BOTTOM OF FUNNEL

Whether you're new to marketing or a seasoned professional, you've no doubt heard of the illustrious "funnel." The marketing funnel is a useful framework for describing where a prospect is in their journey to becoming a customer.

The bottom of the funnel, or BoFu, is where the magic happens. This is where the prospective customer takes action and chooses whether to purchase a brand's product or service.

There's one problem with the funnel metaphor, though: Stuff drips through a funnel with no effort—just gravity—and we all know that's not at all how sales and marketing work.

Riff with us for a moment and flip the funnel on its head. Kinda looks like a mountain, right? (Yes, we're based in Colorado and hike 14ers before work. NBD.) Now the bottom of the funnel is the last push to the summit, representing the culmination of a lot of work and planning. (Just like your marketing strategy.)

What is the funnel strategy?

Sticking with our new mountain metaphor, the funnel strategy is the plan for your prospect's entire climb up the mountain. Converting prospects takes concentrated effort and a deliberate plan, as marketers must be able to nurture interest from their prospective customers at every stage of the journey. It's how your brand gets prospects from awareness (top-of-funnel, or ToFu), to evaluation (middle-of-funnel, or MoFu), ultimately through purchase (BoFu) via intentional tactics and messaging.

When we think about climbing the mountain, we also have to consider what could make us turn around during our hike. Just because we start moving up the trail doesn't mean we will finish the hike without maps, guideposts, and other resources to help convince us why we need to reach that summit and how to get there. By building a funnel strategy, marketers can effectively usher prospects through each phase of the journey, from building awareness, to outmaneuvering competitors, to deciding that the product or service will solve their problem.

A good funnel strategy keeps the customer moving towards and through purchase, helping them summit the mountain of their specific problem.

What is the goal of BoFu?

The key goal of bottom-of-funnel marketing is getting the prospect to purchase and become a customer, often known as conversion. This is in contrast to the ToFu and MoFu phases of the journey, where your marketing is more focused on building a relationship with your audience.

Because taking action is a lot different than simply becoming aware or evaluating options, BoFu is far more targeted. This shouldn't be surprising, as the bottom of a funnel is literally much smaller than the middle and top. Similarly, bottom-of-funnel is more about the "short game"  than ToFu and MoFu, which require tactical patience. Marketers need to be decisive about how they engage prospects during the BoFu stage to help increase the likelihood of purchase.

What are effective tactics for BoFu?

When prospects arrive at the bottom of the funnel, they've been on a long journey. They know that the product or service is there, they've done the evaluation work, and now they just need to be convinced that your solution is the right choice. Here are a few ways that marketers can successfully push prospects to the summit of conversion via BoFu tactics:

• Testimonials: Sharing evidence of the value of a product or service is critically important to reassure prospects of their decision-making. With content like customer reviews, case studies, and quantifiable results, brands can give this reassurance in a genuine and meaningful way.
• Offers: Leveraging offers is another great way to help convince a prospect to buy because a lower price or free add-ons can reduce their sense of risk, e.g. "If I don't like it, at least I only paid half-price/got those rad stickers!" These strategies could include discount codes, bundle offers, or limited-time offers paired with a powerful CTA to nudge people towards conversion.
• Targeted Content: In addition to the aforementioned testimonials, other targeted BoFu content can help convince prospects to buy. Unlike more general ToFu content, BoFu content should be focused on your specific product or service, such as live webinars, consultations, or walk-through videos that highlight what the product can do for your customers. It's all about problem-solving!
• SEO: Bottom of funnel SEO strategy is not as broad or extensive as the other facets of the funnel, since you've already filtered out prospects through the awareness and evaluation stages. Once again, it's about solving problems. Use long-tail keywords to reach prospects that are looking for your specific solution and focus on the types of questions they're asking. Create content that will answer those questions, while differentiating you from your competitors.

BoFu marketing is the final step in the long, arduous, and rewarding customer journey. Once you've reached your most promising prospects through the ToFu and MoFu phases, use BoFu tactics to equip them with what they need to reach the summit and choose you as their solution.