new twist. You can see us at LKR ROOM do this with our very own newsletter, the Game Plan. We have a weekly podcast and our newsletter has key takeaways and actionable next steps on whatever topic we cover each week. It’s almost like an ICYMI + action steps. Even if you don’t have a weekly podcast, you can simply share information a click deeper than you’d be able to on social media. Email is a form of communication that is not going anywhere, and a great way to meet people where they’re at during the workday. 

The free hosted meet up (aka events)

Finally, whether or not your business has a brick and mortar store front or office (but especially if it does) hosting a real deal in person meet up is a phenomenal way to engage with potential future customers. With so much connection being in the digital space today, a lot of people crave the excuse to get off their phones and computers and back out into the physical world. You can host a meetup with a theme based on something about your business expertise, give a (optional) short (think 5-15 minute max) presentation at some point during it if you really want to make sure to connect with folks, and provide some easy drinks or appetizers. If you don’t have a physical storefront or office you could do this in a park during nicer weather if you don’t have a store front, or partner with another business to host it in their space. Our world is truly built on connection and you’ll be amazed at what happens when you offer a container for folks to meet. It’s an authentic memorable experience that solidifies you in your future customer’s minds for years to come.

The key takeaway? You’re learning to nurture your future customers

No need to jump in and try to run all three of these tomorrow, pick one and test it out! And if it wasn’t already obvious, all of these options are ‘free’ on purpose. What you’re getting out of these middle of funnel activities are the opportunity to connect with people who have already noticed your brand, and are interested in going deeper AND they’re willing to share their contact information with you. All three of these options collect something in return for your free exchange – their contact info. That contact info is crucial to creating an ongoing conversation between you and your potential customers. The ability to contact a future customer can keep them engaged on an ongoing basis in what we call ‘nurturing’ the relationship. That nurturing has an incredibly high return on investment if you do it right, and will bring those ‘leads’ to paying customers in the long run. 

Middle of the marketing funnel is a HUGE opportunity to make these deeper connections, so which option will you try? Learn more by listening to LKR ROOM Talk podcast where we go into middle of funnel in detail across multiple episodes, and sign up for our free newsletter 😉 to read actionable steps for your middle of funnel today.