Why You Need an Inbound Marketing Sales Funnel

In this article, we’ll help you learn the steps needed to develop an effective Inbound Marketing Sales Funnel. We’ll also show you how to set up the funnel stages and turn potential customers into lifelong customers.

Inbound marketing is a modern approach to the traditional (outbound) marketing model. It’s a fundamental shift where the goal of the marketer is to be helpful while providing well-timed and relevant information that solves the user’s search intent.

Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing

Outbound is disruptive

For starters, outbound marketing is disruptive, ill-timed, and uninformed. They don’t hire an agency like Meticulosity (it’s OK; we're not offended); instead, they buy their lead lists.

Then, you get unwanted phone calls, emails, or postcards every day! They’re saying, “Look over here; I’m super shiny; I don’t know if you even need me; just buy me.” It’s crazy that businesses continue to waste money and approach sales in this way.

To make matters worse, they do marketing outreach with no intelligence. How do they know whether you need their product or service? Why do they think you’re ready to buy?

You get that infamous call for replacement windows. You say to the rep, “Wow, my son just broke a window kicking the soccer ball. It’s just magic that you called me just now. How did you know? Can you come over right now?”

They can’t pronounce my name and have no clue I live in a brand-new house. Bad intel, poor timing, and not in alignment with any buying process. They’re simply creating noise for random people, being disruptive, and NOT providing solutions to their problems.

Backwards, right?

Inbound is helpful

Inbound strives to attract, convert, close, and delight a niche audience by creating worthy experiences that have a profound impact on the user’s quest for help.

It’s when a user thinks they have a problem, need, or challenge when they turn to Google to ask their question.

This is the opportunity for the Inbound Marketer to present authoritative content to answer the user’s search question. This differentiates inbound marketing!

Inbound Sales Funnel vs the Outbound Sales Funnel

The (traditional) outbound sales funnel?

By definition, a sales funnel is the ideal process your prospect travels through as they engage your brand until becoming a customer. A traditional sales funnel is the old “in-store model” where sales reps try to “push” prospects through the sales funnel selling their wares.

The inbound sales funnel

Similar in many respects to the traditional funnel but with a few key differentiators that make it 10x more effective than the traditional method. One is the alignment of content relevant to their position in the funnel.

The alignment of high-value content will show your thought leadership. This will yield better engagement and higher lead quality. The resulting process “pulls” or “guides” the prospect through your funnel more meaningfully.

Why your sales strategy needs a funnel with stages

Each business should have a sales funnel setup for its sales strategy. This model should have clearly defined stages that align with the buyer’s journey.

When defining your stages,, pay careful attention to the areas that will influence your sales strategy plan. These include items such as your sales team size, sales cycle, product or service offering, price point, KPIs, etc.

How you execute each stage in the sales funnel defines your success outcomes.

Inbound funnel stage terminology

A few inbound sales terms are ToFu (Top of the funnel), MoFu (middle of the funnel), and BoFu (bottom of the funnel). Each describes different but significant stages relative to the prospect’s position in the Inbound Marketing Sales funnel.

ToFu: Top of the Funnel (stage)

AWARENESS - Where the prospect is developing symptoms of a problem, challenge, or opportunity. The prospect will search Google for answers, peer insight, technical resources, and educational learning.

ToFu Sales Tactics

Content Types - White paper, eBook, Checklist. Tip Sheet, How-to Video, Guide, Self-paced learning, How-to content, Educational content, Infographic, Kit (combo of these items).

Content Messaging - Issue, Resolve, Risk, Upgrade, Improve, Optimize, Prevent, Troubleshoot.

A great strategy during this stage is to use a Facebook Pixel and create a remarketing campaign.

A remarketing campaign will show ads to consumers who have visited your site before but left before they could convert. You can display relevant ads that correspond to the prospect's position in your funnel, creating a great new way to increase conversions.

MoFu: Middle of the Funnel (stage)

CONSIDERATION - Where the prospect has now clearly defined a given name for their problem, challenge, or opportunity. Here, the prospect will be evaluating and researching good-fit solutions.

MoFu Sales Tactics
Content Types - Data Sheet, FAQ, Case Study, Demo Video, Webinar, Free Sample, Comparison, White Paper, Expert Guides, Webcast/podcast/video, eBook, Worksheet, Template.

Content Messaging - Solution, Provider, Service, Tool, Remedy.

BoFu: Bottom of the Funnel–Delight

DECISION - Where the prospect has now decided on their solution strategy, method, or approach. Here, the prospect will finalize what it would take to become a customer.

BoFu Sales Tactics
Content Types - Free Trial, Live Demo, Consultation, Estimate, Coupon, Case Study

Vendor comparison, Product comparison, Comparison chart

Content Messaging - Compare, Comparison, Versus, vs, Pros & Cons, Benchmarks, Review

How do I create an Inbound Sales Funnel?

Now, you may ask yourself - how do I create an Inbound Marketing Sales Funnel?

My first step would be to set a goal. Though typically used when defining marketing objectives, I like to borrow the framework of a SMART Goal (Specific - Measurable - Attainable - Relevant - Timely) to get things rolling.

Sales Funnel - Goal Example

“Each month, close 1 $5,000/m retainer by working with marketing to produce 15 qualified leads per week. Improve first-touch lead nurturing efforts to help pull prospects through our sales funnel until I can deliver 2 final presentations.”

To produce 1 $5,000/m retainer, we'll need:

• 2 final presentations (a good BoFu metric)
• 4 goal-setting & planning calls
• 10 to 12 exploratory calls
• 60 leads

See, when I work it backward, I’m defining my conversion rate per stage through each stage of the sales process. By factoring in my conversion rates, I can estimate how many leads I must generate to meet my sales goal. In my example above, I must have the marketing team produce 60 leads for me to close 1 retainer deal per month. Is it starting to make sense?

How does Inbound Marketing increase lead to my sales funnel?

I’m glad you asked. By attracting prospects through an inbound way with top-of-funnel tactics. Example ToFo activities include SEO, relevant topic blogging, social media, Facebook ads, Google ads, Bing ads, YouTube video ads, 10x pillar page (AKA core topic), landing pages, etc.

Why use a sales funnel?

A well-defined Sales Funnel will help sales reps visualize the stage their prospect is traveling through. Along with the help of your CRM, you can track and measure the effectiveness of each stage - making adjustments where needed.

When you align each stage to a high-value piece of content, you’ll increase user engagement.

Your inbound marketing strategies directly influence this engagement.

So, it’s vital that your sales and marketing teams are also in alignment. Remember, both teams need to rally around the same goal.

When these two teams become aligned, then the right prospect will see the right message at the right time.

The results... massive website traffic, better lead quality and increased conversion rates. Now you can close like a beast!

eBook Download: The Definitive Guide to Selling Better & Faster

Download our eBook today to learn more about working your website visitors through the inbound marketing sales funnel. If you need more information about your current marketing sales funnel, check out our eBook or contact us today!