If the sales funnel were a sandwich, the top of the funnel and the bottom of the funnel would just be bread. The middle funnel would be everything holding the sandwich together, cheese, meat, lettuce, and condiments. All too often, mid-funnel marketing can get overlooked for the easier-to-quantify top and bottom of funnel stages, but mid-funnel is the most important space for B2B marketing. This is where you spend time developing and cultivating relationships, proving that you are both knowledgeable and trustworthy, and turning interested followers into warm leads through lead nurturing.
Lead Nurturing Simplified: How to Nurture Leads with Mid-Funnel Marketing
Mid-funnel marketing is often overlooked, but mid-funnel is the most important space for B2B marketing. Separate your company away from your competitors and convert your prospects to buyers with simplified mid-funnel lead nurturing.
How to nurture mid-funnel leads?
Nurture mid-funnel leads with content that is persuasive, educational, and highly targeted. Vary the types of content you share and demonstrate that you understand your customers’ needs.
Middle-of-the-Funnel Content
Mid-funnel content should be persuasive, educational, and highly targeted. This is the time to start introducing more information about the products and services you offer and how they will help alleviate a prospect’s need or pain point. You’re beginning to tailor your content to address specific issues.
While you’re educating your potential customers, you’re also building trust and relationships with them. You’re demonstrating your expertise and showing them how you will help them, keeping them first in mind for all the content you create.
Types of mid-funnel content might include:
- Email marketing: This isn’t a generic newsletter that you’re sending to your entire email list. These are targeted and segmented groups, focusing on a particular need or pain point, and finishing with a specific call-to-action.
- eBooks: When used for mid-funnel content, the focus of eBooks is helping buyers through the evaluation process. The long-form digital format is a chance to demonstrate your company’s knowledge on a particular subject. These eBooks should be centered around a specific topic, persuasive, and filled with information.
- Case Studies: Showcase customer success stories through data-driven case studies. This type of content has extra benefits; not only does it demonstrate your value to a customer, but it also helps customers picture themselves working with your company when they can see what’s in it for them. This type of content can easily be reformatted into blog posts, social media posts, and more.
More mid-funnel content ideas include blog posts, white papers, comparisons, and fact sheets. B2B conversions can be long, with multiple interactions between your business and prospects. It’s important to create a variety of middle-of-the-funnel content to keep things from getting stale.
Quality mid-funnel content is informative for both brands and potential customers. While giving buyers the information needed to make an informed decision, it also helps weed out leads that aren’t right for your business. Ultimately, the right mid-funnel content will make a smoother buying process for all parties involved.
Middle of the Funnel Goals
During this stage, you are connecting awareness of your brand to a commitment to purchase. The overarching goal for your middle-of-the-funnel content is two-fold, clearly identify a problem that needs solving. Then, establish your company as the right solution. Marketers need to monitor the behavior of potential customers during this stage, nurturing those leads. Make note of what types of content and topics with which they are engaging as well as how often they take action.
By understanding a customer’s behavior, marketers can hone in on their needs and deliver content tailored to them. You’re also building your credibility by demonstrating that you understand their needs.
Preparing for the Bottom of the Funnel
This is it, the culmination of middle-of-the-funnel lead nurturing, moving prospects to the bottom of the funnel. They can only reach this point if you’ve provided them with the right content and the right information that helps them evaluate their choices and feel confident they are making the right decision. Don’t skimp with your content; confident buyers are committed customers.
At Vende Digital, we are outcome-focused. As a boutique B2B digital agency, growing your business is our business. We know that creating the right middle-of-the-funnel content is a key piece of your marketing strategy. Let us help you develop winning online solutions. Contact us today to get started.
Lead Nurturing Simplified: Key Takeaways
- Mid-funnel content should be persuasive, educational, and highly targeted.
- Spend time developing and cultivating relationships, proving that you are both knowledgeable and trustworthy.
- Vary the types of content you share to demonstrate you understand your customers’ needs.
- Identify a problem that needs solving and then establish your company as the right solution.
