by sekaterina | Jul 18, 2023 | Blog, Growth Marketing, Lead Generation, Marketing Agency |
In the fast-paced world of marketing, success depends on more than just innovative ideas and creative campaigns. Businesses need a well-defined and efficient marketing funnel to achieve lasting growth and maximize results. Introducing the AAARRR funnel, a robust framework designed to guide marketers to attract, engage, convert, and retain customers. This article will dive deep into the AAARRR funnel, exploring its stages and revealing how it can supercharge your marketing efforts.
What is the AAARRR Funnel?
The AAARRR funnel, or the Pirate Funnel, is a framework that breaks down the customer journey into five key stages: Awareness, Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral. Each stage represents a specific goal within the marketing process, allowing businesses to understand their customers better and tailor strategies to meet their needs at different touchpoints.
Let’s take a closer look at each stage:
Capturing Attention: The Awareness Stage
A potential customer’s journey begins with awareness – the crucial stage of capturing attention. At this phase, businesses aim to introduce their brand, products, or services to a broad audience, sparking curiosity and generating interest. This is the foundation upon which fruitful customer relationships are built. A good example of activities during the Awareness Stage would be LinkedIn Prospecting, Pay Per Click Advertising, Trade Shows, Print and Digital Baseboard Ads.
Engaging Potential Customers: The Acquisition Stage
Once potential customers know a brand’s existence, it’s time to engage with them effectively. In the Acquisition stage, businesses aim to nurture initial interest and build a relationship with the target audience.
For example: Brands engage potential customers with personalized messages, showing a deep understanding of their needs and interests. Email marketing, tailored offers, and targeted ads contribute to the acquisition effort.
Proposing Solutions: The Activation Stage
In the Activation stage, businesses aim to convert interested prospects into active customers. It’s about presenting a compelling solution that fulfills the potential customers’ needs and encourages them to take the next step.
Retention: Nurturing Customer Loyalty
The third stage, Retention, is all about keeping your customers engaged and satisfied to ensure they stay with your brand over the long term. Satisfied customers are more likely to become loyal advocates and make repeat purchases. To foster retention, implement customer support strategies, loyalty programs, regular communication, and personalized offers. Monitoring customer feedback and analyzing user behaviour can also help identify areas for improvement and increase customer retention.
Revenue: Driving Sales and Conversions
At the Revenue stage, your primary focus is to create a positive new customer experience to ensure customer Retention and further Referrals. This stage is critical as it sets the tone for customer relationships. By providing a seamless and delightful onboarding process, you leave a lasting impression on new customers, increasing the likelihood of their continued engagement with your brand. A positive experience during the Revenue stage enhances customer satisfaction and plays a significant role in customer retention.
Satisfied customers are more likely to become loyal advocates who keep coming back and enthusiastically refer your products or services to their network. In this way, the Revenue stage is pivotal in establishing strong customer relationships that drive long-term growth and foster a loyal customer base.
Referral: Turning Customers into Advocates
The final stage of the AAARRR funnel is Referral. Happy customers are your best brand ambassadors, and by encouraging referrals, you can tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing. Referral programs, social sharing incentives, and outstanding customer experiences can all contribute to transforming customers into active advocates who help you acquire new customers organically.
Conclusion
The AAARRR funnel provides a roadmap for marketers to navigate the complexities of the customer journey. By understanding each stage – Awareness, Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral – businesses can identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities within their marketing strategies. Moreover, this framework enables marketers to allocate resources effectively, ensuring the right initiatives are implemented at each stage to drive growth and foster long-term customer relationships. Incorporate the AAARRR funnel into your marketing efforts and set sail for marketing success. Remember, it’s not just about acquiring customers; it’s about nurturing and retaining them to build a thriving and sustainable business. So, hoist the sails, navigate the funnel, and chart a course toward marketing greatness!
by sekaterina | Mar 26, 2021 | Blog, Lead Generation, Marketing Agency, Small Business Marketing Blog |
Marketing and sales investment loopholes that companies must be aware of.
