Why You Need a Marketing Funnel, Not Just a Website
Written by: Husam Jandal, Digital Marketing Consultant and Business Strategist, Husam Jandal International
We’ve all heard the phrase, “All roads lead to Rome.” It’s a nod to the massive network of over 250,000 miles of roads that spanned the Empire at its height. Much of the extended infrastructure existed, but Rome further invested in the radial structure that connected the city to the broader established system, making trade and transport much easier.
This is how to think about your website. It is the heart of your “empire,” and should be one of your first undertakings for that reason. Once it is purpose-built to provide visitors with value and help them engage with your factoring company, the next step is to build a radial road system that connects it to existing infrastructure that people already know and use, clear any debris that prevents them from using it, and keep them moving forward. A marketing funnel does this.
Funnels Allow You to Create Targeted and Relevant Messaging
Businesses start their journeys for different reasons. They’ll also have different expectations for what the future should look like when they arrive at their intended destination. Moreover, some will begin their journeys from a neighboring city, while others will gradually trek across thousands of miles. A well-developed funnel takes these things into account and allows you to communicate with them in a way that resonates as they move through the journey. This includes:
Top of Funnel (TOFU) Awareness: During this stage, your prospective client is aware they have some type of financial challenge. They may not realize it’s tied to cash flow or that factoring can help them. It's up to you to illuminate the underlying issue, present factoring as the solution, and introduce them to your company.
Middle of Funnel (MOFU) Consideration: During this stage, your prospective client is aware of the problem and looking for solutions. They may be exploring everything from loans to MCAs and ways to cut costs. Your goal is to help them view your factoring services as an ideal solution.
Bottom of Funnel (BOFU) Conversion: At the bottom of the funnel, your prospective customer is actively deciding between providers and possibly solutions. Your goal is to nudge them over the finish line.
Continued Loyalty: The journey doesn’t end when they sign up for your factoring services. You must continue to give them reasons to stay loyal.
When You Can See the Journey, You Can Identify and Fix Bottlenecks
It’s easy to think the journey toward becoming a factoring client is linear and short, particularly if you’re evaluating the data from your customer relationship management (CRM) software and calculating from the moment they contact you until the deal is won. In reality, a typical business is 60 percent through the decision-making process before reaching out to a provider, 6sense data shows. By the time you hear from them, you’re likely their preferred provider or at least on their shortlist. In fact, over two-thirds prefer an overall rep-free buying experience, according to Gartner. They research in silence for as long as possible, often only reaching out when they’re ready to move forward with a specific company.
This means that if you want to get more people to the finish line, you must be able to identify where they drop off during their research. A marketing funnel allows you to do that, so you can shore up any gaps.
For instance, if you have strong traffic to pages that are specific to the services you offer, then you know you are capturing MOFU or BOFU traffic. But if those people are not filling out your online form, then you can surmise you have a leaky funnel and take steps to identify what they’re missing and provide it so they move forward.
Marketing Funnels Give You Adequate Time to Nurture Your Prospective Clients
You undoubtedly know how life-changing factoring services can be for the owner of a small business, but your prospective client may not. Moreover, they often come in with misconceptions about the factoring process and have been consuming content from other types of funding providers along the way. It’s no secret that these other providers routinely use fear-based marketing to steer businesses away from factoring.
They often come in wary because of this. They’re skeptical whether factoring is the right solution, and they don’t know if you’re a trustworthy provider. This is a decision that the future of their business may hinge upon. They need to see reasons to trust your company. Case studies, online reviews, testimonials, and even showing that you’re affiliated with organizations like the IFA can help, but it still takes time to build trust. Being there with them through every stage of the funnel allows you to build familiarity and trust and to be seen as an authority who can help them address their greatest pain points, so you become the natural first choice when they’re ready to move forward.
A Strong Funnel Increases Conversion Rates and Sales
Trust and familiarity are important, but they still need to lead somewhere. A strong funnel helps turn that growing confidence into action by giving prospective clients a clearer way to move from interest to inquiry.
When the right content, proof points, and calls to action are in place at the right moments, more of the businesses finding your company are likely to request a quote, fill out a form, or start a conversation. That means you are getting more value from the visibility you have already built and creating more opportunities for your sales team to bring in new business.
A Well-Formed Funnel Can Increase Client Retention and Boost Client Lifetime Value
When your marketing gives prospective clients a more accurate understanding of your process, how you fit their needs, and the kind of relationship you offer, you are more likely to bring in clients who are aligned from the start. This naturally means they’re more likely to be happy with your services and stay with you longer.
But as we touched on earlier, a full funnel includes building loyalty. Providing excellent service and a streamlined factoring process play a major role in this, but you can strengthen it by offering complementary services and sticky benefits.
Combined, these things increase the length of your client relationships and how much profit you generate during that span, boosting your overall client lifetime value (CLV).
Your Return on Investment Climbs, Too
A marketing funnel also helps you get more from the marketing dollars you are already spending. Instead of sending traffic to a website and hoping visitors figure out their next step on their own, you are creating a path that helps the right businesses move forward with more clarity and confidence, which improves the odds that your traffic, content, and campaigns produce real business results.
It also gives you a better framework for measurement. You can see which channels are attracting the right prospects, which pages are helping move them deeper into the journey, and where there is friction or the journey stops. From there, you can make improvements or reallocate your budget to the areas that perform best, ultimately improving your return on marketing investment (ROMI). In fact, companies that leverage full-funnel, data-driven strategies can boost ROMI by 15 to 20 percent, according to McKinsey.
Grow Your Factoring Company Strategically
Having a website that potential clients find useful and that gives them a place to connect with you is essential. And if this is all you’ve built so far, you’re off to a strong start. However, if you’re serious about generating more leads and closing more deals, you need to build more roads to bring them to you, clear any debris in their path, and provide nudges along the way to keep them headed in the right direction. Developing this level of infrastructure takes time, and you won’t see results overnight, but when you do, they will be transformative. And if you’re struggling to stick with your strategy, remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were its roads.
About the Author
Husam Jandal is an internationally recognized marketing and business strategist who has been helping businesses achieve transformative growth for more than two decades. As a trusted consultant, author, educator, and speaker, Husam’s in-depth knowledge of the challenges businesses face and unique ability to fuse proven strategies with tailored insights empower companies to reach new heights and attain lasting success.
The views expressed in the Commercial Factor website are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, the International Factoring Association.