What Is Top of Funnel?

Definition of top of funnel marketing

Top of funnel marketing refers to the first stage of the buyer’s journey. It is the part of the process where marketers should raise brand awareness about their products and services to generate leads that will hopefully become paying customers.

The upper part of the funnel, hence the term top of the funnel, serves to spread awareness, educate prospects, and cultivate brand buzz for your product or service. Measuring the inbound channels at the top of the funnel helps you gain an understanding of your marketing landscape.

The importance of top of funnel marketing

Top of the funnel marketing is useful when trying to find new consumers who haven’t discovered you yet and not for targeting repeat customers that are already aware of what your company does and sells. In order to do all that and reach a wide range of people, you need to make use of:

• Social media platforms,
• SEO,
• Video marketing,
• Online ads,
• Influencer outreach.

The key here is to keep in mind that the content at the top of the funnel has less to do with products and services, and everything to do with your buyer’s interests and needs even though the end goal is to educate the wide range of people about your business.

The goal of top of funnel marketing

Besides spreading awareness and educating your audience, another important goal to have in mind at this stage is collecting email addresses and phone numbers. For instance, you could ask for an email in exchange for a valuable whitepaper or ebook that they could not find elsewhere—you need to demonstrate that you’re a thought leader that can supply value.

At the top of the funnel, your prospects want to feel educated and confident to be able to talk about their questions and problems when the time comes. From a marketing perspective, they want content that will guide them through the topic that matters to them, including blog posts, videos, and even quizzes.

At the top of the funnel stage, your prospects turn into contact made prospects. More precisely, they are now your leads.