The Dangers of Only Focusing on Bottom of Funnel Leads

Summary

The importance of a full-funnel strategy

The sales funnel explained

SALES FUNNEL (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU)

The sales funnel is a marketing and sales model that describes a lead’s journey from their first engagement with a brand until they purchase a solution or product. This is typically comprised of three stages known as the top of the funnel (TOFU), the middle of the funnel (MOFU), and the bottom of the funnel (BOFU)—they represent the awareness, interest, and opinion of a brand's prospective buyer, as well as their readiness to purchase a brand solution. Lead scoring best practices and lead qualification processes are used to determine what stage leads are in based on specific criteria and touchpoints.

WHAT IS TOFU (TOP OF FUNNEL)?

The TOFU stage, also known as the awareness stage of the funnel, is where potential leads understand the scale of their problems. As a result, the goal at this stage is to create awareness both for the brand and its solutions, as well as address leads’ pain points.

WHAT IS MOFU (MIDDLE OF FUNNEL)?

The MOFU stage, also referred to as the consideration stage, is where potential leads are aware of the available solutions to their problem and how each will allow them to improve performance. At this point, a marketer's goal should be to educate further on the problem, as well as the unique benefits of solutions that are specific to the brand’s solutions and lead’s goals.

WHAT IS BOFU (BOTTOM OF FUNNEL)?

The BOFU stage, or the decision stage, is the point in the lead’s journey when they are ready to make a decision. Therefore, it is imperative that marketers showcase the solution’s competitive features that are most relevant to their needs. Sharing BOFU content that highlights performance is particularly effective at this stage. Some bottom of funnel content examples include case studies and client testimonials to showcase key information.

WHAT IS TAM (TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET)?

According to Hubspot’s definition, “Total addressable market or TAM refers to the total market demand for a product or service. It’s the most amount of revenue a business can possibly generate by selling their product or service in a specific market.”

TAM is also the starting point used to determine subsections of target markets, ideal client profiles (ICP), and buyer personas.

How do you identify the 5% with buyer's intent within the bottom of the funnel?

How to leverage intent data

Other data that businesses can use to qualify leads include:

Strategies for calculating the 5% within the bottom of the funnel

Target leads in the dark funnel

The risks of targeting only the 5% within BOFU

Why demand generation is essential for expanding your market

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    Personalized content with inbound and outbound syndication

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    Webinars and events

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    Building communities through social media and influencer marketing

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    Email cadences tailored to targeted individuals or accounts

Lead nurturing best practices

#1 Understand your target audience

#2 Create omnichannel campaigns with personalized messaging

#3 Identify the correct cadences to make contact with leads

#4 Implement SEO

How to target TOFU and MOFU with
effective lead nurturing

4 Steps for effective TOFU targeting

1. Create educational materials

Cadences:

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    Smaller articles: 1-2 times per week

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    Longer pieces like guides and eBooks: 3-4 times per week

2. Post snackable & informative social media posts

Cadences:

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    Instagram: 3-7 times per week

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    LinkedIn: 1-5 times a day

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    Twitter: 1-5 tweets a day

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    Facebook: 1-2 times a day

3. Provide useful tools

4. Thought-leadership content

4 Steps for effective MOFU targeting

1. Create targeted touchpoints through email and events

Event cadence:

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    Every 2 months for events over 30 min

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    Every 1-2 weeks for events under 30 min

2. Host product demonstrations

3. Showcase case studies & testimonials

Cadence:

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    Consistently showcase testimonials

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    Produce 1-2 case studies per month

4. Communicate on forums, social media, and communities

How to use retargeting to reach the
cold prospects within TOFU and MOFU

WHAT IS RETARGETING?

Retargeting (or remarketing) is a marketing technique where a business reaches out to visitors on their website, app, or other content through display advertising or direct communication like emails and direct messages.

Retargeting Best Practices

Use your data to personalize content

Don’t overuse the same retargeting ads or messaging

Set the right cadences to avoid brand blindness and aggravation

Keep your retargeting activities simple

Case Studies: TOFU and MOFU
nurturing outcomes

THE COMPANY

ZEISS IQS, a segment of ZEISS Group (a global leader in optics and optoelectronics), specialized in quality assurance products through the use of metrology.

West Monroe is a digital services firm that was born in technology but built for business—partnering with companies in transformative industries to deliver quantifiable financial value.

THE REQUIREMENT

Generate more marketing qualified leads for its metrology solutions. Their two biggest obstacles included finding a new source of quality individuals in key industries and the need for a proactive demand generation provider.

With strategically targeted accounts in seven core industry verticals, West Monroe required a myriad of content to generate and nurture leads at scale from its account list, as well as accelerate their buyer journey until they were ready to make a purchase.

THE APPROACH

A lead generation program with six clearly-defined email touchpoints for nurturing leads which incorporated buyer intent data to assess sales readiness, as well as tracking of two lead touches based on interaction with assets
distributed via content syndication.

Five campaigns paired omnichannel content syndication with lead nurturing campaigns, both fueled with custom-tailored content by the INFUSE creative team with multitouch lead attribution and a content map supplied by West Monroe.

Key takeaways

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    TOFU and MOFU are important parts of the funnel to target in order to expand your target market.

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    Exclusively targeting BOFU can lead to the neglect of 95% of potential prospects, leads not progressing through the funnel, and the loss of potential clients through lack of nurturing.

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    Utilizing demand generation and effective lead nurturing campaigns are the most effective ways to target all leads throughout the funnel.

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    The use of intent data and personalization will assist in guiding leads through the funnel more swiftly and efficiently.

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    For cold prospects and leads that have left the funnel, retargeting can be a useful method of bringing them back for a second chance.

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    All retargeting activities must be well-planned and personalized in order to be effective.

Our INFUSE demand experts are available to help you implement a targeting strategy that effectively engages with and nurtures your desired leads to empower your teams to meet quota and drive demand outcomes

CONTACT OUR TEAM AT [email protected] TO LEVERAGE CUSTOM-TAILORED AND CONVERSION-OPTIMIZED CONTENT CRAFTED BY OUR TEAM OF INDUSTRY EXPERTS

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