Writers, learn from marketing!
Marketing works best when you understand which stage your customers are in so you can tailor your messaging to move them to that next stage. — Brad Batesole
I decided to give my 100% attention to building an online business in the next few years. So, this is why I’m learning more about marketing and documenting my learnings to apply the new knowledge to my future business.
My hope is you can learn from my learnings, too!
When we talk about the funnel, we’re discussing a customer’s transition from a window-shopper to a card-swiping buyer.
Picture an actual funnel: it’s wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, just like your customer’s journey.
I give you an example of how customers think when they go through the buyer’s journey.
Loyalty is the fifth step, but it’s not part of the traditional marketing funnel, so I touch on it briefly in this article.
Applying marketing funnel & strategy to our world?
Yes!
Because we, writers, have audiences, too.
Consider your articles your products.
The moment when someone stumbles upon your Medium story, your poetry on your blog, or that SEO-heavy blog post you spent hours polishing.
This is your megaphone where you shout, ‘Hey, look at me! Look at me!’
This is the first hole where your audience can exit, thinking:
They know you have this product (article), but their first introduction to it was uninteresting. So, they’re out.
It’s okay. You can’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
Readers read the introduction of your article or skim through your post, possibly just reading the headlines.
When readers do this, they ask, ‘Why should I invest my time reading this entire thing? What’s the hook? What’s my benefit? What do I learn from this?’
That’s when your prospect examines you and the competition.
They want to know what you provide and what ‘features’ you have. If it’s not good enough, they’re out again.
If you write about entrepreneurship and content creation, people most likely read other side hustlers’ articles, too. What do you give your readers that’s different from what Eve Arnold, Tim Denning, Kristina God, or Kristen Walters provide?
Here, your audience is debating whether to read your article over the gazillion other tabs they have open.
Or perhaps they’re contemplating hitting that follow/subscribe button or buying your ebook on Gumroad.
This is the stage when ‘the buyer’ (your audience) wants to commit or purchase.
On Medium, they read your article, clap, maybe even leave a comment, or binge–read your other articles! That’s a good sign because it means you’re writing stories that are interesting to them. That’s when they take action!
In my experience, if you have at least 3 articles that fit into people’s interests, they follow you — or better yet, they subscribe to receive email notifications whenever you post a new story.
This is the third hole your prospect can leave. So, if you write about anything & everything, your readers have a hard time deciding whether to commit or not.
The solution?
Create Lists on your profile and link them to your relevant articles so readers can see there is more to read, and you do all the heavy lifting for them, so they don’t have to search for it themselves.
3 stories
See what I did there?
Congratulations! You’ve transformed your audience into a raving fan.
They subscribe, follow, get email notifications, engage, and eagerly await your next masterpiece.
Well done!
Now, you just need to keep showing up, providing value, and building relationships with your audience so that they are primed and buy from you when you have something to sell for money.
Like anything else in life, selling comes down to putting in the work.
As a writer, you must tailor your approach depending on where your reader is in this funnel.
At the top, your priority is catchy headlines and engaging, short intros.
Mid-funnel, you’re into storytelling, strong arguments, evidence, contraversion, or cliffhangers.
At the bottom of the funnel, you’re wrapping things up, offering conclusions & learnings, takeaways, or a satisfying call-to-action.
Understanding where your audience is at any stage will help you give them what they need to reach the next level. So, you’ll be funnelling them right where you want them — into your ever-growing group of dedicated readers.
Happy writing & funnelling!