With work from home being our new reality, many businesses are struggling to get return on their marketing and sales investment. Our employees are working from home, trade shows and networking functions are either canceled or went virtual…So how do we make sure that our money is well spent?
Here are a few suggestions to consider:
1.Rethink marketing and sales investment in technology
We are all using CRMs, right? Do you want to know the dirtiest secret about CRMs? They take your staff valuable time in managing and reporting marketing data, which has no value to your business!
Sales and marketing people often drag along leads that are not active or will never produce anything. Why do we do it? We need to show our management that the RESULTS ARE COMING.
To avoid this endless cycle, do invest in CRM that is simple enough for you to read the results in real time. Many of the most marketed CRMs on the market are simply not user friendly, but sold for $$$ to you because of many functions and features that you do not need.
Do a simple test: go to your CRM and see how many calls, conversations, or updates was done by your team TODAY. Cannot see it? Ditch that CRM investment-you are wasting your money!
2. Compare: where the money goes, and where do your leads come from? Or is it all same old forever?
This is an especially important question. Make a list of all the leads you generated during the last 6 months and see where they are coming from:
You have the idea: the money shall be directed to the most ROI effective channels. Have not tried some of the channels yet-get a trial run. You may be surprised how effective they are for you.
3.Sales Performance Tricks: your sales closing numbers are another eye opener on how your hard-earned money was wasted.
| Leads |
Date Generated |
$$ closed |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Sales Professionals are “tough monkeys” (joke). We are always in demand and first to go if ANYTHING goes wrong. If we cannot sell-we show ACTIVITY. If your sales team is doing this – find the real reason why they are not closing. Most probably it is not their fault – there is something wrong with your company’s business, market and offering.
4.Keep my investments inhouse or outsource dilemma: Consider both.
Outsourced agencies are offering cutting edge strategies, ideas, and technologies. Your salespeople know your business and your customers on a personal level. BUT…(read below carefully)
There are many ways to optimize on how you can direct your sales and marketing money, staff, and resources. I believe that the mixed solution is the best, but there must be great rapport and cooperation between parties. Often salespeople see outsourced consultants and marketers as a threat. If it is so in your company – raise the red flag! This may be a sign of complacency, laziness, or withdrawal. The healthy sales team will receive this help with open arms. The unhealthy one will reject and sabotage it.
In conclusion:
Analyzing your ROIs and KPIs may be hard during our “unusual times”. You can use and hear many excuses such as “decisions are not made fast” and ” because of COVID”, etc. But can you keep going like this and stay in business?
Is this the time to change strategy or downsize? How long has it been since you revisited and re-evaluated your sales methods, proposals, offers, target markets, etc.? I personally believe in “Profit First” concept. Sometimes downsizing, rethinking and renewing is better that running loops and wasting resources.
by sekaterina | Apr 14, 2020 | Blog, Lead Generation, Marketing Agency, Small Business Marketing Blog |
When it comes to sales, marketing and telemarketing during Covid-19, the question is: shall we stop it, or shall we adopt and possibly succeed? In my opinion this is the time to go digital, to work from home and to promote your brand among your prospects and customers.
It looks like we are all in this together, and it will be a while till we get back to normal, whatever “normal” it is going to be. According to officials, COVID-19 quarantine may last weeks, or even months, and it will probably be back in the fall, if the vaccine is not developed. So, this is a new reality and we need to adopt to it. On a good side, the times of change also presents opportunities to renew, rebuild, re-learn and reconsider what we do in our business and every day lives.
Many of us, small business owners, started our businesses in 1980s to early 2000s. We built them based on hard-core traditional marketing methods such as telemarketing, business networking, door knocking – you get the idea. All of us worked hard, and got customers the old way and we succeeded. Why do we need to change what worked for us for so many years? Many of us are still skeptical of the new modern marketing methods. Some tried it and failed, others found it challenging and time consuming to learn, and it can be hard to trust another marketing agency, which promises to make it all work.
As a result of these postponements and hesitations, hundreds of thousands marketing dollars are wasted without positive ROI’s.
