Overall programmatic ads strategy may look different from, let's say, mobile marketing strategy. Nevertheless, like all advertising strategies, they share the same goal — to get the highest possible conversion rates from both new and returning customers. Full-funnel marketing strategy is no exception.
Once you acquire even some basic understanding of the online advertising funnel, your results can significantly surpass the averages. In this post, we are going to guide you on how to perform a stage-by-stage funnel optimization process for your ads campaigns, as well as provide some extra pro tips from SmartyAds team members.
What is full-funnel marketing?
Before we jump into practical full-funnel strategies, let’s start with a basic definition. A full-funnel campaign usually includes a range of specific actions channeled at attracting a customer base.
Essentially, it focuses on the client's journey, in other words, the position that a person currently occupies in the sales funnel. This way, marketers have a chance to communicate with customers, taking into consideration their needs at the exact moment, no matter what phase of the decision-making process they are in.
What is an ad funnel?
It is a simplified representation of the online customer journey, which ideally leads the user from being a potential customer to becoming a returning client. Mapping such journeys is a fundamental element of building a full-funnel strategy with specific messaging developed for each of the stages.
There are five basic phases, which start from building brand awareness and should eventually lead to the purchase and further retention. These include:
- Awareness — the first interaction with the brand;
- Interest — when the customers researching businesses and the main task is to keep their attention;
- Consideration — when a customer is choosing between specific solutions and their alternatives;
- Conversion — a phase where the purchase happens;
- Retention — an optional phase, designed to keep customers coming back.
Top-funnel marketing tactics
Presenting your brand to the world is always a unique experience that often defines many details of further relationships with your clients. At this stage, your efforts are focused on reaching people who haven’t previously interacted with your company. Once you reach the right people, you can then introduce your brand and show your solutions.
Here is an extra tip from the SmartyAds team:
Launch a referral program. Referral programs are great instruments to make your existing audience useful; you can find more potential clients. In fact, a referral from a friend can often be more effective proof of your product’s qualities than your previous advertising efforts.
A good example of successful referral marketing is the case of Dropbox. They provided their clients with extra storage for a referral to a friend and, believe it or not, this simple move resulted in 60% more signups within the next 15 months.
Mid-funnel marketing tactics
The middle of the funnel is often regarded as the most important part of the customer journey. The techniques to hold user attention vary from carousel ad sets for showcasing the product to free trials where a client can start using the product for free and then pay to continue.
Our recommended tactics for your business include the usage of user-generated content and remarketing campaigns. More specifically:
Encourage your existing buyers to share user-generated content. Not only will this provide your brand with additional buzz, but it will also let your current clients communicate with your potential customer base.
Start launching remarketing campaigns. Apart from creating relevant content, you can also leverage the advantages of programmatic advertising by launching remarketing campaigns targeted at users who are already acquainted with your brand but have never taken action.
With the right advertising frequency, your ad will play a decisive role in closing the deal. Remarketing is one of the most useful tactics, and beyond online advertising, it can also be used to return your previous customers.
Bottom-funnel marketing tactics
Once you know exactly what problem your future clients want to solve, it’s time to convince them that your solution can do it. To make the final nudge, lots of techniques can be used. A nice programmatic solution is launching a retargeting ads campaign oriented at people who already showed interest in your company.
Other tactics might include launching a precise search engine campaign and building an exit-intent framework:
Make use of search engine marketing. When a potential customer is already motivated to make a purchase, their final search might be decisive, and here’s when search engine marketing comes in. Having a relevant landing page at the top rank may become your biggest advantage, and you don’t want these potential buyers to choose a competitor.
Implementing an exit-intent framework. Another one high-performing tactic oriented at the retention of the visitors who are about to abandon your website. Once the user decides to close the page, they get a push message with a burning offer. Implementing such a trick quite often leads visitors to convert. Such a scenario is a win-win situation for both sides.
Benefits of full-funnel marketing
Now, if you are wondering why you should consider this approach over others, let’s see what the key benefits of full-funnel marketing are. Its potential is huge as it enables companies to drive sales and build long-term client relationships. It helps you:
Expand your audience
This is a proven way to attract new people to your product or service. It allows you to interact with potential clients through every phase of the funnel. By including multiple channels in your full-funnel marketing strategies, you have the opportunity to even reach new segments of your audience and significantly raise brand awareness.
Boost brand consideration
You can grab the opportunity to share very precise and tailored messaging as well as valuable content throughout your campaigns. It will increase the probability customers will consider your business over the competitors.
