Top-of-funnel marketing (ToFu) is all about maximizing the reach of your ad content. And the ultimate goal of this process is to raise brand awareness and draw prospective customers into your sales funnel.
There are numerous ways to approach ToFU marketing, everything from running traditional TV ads to partnering with social media influencers to pitch your products. The question is, which strategies are most effective at capturing the interest of your audience and increasing engagement?
Below, we take a deep dive into five of the most impactful ToFU marketing strategies and explore the nuances between lower-funnel and upper-funnel marketing.
Lower Funnel vs. Upper Funnel Marketing
Individuals at the bottom of the sales funnel are primed to make a purchase. They have done the research, familiarized themselves with the value proposition of your product or service, and are ready to make their final decision.
Conversely, individuals at the top of the sales funnel are just starting their journeys. They may or may not be aware of your product and have just begun looking for a solution that meets their unique needs.
The goal of top-of-funnel marketing is to introduce prospects to your brand, provide them with preliminary information about what your product or service does, and draw them deeper into the funnel. You should also focus on strengthening your credibility so that your potential customers will view your brand as authoritative and trustworthy.
5 Ways to Boost Brand Awareness and Feed Your Funnel
There are plenty of top-of-funnel marketing tactics that you can leverage to boost brand awareness and feed your sales funnel. Some of the most popular include:
Influencer Marketing
Working with influencers has become one of the most popular top-of-funnel marketing strategies, especially for brands that target Gen Z and millennial consumers. According to HubSpot, 72% of millennials and Gen Zers follow influencers on social media platforms, and 50% of millennials trust product recommendations from influencers they follow.
When you partner with an influencer, you can tap into the power of social proof and borrow that individual’s credibility. Many influencers have followers who already trust them. If these individuals see their favorite influencer promoting your service or using your product, they will likely project that trust onto your brand.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical component of effective top-of-funnel marketing. A staggering 87% of product searches now start online. An effective SEO strategy will increase your chances of being discovered by the overwhelming majority of customers who start their purchasing journeys through search.
Adding phrases and keywords to your on-site content will help you climb the rankings and improve search visibility. However, you must also:
- Optimize your site’s performance
- Include relevant images
- Adhere to other SEO best practices
Following these steps will help you achieve that coveted page-one status.
Social Media Ads
The typical consumer spends approximately 2.5 hours per day on social media. If you want to generate buzz about your products or services, running paid social media ads is a great tactic.
Even better is that social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have robust advertising platforms that allow you to track everything. You can customize your campaigns, measure their impact, and make adjustments to maximize your reach.
Pay-per-click Campaigns
Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on top search engines like Google remain an effective tool for generating brand awareness. Running PPC ads can support your other top-of-funnel marketing strategies and generate near-instant traffic for your website.
However, PPC campaigns are quite expensive. For that reason, they should not be your primary lead gen tool. Still, they have their place in any top-of-funnel marketing strategy.
Connected TV
Connected TV advertising involves running ads during streamed TV content. You can deliver short 15-to-30-second ads to customers when their eyes are already glued to their screens.
Connected TV advertising provides many of the same benefits as traditional TV ads. However, it can be even more impactful, as you can precisely target audiences and measure performance, among other features.
Measure What Matters With MNTN
If you want to reinvigorate your top-of-funnel marketing strategy, use a multifaceted approach that includes social media, paid search ads, SEO, and Connected TV.