The Sales Funnel Isn’t
We all know and use the classic sales funnel that was conceptualized in 1898 by E. St. Elmo Lewis. It describes the customer journey from the moment a brand or product attracted his or her attention to the point of action or purchase. St. Elmo Lewis’ idea is often referred to as the AIDA model, an acronym that stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.
Since then, we have seen this concept described as sales funnel, marketing funnel, purchase funnel, and other similar terms.
We have also seen the concept expanded and stages added to describe parallel subsets of marketing and sales activities. The funnel became so popular that marketers have become accustomed to defining the process by which a group of suspects is exposed to a series of marketing and sales activities that results in some of them making a purchase, as the funnel.
A funnel, as a metaphor for this marketing and sales process, is somewhat flawed. When using a real funnel, everything that enters its wide mouth at the top, eventually goes through the small opening at the bottom. In other words, everything that goes in comes out of the funnel at the end. As marketers, we could only wish that things were this simple and this predictable. Click here to read more about the funnel
Duke Merhavy, MBA, Ph.D.
President & Chief Marketing Officer
What Is Fractional CMO?
Hiring a full-time CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) is often not cost-effective for most small-to-mid-sized businesses (SMBs). We offer SMBs senior-level expertise, experience, and a holistic marketing approach, on a part-time basis for a fraction of the cost.
Fractional CMO is dedicated to your success, and our mission is to turn your vision into reality. Click on the short explainer video to the right for a quick explanation.
Featured Client: Reliance Heating & Air Conditioning
The 32-year-old heating and air conditioning business that was founded by Dalen’s dad, Dave Blumentritt, is now owned and managed by him and his wife Michele. Reliance Heating & Air Conditioning installs, repairs, and maintains air conditioning units in the northern parts of greater Phoenix, Arizona.
Last year, Fractional CMO was engaged to help Reliance put together a marketing plan that would help grow their business.
Fractional CMO put a 12-month marketing plan and budget together and started implementing it. The most important elements in this particular plan for Reliance were: branding, positioning, redesign of their website, and establishing an ongoing communication with clients and the community they serve.
Reliance has always been a great company, but their greatness was not communicated or reflected enough in their interactions with the public they served. Now, with a modified logo, redesigned website, client newsletters, community outreach activities and more, their uniqueness stands out in the sea of other more ordinary air conditioning companies. Their special friendly way of running their business shows through in everything they do and communicate.
Check out their website by Clicking Here or by clicking on their logo on the right. And if you’d like to learn more about how Fractional CMO helped Reliance and what we might be able to do for you, give us a call at 888-412-2236 or Click Here.
Marketing Lingo: “Segment”
- A market segment is a subset of the potential target market that, relatively to your offering, is:
- Similar Within: Refers to the members of the group having some type of commonality (needs, characteristics, etc.)
- Different Without: Those in the particular segment should be different than those in other segments
- Identifiable: The fact there are some people out there with blue eyes and curly dark hair, for example, does not necessarily mean we can identify who they are (and count how many) on your mailing list, if you wanted to promote a particular hair product that’s perfect for them
- Reachable: For marketing to be effective, we should have some means to communicate our message to them
- Significant: : The size of the segment should be large enough to be worth the effort and costs associated with directing specific and unique marketing efforts towards it
Marketing Lingo is a regular column in which we define, or otherwise explain, terms often used in marketing but not necessarily correctly or properly by some
Take Advantage of Us
Give us a call at 888-412-2236 or click on the button below to request a complimentary Marketing Needs Assessment, or to ask us a question regarding your most pressing marketing or sales challenges.
