🌀 Funnelling your followers

How your ideal fans discover your work, engage with your creations, and ultimately support what you do all revolves around a solid content strategy, and at the heart of every content strategy lives a funnel. This week's newsletter is about growing your audience using a content marketing funnel, knowing which sales funnels are best for your business, and using a lead magnet funnel to improve conversions. (Take a shot every time we say funnel. 🥃) Let's go!

In this week's issue 📨

• Four stages of the content marketing funnel
• Funnels for the perfect customer journey
• Mastering lead magnets

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You can't spell funnel without fun

As a creator, it can be tricky to know how to get people to pay attention to you and how to get people to pay you. Whether you're a publisher starting a newsletter or an influencer building your own YouTube channel, your success will depend on lots of planning, development, and management of your content strategy. If you're having a little trouble fathoming big ideas for your content goals, we've got you.

Let's examine the ins and outs of the creator marketing funnel so you can find your audience, build their trust, and grow your business.

Discovery

• If you want your work to get discovered quickly, start by creating content where people already spend their time, like Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn. If you're shy about sharing with strangers, consider connecting with those on social media who already love you, such as friends and family.
• Ideally, your content during the discovery phase of your strategy should be free and short. Free content travels faster than paid since there aren't any barriers to giving it a try. Short content is easily digestible and forces you to focus on the essentials of your work. Use this time to try different things!

Trust

• Once you have their eyes on your existence, it's time to build trust by giving your followers the meat and potatoes of your passion project. Pivoting to long-form content will show everyone why you're worth it and invite them to participate on a deeper level. Use what worked with your short-form and go from there.
• Your content during this phase should be mostly free, but it's ok to start experimenting with some paid content to see what succeeds and what doesn't. You want to send a clear message that you're here to help your subscribers with their problems without focusing on what's in their wallets.

Access

• Now that you've built a solid awareness using both short and long-form content, it's time to get serious about deepening the relationship with your most active followers by inviting them to become official subscribers. Those who are most loyal will happily hand over their email for protected content.
• At this stage, you should have full ownership of your audience, meaning that you have control of your own email list using an appropriate platform for sharing content, sending a newsletter, and building your community. If you're still only using social media, now's the time to use a domain that you own.

Purchase

• The final phase of the creator content marketing funnel is where you'll offer your most invested subscribers exclusive content fine-tuned just for them. This is where you'll ask them to support your work financially in return for additional subscriber benefits using a unique value that only you can provide.
• Remind yourself that the funnel isn't always linear. Some may start with your long-form content and skip the short-form altogether, while others might become paid subscribers right away. No matter where they begin their journey, as long as you make things personal, they'll stick around.

Interesting stories & ideas 📚

• Is there a choice for independent writers? – Creativerly
• Google's AI is destroying search – 404 Media
• 11 newsletter design ideas – Inbox Collective
• What if news avoiders are right? – Journalism.co.uk
• AI is disrupting course creators – The Nathan Barry Show

F is for funnels who do stuff together

The ideal customer journey is one that feels as natural as breathing, and the proper sales funnel can help you get there. Choosing the ideal funnel for your audience is all about making the interest-to-purchasing process as smooth as possible so you can watch your conversions soar. Not all sales funnels are created equal, so how do you know you're choosing the right one for your business?

Chipo, writer for Thrive Themes, shares some sales funnel examples to help you decide which ones to invest in so your audience can invest in you.

#1 Onboarding funnels are all about what happens after your patron makes a purchase by guiding them through next-steps and ensuring they take advantage of all the value your content provides. Keeping your promises is a must!

#2 Sales call booking funnels give your more dedicated followers some one-on-one time with you so you can have a direct and personalized conversation with them. This is best for demos or more customized solutions.

#3 Review funnels help you collect follower feedback so you can be aware of what's working and what's not. Social proof is a powerful tool in strengthening your brand's credibility, and you'll know who to follow up with if a problem needs solving.

#4 Webinar funnels allow you to engage with potential subscribers through live or recorded webinars to create stronger connections and cultivate trust within your brand. Consider this if you want to get thorough on more complex topics.

#5 Limited-time offer funnels encourage your site visitors to act fast on a great value they may never see again. This helps them squash any doubts while boosting your conversion rate. The power of FOMO is real!

#6 Cancellation funnels help turn things around before you lose a cherished subscriber. This gives you a chance to offer solutions or additional value that might help change their mind, which shows them they're noticed and that you care.

Did we mention funnels?

Sometimes, to gain subscribers, you have to offer them something pretty and shiny to catch their attention. Lead magnets are special somethings you send to potential customers in exchange for their email address. The offer can be exclusive gated content, a free resource, or a discount code. If your subscriber growth has stalled, a lead magnet funnel may be just what you need to reignite your relationships.

The team at Turtl breaks down some lead magnet funnel fundamentals to help correct your conversion rate.

‣ Start your lead magnet with something free and easily digestible, like a newsletter or an ebook. Whatever you decide, just make sure it offers unique value, worthwhile solutions, and has a clear call to action so you can easily capture their email address. Conversion should be your main goal here.

‣ Once you have their contact info, provide a polite follow-up using a thank-you email or welcome page to let them know how much you value their time and attention. You can also use this as an opportunity to give them a tailored, personalized experience that leads them to the next offer.

‣ When you decide to lead your new follower to the next content offering, ensure that it has a greater value than the offer you used initially, like webinars or exclusive events. Provide different options to see what sticks. This will help you discover what your audience loves, leading to more personalized content.

‣ Now that people have shown interest in your work, it's time to get them to engage. If your content is quality, they should be ready to buy. To convert them into paying patrons, use offers that specifically push them to purchase, like discount codes, free trials, and timed offers.

‣ Once your subscribers become paying ones, you'll want them to constantly be using your product so they get all the bang out of their buck. Now is the time to ensure that they stay loyal by giving them valuable and unique content exclusive to paying subscribers, like community events and VIP packages.

‣ If a part of your lead magnet funnel isn't working well, don't be afraid to switch things up. Try segmenting your email list and providing different offers to the different subscribers within your audience to see what succeeds. Lead magnets should always feel natural and make sense!

Curator's pick ✍️

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