One of the biggest complaints I hear from small business clients about marketing is that they feel like they spend an awful lot of time doing it.  When you wear a lot of hats for your business, this can be a huge drain.  So, let’s talk about how to manage your time.  Step 1: map out your marketing funnel.

What does it mean to have a marketing funnel?  Think about how you reach people.  How do they first hear from you?  How do they next hear from you?  How do you continue to lead them up the chain of your messages or your offerings to keep them with you?

You can also look at a funnel as being how to get people to get from one offering to the next, but our focus here is on what action you take at each step to get your customer to the next level.

With this in mind, what is the entry point of a customer into your business?  All of the first points of entry would be placed in a line on the same level as each other.  This could be things like:

  • Seeing your storefront and a welcome offer.
  • Word of mouth referral.
  • Social media post or video.
  • Blog content.
  • Free offering.
  • Seeing you at a farmer’s market.

Then, draw the next level.  What is the next step these new members of your audience will be led to once they enter your marketing funnel?  For example:

  • Seeing your storefront and a welcome offer. –> Talking to an employee inside and getting a free sample, getting a business card, or signing up for a newsletter list for more information.
  • Word of mouth referral. –> Visiting your website to find out more.
  • Social media post or video. –> Clicking to a link on that post or video to go to your website for more information.
  • Blog content. –> Clicking to another blog or another of your resources for more information about the thing they were already interested to read.  Or signing up for your email list to get more information sent to them.
  • Free offering. –> First stamp on a loyalty card to incentivize them to come back.
  • Seeing you at a farmer’s market. –> Free sample and a smile.

The idea here is that you want the last level of the marketing funnel to show how you get these customers to your biggest offerings.  Conventions, larger purchase items, monthly programs, or whatever else you have.  This approach to a marketing funnel shows you visually not just what your tools are but what the action between them is. The marketing funnel maps how you nurture your customers and each call to action you make. You are marketing the next step.

The marketing funnel maps how you nurture your customers and each call to action you make. #smb Share on X

This exercise inherently will make you take a hard look at what you are spending your time on in your marketing activities now.  You may find that there are things you are doing that have a purpose but are currently being executed inefficiently.  You may find that there are things that you are doing now that actually have no role in your marketing funnel.  Use this opportunity to mark what the important steps are so at least you know what activities are relevant.

Next time, we’ll talk about how to structure these steps into your marketing plan so you can manage your to do list. Read that blog here!

And if you want to start building a marketing funnel for your business, check out my Marketing Funnel Worksheet. This guide will help you set up the levels of your funnel so you know the path you will lead your customers down. Having a solid marketing funnel for your business will allow you to convert more of your audience and improve your sales.