In this article, I invite you to reconsider your telemarketing during Covid-19 strategies in favor of digital prospecting via LinkedIn, Google and other social media channels.
Why to reconsider doing Telemarketing During Covid-19 Pandemics? See if I can persuade you here:
“We do Telemarketing because our Customers are Not Present on Social Media Networks…because they are too small, too busy, not very educated, not technology oriented, etc.”
Surprisingly, this is a very common belief among late baby boomer’s generation and even early millennials. My counterparts were amazed when I shared my screen viz Zoom with them and presented the possibility of the Sales Navigator searches. One of my prospects was shocked when I presented them with a search showing over 18000 business owners in Ontario alone with 1-50 employees.
Marketing during Covid-19 presents an opportunity to tap into this huge pool of LinkedIn users, who now have more time on their hand, working from home and as a result are more active on their Social Media networks.
“Telemarketing is the only way to reach people – Our customers are not active on LinkedIn”
- According to statistics 40% of LinkedIn users use it regularly: https://kinsta.com/blog/linkedin-statistics/
- People who are not active will not accept your invite. And it is OK! It does not take long to invite other prospects, who are just like them and are active on the platform.
- You may choose to connect only with Premium profiles users. These type of users usually pay LinkedIn, so they are active on the platform for sure!
Money talks: LinkedIn Prospecting vs Telemarketing cost benefit scenario.
In addition to the benefits above, it has been calculated to be at least 10 times cheaper to deliver your message via LinkedIn rather than via Telemarketing. Here is the example based on the real numbers:
|
|
LinkedIn |
Telemarketing |
| Target Market |
18000 (Business Owners Ontario) |
|
| Cost to Reach |
|
$1000 per month |
$50 per hour |
| Timing |
12 months |
12 months |
720 hours (25 calls/conversations per hour) |
| Budget |
Yearly/monthly |
$12000/ year or $1000 per month/profile |
$36000 ($3000 per month=60 hours) |
| Connections/Calls per month average |
ROI/month |
1500 invites=500 connections |
60*25=1500 calls/ 150 conversations (10% call/convers rate) |
| Engagement |
Reply/further interest/appointment |
30% Avg Reply rate
10% further interest = 15 monthly /future appointments |
150 conversation-2% appts = 3-5 appointments (optimistically) |
| Cost per Appointment |
|
$1000/15=$65 |
$600-$1000 |
“I get a lot of spam from my LinkedIn connections, nothing good can come out of this”
Yes, you may have spam if you are not connecting with the right people. Here are the reasons why you may have spam and how to fix it when marketing during COVID-19:
- You are accepting connections without looking at the Invitees profiles – they will spam you with the message not relevant to your business.
- Your Team uses LinkedIn Bots – Bots will connect you with wrong people.
- You do not regularly clean up and audit your connections.
“I tried it, but I did not get any results.”
According to statistics 43% of marketers say that they acquired at least one customer out of LinkedIn.
To achieve results, you need to have the following:
- Know your customers: Buyers Persona
- Sales Navigator Search – Pay for it and use the filters to narrow down your search.
- Do NOT Sell like a company. Be personal – connect first!
- Pay attention to your communications be friendly and professional.
- Keep conversation going and follow up, follow up, follow up!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I strongly believe that money spent on telemarketing during Covid-19 crisis shall be redirected towards digital prospecting, marketing and advertising. Digital prospecting on LinkedIn is unmatched when in comes to startinga connection and communications with our prospects and customers.
So, stay connected and stay healthy!
Ekaterina Spooner
by Ekaterina | Apr 2, 2019 | Blog, Lead Generation, Marketing Agency, Multichannel marketing, Small Business Marketing Blog, Social Media Marketing |
What is Corporate Brand Marketing?
Unlike Personal Brand Marketing, Corporate Brand Marketing is a way to market your company and establish brand reach, recognition, and loyalty. While your company may be your baby, it is a separate entity from yourself, and has its own family, history, voice, and traditions. Your brand’s personality goes far beyond the established corporate name under which you do business, and what your brand means, and stands for, affects your customers, your industry and your employees.
