Month: November 2024

If you work in digital marketing, you’ve likely been exposed to many strategies for online marketing. Marketing funnels are used by many businesses to better understand their target market and reach it more effectively. If you’re looking for new ways to promote your clients’ products or services, understanding how to create a marketing funnel can help you provide better services to your clients. 

What is a marketing funnel?

A marketing funnel is a strategy that can help you reach more potential customers. By understanding your clients’ target markets, you can build a marketing funnel that provides the information customers need to take action and purchase your clients’ goods or services. The marketing funnel provides an outline of the steps you need to take to reach potential customers through stages, from the beginning where the initial introduction is made through completion where the customer decides to make a purchase. 

What are the stages in a marketing funnel?

Before you start building a marketing funnel, it’s important to understand more about the stages involved. The following information can help you decide whether a marketing funnel is the right strategy based on your clients’ needs and goals.

• Awareness – The awareness stage is when potential customers first become aware of your client’s brand. This awareness can come from customers’ seeing a blog post, online ad, or other promotional material that showcases your clients’ products or services. 
• Interest – The next stage is when the customer gains enough information about your clients’ brand to become interested in knowing more. At this point, it’s important to provide valuable information to potential customers to maintain their interest and encourage them to move forward in the buying process. 
• Desire – The desire stage is when the customer learns enough about your clients’ brand to make them want to purchase. They may do more in-depth research to gain information that will help them decide to make a purchase. This is why it’s important to provide accurate information that potential customers can access easily.
• Action – The action stage is when the customer makes a purchase. Marketing to those in the action stage can involve calls to action that encourage them to buy.
• Retention – Single purchases are not enough. Customers must be encouraged to purchase again during the retention stage. 

Building a marketing funnel can help you better promote your clients’ products and services. Like other marketing strategies, the marketing funnel works in stages to gain awareness, interest, desired, action, and retention. Providing enough information for your clients’ potential customers ensures they have what they need to make an informed decision before making a purchase. 

When you’re self-employed, taking time away from work can be challenging. You may worry about losing income or not having capable hands to take care of your business while you’re away. If you don’t have employees, and you’re the sole person responsible for running your business, it can be especially difficult to step away from work for holidays or vacations. But if you plan ahead, you can allow yourself time off. With the holidays coming up soon, you can start preparing now so you’re able to take time off of work to spend with friends and family. 

Concerns about loss of income

If you work in sales, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is likely your busiest time of year. This can make it seem impossible for you to take time off. Depending on the type of business you’re in, you may be able to work harder now to lessen your workload for the holiday season. By focusing on working more now, you can reduce the impact of income loss during your time off. 

Adapt how you run your business

If you start preparing now and take some steps to set up your business so that it can run in your absence, you can take time away to enjoy the holidays. Can you run your business remotely? If so, you may consider having limited availability during your time off, so you’re only required to intervene if a problem arises. Hiring a temporary assistant to help through the holidays can allow you to focus only on the tasks that require your attention. When applicable, be sure your clients or customers are aware of your absence and when you will return. 

Try not to feel guilty about taking some time away from work. Self-employed people often feel like they must be able to do it all without taking any downtime. But everyone needs vacation time to prevent burnout. If you start preparing now for the holiday season, you can take the time you need away from work to enjoy the holidays with your friends and family.

Most people think of stress as a bad thing, and it can be if you let it take over your life and prevent you from getting things done. However, stress can also be your motivation to meet your goals. Think about how good it feels to mark those dreaded tasks off your to-do list. Accomplishing even the smallest tasks throughout the day can help you stay motivated to keep going. When you begin to feel stressed, use those negative feelings in a positive way by overcoming the cause of your stress. 

Don’t confuse stress with anxiety

People often confuse stress and anxiety. Both are responses the body and mind can have when facing difficult situations. Everyone faces stress, but not everyone has anxiety. If you have anxiety, you may need outside help to manage it. But with stress, you can find ways to use your body’s stress responses to get things done. Convert that negative reaction into a positive by using it to motivate yourself to accomplish your goals. 

Use your stress to be more productive

Stress can leave you feeling sweaty, increase your heart rate, and make you feel queasy. These are all normal responses to stressful situations. You can’t control how your body reacts to stress, but you can control what you do with that reaction. Think of your stress as anticipation in completing a task or project that will be fulfilling once it’s done. 

Face your stress head-on

When preparing for a stressful situation, or just feeling overwhelmed because of everyday life, find a positive way to use that negative energy. Simple things like a quick walk outside or a quiet moment alone to decompress can immediately lessen your body’s response to stressful situations. When preparing to tackle a stressful project or event, think of the worst thing that could happen and focus on what you can do to prevent that worst-case scenario.  

Everyone faces stressful situations, but not everyone deals with stress in a productive way. It’s helpful to know some calming tactics that can provide relief when you’re facing difficulties. However, you can’t always prevent your body’s response to stress. Instead, use that response to your advantage to motivate yourself to complete those dreaded tasks or projects.