Have you ever seen a social media post, a blog post, listened to a podcast, or watched a video and thought, “WOW, that sounds like MY situation. I need to know more!”?

You probably have, and hopefully, you experienced a great marketing funnel after that where the person took you on a journey from the problem or situation all the way to an offer to solve that problem in a way that felt relevant and super helpful.

That’s how a marketing funnel should feel — personal, relevant, and really helpful

You’ve probably also experienced the opposite. It started with a good hook to capture your attention, but once you opt-in, it’s crickets. So your interest and desire go away and you move on.

Please, please, please DO NOT let that be you and your business!

Story-time:

Back in 2013, I jumped on the hustle bandwagon. In those days, guest blogging was all the rage, so I took a course and ran out to guest blog my little fingers off. I landed this guest blog in September of 2013 on Brazen Careerist, and things went bananas.

In just a few short weeks, I got over 3500, maybe even close to 4000, people opting in for my freebie – The 5 Simple Linkedin Hacks to Create a Profile That Rocks (Even If You’re Not Looking for a Job).

Yay, me, right? Well, hold that cheering until you hear the rest of the story…

I noticed a ton of the people who opted in unsubscribed right away. Which is sooooo frustrating if you’ve ever had that happen.

Then to make it worse, MANY of those people who opted in actually stuck around but never again opened more than a couple more emails from me.  

I never really made any money off that list. It was just a bunch of names who flooded into my email list but never connected with me as a person. They just got my freebie and forgot all about me. And it was totally my fault — but I didn’t know it at the time.

Back then, I was so focused on building my list that I didn’t really think through what the experience would be AFTER they opt-in. I hadn’t considered how to connect and engage with them to create an experience that would make them want to stick around and become a customer.  

Honestly, I really missed the boat. This story would be so much different if I’d had a marketing funnel in place because it would have nurtured and engaged all those opt-ins to continue wanting to learn and grow with me.

And with that story in mind, we’re diving into part three in this four-part series on creating a predictably profitable online business. If you haven’t already listened to episodes 44 and 45, I suggest going to listen to those so you get the most out of this series!

Biggest Show Takeaways:

• You want to create a marketing funnel that intrigues and pulls your audience forward.
• The decision to buy from you actually starts WAAAAAY before anyone hits your sales page, attends your webinar, comes to your event, or talks with you one-on-one.
• Propeller CRM found that 95% of customers will buy from the business who helps them understand their pain IF that business ALSO helps them discover how to effectively solve their specific pain and offers a compelling solution.
• That’s not going to happen with a couple of emails, a ton of hustle, or the latest ‘hot’ marketing tactic. That will ONLY happen when you create a marketing funnel buyers journey that primes your audience to discover why you and your offer are EXACTLY what they've been searching for online.
• You demonstrate to your audience through stories, examples, and situations why you and your offer are THE THING they’ve been looking for.
• In this phase of your marketing funnel, you want your audience to be leaning forward thinking that they NEED or WANT what you’re offering. You want them to see what’s possible.
• I’ve actually created an entire process for my students and clients to get to the heart of what you need to prime your offer in The Funnel Persuasion Playbook because this is so critical for your marketing funnel to work.
• This is how you go from random acts of marketing to a smooth and super engaging system that turns your audience into eager clients. And it’s the part most people glaze over, but this is the HEART of getting people ready to buy!
• The most important things that go into priming your offer:
  • #1 – You need to know what your audience CURRENTLY believes about their situation.
  • #2 – You need to help them see a new perspective and create a new belief that gets them ready to buy. Creating this new belief is so important, and once you identify it all, your marketing becomes super easy. You know EXACTLY what your goal is, and you simply focus on creating these new beliefs.

• If you’ve ever worried or wondered about what to put in your email series; what to create blog posts, podcasts or videos about; what you should talk about on social media; or what you should create for a lead magnet, it all comes down to these 2 things:
  • #1: What does your audience currently believe about their situation?
  • #2: What stories, examples, insights, and a-has can you give to them throughout your marketing funnel to help them see that YOU are the person to help them?

• Want to know which marketing funnel is right for you and your business? Take this free and easy quiz and in less than 5 minutes you’ll know EXACTLY which funnel is right for you.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Marketing Funnel Quiz: https://www.michellelevans.com/marketing-funnel-quiz/
• Link to episode 44
• Link to episode 45