April 18, 2024

Rethinking Marketing Funnels: The Critical Role of Entry Points

By Michael G. · 2 minute read

We always say the current funnel model is broken. The traditional funnel model has been one that’s a staple for many marketing campaigns. It typically depicts the linear journey of entering, going through the “nurturing,” and ultimately ending as the person becoming a customer or another lost lead. However, one of the many inconsistencies with this traditional approach is that it fails to address the issues and nuances of individual buyer journeys, potentially leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

The Limitations of a One-Size-Fits-All Approach

The typical marketing funnel oversimplifies the customer acquisition process. It assumes that all prospects should follow the same path from discovery to decision, ignoring their unique needs and backgrounds. This doesn’t consider where a prospect is in their own journey nor does it acknowledge the individual’s specific characteristics and requirements.

A prospect might enter the funnel through various channels – a form on your website, a direct message, or maybe they clicked through on an ad. Typically, we see the sales team engage with them and work to convert them into customers. However, if the interaction lacks personality and fails to recognize the position of the prospect and their needs, then the conversion rate decreases over time.

The Power of Diversified Entry Points

The entry point is where all marketing efforts converge and should be the focus of nuanced strategy. Entry points vary greatly depending on factors like the prospect’s persona, ICP, industry, company size, and the stage of the buying process they’re in.

Recognizing this diversity is crucial. While it’s possible to segment some entry points, assuming a uniform journey for all prospects is ineffective. Each entry point should lead to a tailored journey that respects the prospect’s context and guides them through an experience that speaks to them and their pain points – not everyone else’s

Building Customized Journeys

As a company’s marketing matures, along with its approaches, it should aim to build a system where thousands of prospects can navigate through multiple journeys at the same time. These journeys should maintain a cohesive brand identity, even though they will have their own messaging, positioning, offers, and content.

An example of this is if two prospects attend the same webinar, but they belong to different journeys, they will have different content, messaging, and asks. This would show the flexibility and interconnectedness of a well-designed and modernized marketing funnel.

The Importance of a Flexible Marketing Engine

Now obviously the ultimate goal is to build a funnel that can adapt to serve the best-fit customers effectively. The harsh reality is that there’s no shortcut to creating such an effective engine. Overlooking the idea of crafting detailed, adaptable customer journeys is akin to setting the stage for failure.

In order for a business to thrive in today’s competitive market, they must accept the fact that having multiple entry points is something that exists. As soon as they situate themselves with this, they can then create personalized content and overall personalized customer experiences in order to engage more effectively with prospects, catering to their specific needs at each stage of their journey. At the end of the day, this increases the chances of converting them.