Accelerate sales
If you approach your full-funnel plan in a well-informed way, your audience will move from mere prospects to real clients. This approach allows you to address the pain points of your customers at each stage, thus improving positive decision-making and driving better sales outcomes.
Foster long-term loyalty
It’s your chance to build strong connections with prospects and foster long-term and loyal relationships while turning them into customers. Even after the purchase is made, don’t lose the string — maintain engagement between your business and your client with personalized communication that will add value and turn them into brand ambassadors.
6 Steps to building a full-funnel marketing strategy
If you are overwhelmed with the new information and don’t know where to start, here are the essential steps that will help you with your full-funnel marketing approach.
Step 1: Make sure your product is ready to be advertised
Don’t rush into launching your campaigns. First of all, make sure your product is ready to be advertised. It means ensuring your website or landing page is error-free, all the content is sleek, and doesn’t include any errors. If you miss even a minor mistake — chances are people won’t forget it. Remember, first impressions matter the most so do your best to make it spotless.
Step 2: Define and segment your audience
Once you are ready, move on to the potential client research. Analyze your potential clients, their needs, pain points, interests, and behavior patterns. Segment them based on the criteria that fit your requirements the most. This step is crucial for your advertising campaign success as you can write personalized text that will draw attention to your product or service.
Step 3: Tailor content to each funnel phase
It’s important to tailor your messaging and visuals not only for each audience segment but also for each stage of your marketing funnel. Each funnel represents another step of your client journey. Therefore, your approach to presenting advertising should differ as well. Come up with compelling content that resonates with users from the awareness to the conversion phase.
Step 4: Apply multi-channel approach
In order to maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns, it’s crucial to utilize a mix of different channels like programmatic, social media, search ads, or emails. Cross-channel advertising strategy should be consistent throughout each channel to create a smooth and coherent impression.
Step 5: Boost conversions with retargeting
Don’t forget about the users who have previously interacted with your business but didn’t finalize the purchase. They are a valuable audience that can be easily converted into loyal customers. Retargeting campaigns enable you to bring those people back to you through personalized ads, abandoned cart reminders, or exclusive offers that will drive them toward purchasing your products or services.
Step 6: Continuously refine your strategy
To achieve the top advertising outcomes, it’s important to track and analyze your performance continuously. Refining your plan requires dedication, as it’s an ongoing process. Track KPIs such as CTR, conversion rates, etc., to adjust your approach based on real data, ensuring your full-funnel strategy continuously improves and delivers optimal results.
Effective tactics for each stage from SmartyAds
Now it’s our turn to share some real-life tips from SmartyAds professionals that will help you achieve your goals with ease and drive sales to your product. These are the complementary tactics you can combine with the steps we described above.
Attract the right audience with data-driven targeting
Targeting is the key to the great outcomes of all your marketing activities. We recommend you leverage programmatic advertising and AI for audience segmentation. With the right instruments at hand, you can reach potential customers at the awareness phase.
The opportunities are endless: whether to use contextual or behavioral targeting and incorporate real-time bidding to deliver your ads to the right people at the right time. SmartyAds DSP offers the most precise targeting options so you can reach the right people based on certain criteria at the perfect time.
Engage prospects with personalized content
The online users are getting more and more demanding. With the growing number of products and services, it’s not really easy to stand out among the competition and make people choose your brand over another one. This is why personalization is key. Only by offering the most personalized messages based on user behavior and interest and speaking about the relevant pain points of prospects will you effectively engage with your audience.
Forget about generic messages you were using before — analyze user behavior and intern, introduce dynamic creatives, and come up with tailored messages to capture attention and nurture consideration.
Embrace video ads to boost awareness
Video advertising is picking up the pace, and now it’s an effective instrument for businesses to generate brand awareness. This format of ad creatives is more engaging and will easily grab the attention of prospects.
People are more likely to click video content than a banner. Video ads are also more smoothly integrated into the user experience, and they are less intrusive.
Summing it up
Full-funnel marketing tactics are effective tools for advertisers who want to reach new people and turn them into clients. By implementing our tips, you can engage with new audiences and convert them at different touchpoints. We recommend you align all your advertising efforts in the future with each stage of the customer journey. This is the most comprehensive approach to boosting conversions and building long-term brand loyalty.
Yes, it requires lots of dedication and effort but it will eventually pay off. The landscape of advertising evolves rapidly and if you want to stay on top of the curve you should invest all possible resources. In addition, it’s a great way to stay flexible and adaptable to the changing industry. tendencies
Start implementing these strategies today to create seamless, high-impact campaigns that drive sustainable growth with SmartyAds DSP!
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