The Dangers of Only Focusing on Bottom of Funnel Leads

Research by Gartner shared that 83% of a lead’s journey is not spent with the sales rep. Given the priority of bottom of the funnel marketing and BOFU leads, the part of the journey that involves the sales department (17%) will most likely be focused on these leads, emphasising the need for the marketing team to prioritise lead nurturing in higher levels of the funnel in order to feed into the buyer’s journey and encourage their progress towards lead conversion.

This need for nurturing leads throughout the funnel is emphasised by 2017 research by the Rain Group that shows that it takes an average of eight touches before leads book a sales meeting. This demonstrates how further touches and nurturing are necessary before an actual sale is likely to take place.

Implementing effective lead nurturing to drive outcomes is more relevant than ever due to the greater levels of pressure that marketers are facing due to widespread changes in the marketing landscape and buyer behaviour led by the impact of the recession and easing of the pandemic. Understandably, this has resulted in reduced budgets and a greater emphasis on performance across the board—and therefore the importance of developing a full-funnel strategy.

Leveraging this data is the primary method of determining the 5% of your TAM that has buying intent. According to 2020 research by Insights For Professionals (IFP), 99% of large companies are leveraging intent data in some capacity—a strong indicator of its popularity and role in marketing activities today.

Developing demand generation strategies is ideal for driving the progress of TOFU and MOFU leads, especially when lead nurturing campaigns are effectively leveraged (see below).

Effective demand generation activities are led by data on targeted leads based on their position in the pipeline. This ensures that messaging, timing, and channels are well-aligned with their position in the buyer's journey, their specific pain points and needs, and the channels that they frequent.

Whilst demand generation techniques are often long-term strategies, when successful they can increase brand awareness, bring in more quality leads, and have greater return on investment (ROI) due to high levels of personalisation, a data-centric approach, and emphasis on lead nurturing. As such, the more invested in demand generation a business is, the more likely it will be able to engage and expand the percentage of its target market with buying intent.

When campaigns and strategies are not performing optimally, it may be necessary to fully reassess your ICP and buyer personas to ensure accuracy. This is especially important when utilising Account Based Marketing (ABM), as the accuracy of your account targeting will often be a key factor in determining success. This will be invaluable when creating TOFU, MOFU, or BOFU content.

Based on your research and data, craft personalised messaging with content specific to pain points of the lead and distribute it on priority channels. According to research by Marketo, nurturing leads helps companies generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower costs. Adapt material across your marketing channels to ensure that all content complements each other and builds brand awareness and authority through the quality of the thought leadership of your brand.

Creating a content marketing roadmap and lead nurturing plan can assist in ensuring that all pertinent topics are covered at the right time. This content can then be fed into personalised lead nurturing, driving outcomes. According to Salesforce’s 2020 Trends In Personalisation, 97% of marketers witnessed a rise in business outcomes as a result of personalisation.

Ensure that any contact that you make with leads serves a clear purpose. If leads feel bombarded by outreach, especially across multiple channels, this may lead to churn. Patience is key. Be sure to develop campaigns that take into consideration the correct cadence to ensure that leads are kept aware of solutions but do not feel pressured to make a purchase.

Optimising your content for search engines is an essential component of targeting leads with TOFU marketing. Indeed, according to a 2019 report by Brightedge Research, 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine and 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search. Implement SEO by identifying keywords that align with the search intent of leads and leverage them in content marketing. This will drive more traffic to your website and support demand generation, as well as your brand’s authority as a trustworthy source.

Educational content is essential at the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey, as leads need to discover their problem, or are in the process of researching to better understand their situation. Content should highlight potential problems they could be unaware of, provide further insight into what these problems could mean, and give actionable advice. These TOFU marketing materials can include how-to guides, articles, checklists, and video tutorials. This content is best suited for email, content hubs, and syndication.

This should provide insights into potential pain points and their solutions in an easily shareable and digestible format. If your posts are interesting, informative, and helpful enough, your leads may follow your page, keeping your brand top of mind. Video posts are especially effective in this medium, and more likely to gain attention and engagement.

A great way to build awareness for the brand is by developing useful free tools that solve or optimise processes. Tools not only establish social proof of the outcomes a brand can deliver, but it also builds trust, and familiarity, and encourages repeat visits to channel hubs such as websites. This can include online tools, templates, eBooks, and cheatsheets.

Cadence: 3-4 useful tools per year (one well-developed tool every 3 months)

Content that provides a different point of view, insights on trends, and the potential changes in the industry for leads to be aware of demonstrates a brand’s thorough understanding of their niche and promotes trust, as it showcases the business’s expertise and knowledge. Thought leadership is also particularly effective as sales enablement materials to spark conversations with leads. This type of content is especially likely to reach leads through content syndication, as relevant topics can appear in their subscribed feeds.

Cadence: 1-2 times a week

At this point in the funnel, leads are aware that they have a problem or that they would like to improve an area of their lives but are considering which solution will be the best choice. All activities within MOFU targeting are designed to nurture interest and guide them through the funnel to BOFU.

At this point in their journey, leads will be swayed by relevant data that demonstrates the value of your solution. Sending emails or hosting events with information that will provide insight into how solutions can solve leads’ specific problems or improve performance, will keep your brand top of mind and facilitate lead research. This is what sets MOFU content apart from TOFU or BOFU content.

Email cadence: Up to 1 email per week

Highlighting the features of your brand and giving a direct demonstration of not only how a business's solution works, but how effective it is, is an easy and attractive strategy to move leads through the funnel. This can be done in an event format with lead participation for more direct engagement or an on-demand format that allows for snackable information that can also easily be shared.

Cadence: Every 2 weeks to once per month

Success stories from existing clients can showcase the versatility of your solution for different use cases and pain points. Both testimonials and case studies build trust and demonstrate the effectiveness of your solution from a more objective point of view that acts as social proof that is often more powerful than brand advertising. In fact, according to the 2022 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends Report by the Marketing Institute, 73% of the most successful content marketers use case studies. Additionally, nearly 50% of Software As A Service (SaaS) companies reported that case studies actively drive sales.

By discussing relevant topics and answering pertinent questions on your industry or solution, your brand will become an established thought leader. Regular communication within these communities will also help keep your brand top of mind and will likely encourage prospective clients to seek you out when they have questions.

Cadence: Preferably multiple times a week but twice a week at minimum

Retargeting can be an invaluable tool to reengage leads that have gone cold or seemingly dropped out of the sales funnel. According to research by GoSquared, only 2% of web traffic converts on the first visit, which means that 98% of your total visiting audience will be neglected without the use of retargeting. In addition, those that utilise retargeting efficiently can improve their lead conversion rate by as much as 161% (as the company Tirendo did with their retargeting campaign).

Be sure to leverage content and messaging that is specific to reignite the lead’s interest at the stage that they last interacted with the brand. The more personalised the messaging, the more successful the retargeting activity will be.

Even if the messaging or ads of your retargeting is working with the targeted audience, ensure that messaging is regularly updated to engage and entice leads to return. A great way to implement this is to make use of A/B testing when crafting new messages and use the best choice as the next contender to measure against.

Cadences should be personalised to suit lead data and behaviour, but an average cadence would usually be between 10-15 touches per month. If a lead has fallen out of the funnel for some time, it would be better to decrease the touches so as to not suddenly bombard them.

Keep in mind that the leads you are targeting are already familiar with your brand (and in some cases your solutions). Therefore retargeting should be simple, with messaging pertinent to the data and stage of the funnel that the lead is in. This is particularly relevant with display ads, as over explanation can lead to the ad looking messy and crowded. Simple Calls To Action (CTAs) are best.