![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lodestardigital.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Roadmap.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Gameboard is designed to guide our clients through a digital path, where each digital channel is addressed sequentially. Ideally, our clients would use the Gameboard as a checklist as they move forward in their digital endeavours\u2026. But wait…<\/p>\n
YES!!<\/strong><\/p>\n Although the Gameboard emphasizes the unification of digital channels, it fails to help identify optimal service mixes for individualized businesses. The purpose of this<\/em> blog is to highlight the importance of the Digital Funnel from a consumer’s perspective<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Gameboard is a milestone marker<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n We start by introducing the Digital Funnel, which is a tool that works alongside the Gameboard in identifying individualized service mixes for our clients. Following that, we (the Digital Coordinators here at Glacier Media Digital) have prepared a 6-8 part series where we will introduce case studies from a number of business types, showing how the Gameboard and Digital Funnel can be used.<\/p>\n \u2713 <\/span>A <\/span>sales tool <\/b><\/p>\n \u2713 <\/span>A <\/span>guide<\/b> for digital channel development <\/span><\/p>\n \u2713 A <\/span>template<\/b> for developing an integrated marketing plan<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/span> A <\/span>cheat sheet<\/b> for understanding consumer behavior<\/span><\/p>\n Every customer travels through the Digital Funnel, whether they know it or not. We all move at our own pace, but no matter the product or service, we\u00a0move from an awareness phase (top of the funnel), to a consideration phase (middle of the funnel), and finally to\u00a0a conversion phase (bottom of the funnel). Why does\u00a0this matter?<\/span><\/p>\n We need to first\u00a0get a pulse on the health of our client’s funnel\u00a0in order to help them identify the service mix that will support them in achieving their business goals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We can break down business goals into three broad categories:<\/p>\n If these goals look familiar at all, they should; they represent the three stages of the\u00a0Digital Funnel: Brand Awareness, Engagement, and Conversion. After putting a marker on where a business sits on the Gameboard, we can then use the\u00a0Digital Funnel, in tandem, to align our clients’ goals with consumers’ goals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n YES!!<\/strong><\/p>\n The goal at this stage is to find your audience and speak to them. In marketing, unless you push your product\/service out to an audience that cares, no one will consider buying from you. We need to cast the largest net possible to find out who best responds to your brand. We do this by promoting \u2018snackable\u2019 content: highly visual, attention-grabbing, and easy to consume.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Put the buyer’s interests and needs first.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ideally, a business is constantly running a top-of-the-funnel campaign to make sure they are filling their funnel and progressively refining their audience to ensure that the leads are of high quality. This\u00a0helps ensure there is a full pipeline of leads, allowing a business to focus on engaging and converting those leads. Not to mention, we are able to re-target people who engage with the content we produce at this stage with our\u00a0bottom-funnel tactics (more on this later).<\/p>\n All of the services at the top of the funnel have one characteristic in common: they are all used for the purpose of driving Brand Awareness. Services that fall under the top of the funnel, are not, per se, designed to provide performance-based metrics; such as how many people walked into my business<\/em> OR\u00a0how many people purchased an item online<\/em>. Rather, top-of-the-funnel tactics are great for businesses that are:<\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0 Lacking<\/strong>\u00a0awareness<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Looking<\/strong> to facilitate brand recognition<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Wanting<\/strong> to reach people at the nascent stages of their product\/service research<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Rather avoid<\/strong> high-cost pay-per-click channels such as Google Search <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The goal of this stage is to help move people from simply knowing<\/em> about your brand to considering<\/em> your product\/service. At this stage, we need to educate\u00a0people about how your offerings align with their needs.\u00a0We do this by promoting informational content<\/span>.<\/p>\n People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Content that we push out to consumers in this stage of the funnel is more engaging and interactive than in the awareness stage, helping to better define the brand. Further, we now start to benefit from tracking behaviour on your website and engagement with your content to identify and distinguish leads. Not to mention, we will be able to re-target people who engage with the content we produce at this stage with our\u00a0bottom-funnel tactics (more on this later).<\/p>\n Middle-of-the-funnel tactics are great for businesses that are:<\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Lacking<\/strong>\u00a0high-quality content, such as videos and blogs\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Looking<\/strong>\u00a0to facilitate\u00a0engagement with their brand<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Wanting<\/strong>\u00a0to reach people at the information-seeking stage of their product\/service research<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Rather avoid<\/strong>\u00a0high-cost pay-per-click channels such as Google Search<\/span><\/p>\n YES.<\/strong><\/p>\n At this stage, we are promoting specific products\/services that we know will benefit our audience (based on the information we\u2019ve been collecting throughout\u00a0the Digital Funnel). We do this by creating targeted ads with a clear Call to Action<\/span>, and an easy way to covert (fill out a form, make payment, etc.). This content focuses on what the\u00a0consumer is missing out on if they don\u2019t choose our brand.<\/p>\n As the world continues to evolve, business owners should not<\/em> remain static.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Bottom-of-the-funnel tactics are great for businesses that are:<\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Lacking<\/strong>\u00a0sales closing tactics<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Looking<\/strong>\u00a0to reach consumers right as they are making a purchase decision<\/span><\/p>\n \u2713<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Wanting<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0re-market to their leads<\/span><\/p>\n Building an online presence can be tiring, confusing and frustrating, even with the numerous options available.\u00a0But, if business owners know how and where to start building\u00a0an online presence things\u00a0can<\/em> be less frustrating<\/span>.<\/p>\n Every customer travels through the Digital Funnel, whether they know it or not. We all move at our own pace, but no matter the product or service, we\u00a0move from an awareness phase (top of the funnel),\u00a0to a consideration phase (middle of the funnel), and finally to\u00a0a conversion phase (bottom of the funnel). By using the Gameboard and <\/em>the Digital Funnel, in tandem, we can align business’ goals with consumers’ goals.<\/p>\n Stay tuned for our next few blogs in this 6-8 part series where we will introduce case studies from a number of business types, showing how the Gameboard and Digital Funnel\u00a0can be used to identify ideal product mixes of digital services.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yours Truly, the Glacier Media Digital Coordinators<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every customer travels through the Digital Funnel, whether they know it or not. We all move at our own pace, but no matter the product or service, we move from an awareness phase (top of the funnel), to a consideration phase (middle of the funnel), and finally to a conversion phase (bottom of the funnel). Why does this matter?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":62314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[76,77,91,101,102,105,110],"class_list":["post-58278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy","tag-programmatic","tag-integrated-campaign","tag-marketing","tag-google-display-network","tag-google-search-network","tag-video-marketing","tag-social-advertising"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lodestardigital.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Keeping-it-Fresh-1.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n2. The Digital\u00a0Funnel<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"Markting](\"https:\/\/blog.lodestardigital.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GMD-Marketing-Funnel_V2.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\n\n
2.1 Top of the Digital Funnel – Brand Awareness\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lodestardigital.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Keeping-it-Fresh-2.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n2.4 Middle of the Digital Funnel – Engagement\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lodestardigital.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Keeping-it-Fresh-3.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n2.3. Bottom of the Digital Funnel – Conversion<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lodestardigital.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Wow.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n3: In Conclusion<\/h2>\n