Corporate Brand Marketing communicates your brand to the world via your company website, social media pages, email, telephone, video, photography, colors, copywriting, etc. All of these elements come together to create a consistent feeling and message about your business, what you offer, how you work with partners and clients, and why people should choose you over the competition.
Corporate Brand Marketing also uses social media channels to help connect with clients and deliver great brand experiences, but it takes a different approach to using those tools, and integrates them with other channels to establish your brand and reach customers:
Corporate Brand Marketing on LinkedIn:
Your business page on LinkedIn can be used for a few different things. It helps establish the HR side of your brand, connecting to employees and sharing more about your corporate and work culture to attract excellent potential new hires. It’s also a great advertising platform, especially if your business is B2B-focused, and your target markets are using these channels. You can help reach and connect to customers through posts, but if you want to extend your reach, you can also use LinkedIn’s paid advertising and job-posting options.
Corporate Brand Marketing on Facebook:
Your Business Page on Facebook is also a great place to advertise to potential clients through Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, and to share content from other platforms, like your blog, or website. You can use it to highlight current promotions, engage followers to sign up for newsletters, and much more. One of Facebook’s best features, however, is Messenger, which offers a direct chat option with clients. This means you can offer live conversation and customer support, and be available to customers on one of their most used platforms. You can also set up a chatbot in Messenger to help automate responses to specific keywords, making this communication process more seamless. It’s important to remember that your responsiveness as a brand is an important part of your brand personality, and building client trust and word-of-mouth. Facebook business pages also include options for online selling directly through Facebook. As social media platforms go, Facebook continues to be one of the most multi-featured, offering a variety of tools to support your business.
Corporate Brand Marketing on Twitter and Instagram:
Twitter and Instagram can also both be used for direct communication with clients, but they’re also great platforms to share branded content that establishes your company’s brand personality. Since Instagram does this through images, it should connect with your overall brand feel and colour scheme, and emphasize the visual aspects of your brand. In contrast, Twitter, is more about sharing ideas, and having online conversations, making it a great place to develop and share the voice of your brand personality. It’s also a visible platform for talking to clients, publicly showing how you respond to the customer.
Corporate Brand Marketing on You-Tube:
You-Tube is one of the most creative tools you can use for Corporate Brand Marketing, and often requires the most skill to get it right. You-Tube can be used for sharing your own corporate videos, or you can access You-Tube advertising options and put your ads in front of a wider audience. Corporate videos can showcase products, share corporate events, highlight company values, or demonstrate company culture to help hiring. Whatever they do, they need to do it well in order to engage your audience, so it’s worth investing, time, thought, and money in order to get the most out of branded company videos.
Email Marketing:
Setting up an ongoing e-newsletter is a great way to increase your brand reach, and connect with some of the most qualified contacts. Sending regular emails puts your brand directly in customers’ inboxes, and since customers actively sign up, you know they really want to receive it. E-mail marketing is a great tool to provide value to your customers though tips, expertise, promotions, brand stories, and more.
Blogging:
Your company blog is the place to establish the expertise of your brand, and provide added value to help your potential customers. Establishing a blog helps drive SEO to your website, but more importantly, it helps customers to move down the sales funnel, and/or become repeat customers, by providing information they need to make decisions about your brand, or to get the most out of your products or services. Creating ongoing blog content also supports all of your other social media platforms, as you can re-share this valuable information on a variety of channels. And if you have a sales team, blog content is a great resource for them to share when clients have questions.
The important thing with Corporate Brand Marketing is to create consistency throughout your social media posts, web content, visual and written messaging, and in the the way you do business. With so many online tools and platforms available, companies have a lot of power to establish the strength of their brand and reach clients. But at the same time, clients have a choice, and these very public and conversational channels allow customers to dialog with your company when they’re happy, and when they’re not. This means how you do business, how you communicate with customers, and how responsive your company is, all play important roles in your Corporate Brand Marketing, and brand image.
If you need help with your personal brand marketing or corporate brand marketing, get in touch!
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