Importance of a Full Funnel Approach

By Esther Gibson

Getting the balance right: brand awareness vs lead generation 

Anyone in the world of digital marketing knows how easy it is to get caught up in the tug-of-war between lead generation and brand awareness. Many brands champion leads above all else, sometimes to the detriment of brand awareness and visibility. 

Whilst channelling your marketing budget into lead generation campaigns may seem like the best option, if leads are your primary objective (after all, it’s in the name, right?), you will likely be left wondering why your campaigns weren’t as successful as you had originally hoped.  

Finding a balance between awareness and lead generation through a ‘full funnel’ approach is your best chance of optimising your digital marketing strategy and meeting your targets.  

What is the digital marketing funnel? 

The digital marketing funnel is a strategic framework that maps out the customer journey all the way from awareness to loyalty.  

Taking the marketing funnel into account can inform your digital marketing strategy: for example, it can help you reach the right people with the right messaging at the right time by helping divide users into clear stages throughout their journey. It can also help you detect flaws in your digital marketing strategy – if there is a high drop-off at a certain stage in the funnel, then this indicates that something about your strategy within this stage needs to be reconsidered.  

Awareness

The awareness stage is found at the very top of the digital marketing funnel, and represents the phase in which potential customers first discover your brand, product, or service.  

Within the awareness stage, ads should aim to capture attention and spark interest amongst users. Think of awareness ads as planting the seed for future engagement. Whilst a user may not necessarily be looking for your product/service at the precise moment in time that they are shown your ad, building awareness and visibility ensures that when the time comes, you are at the front of their mind.  

Tactics such as social media single image ads, display ads, and Performance Max ads are commonly used within this phase to build visibility and introduce your product or service to potential customers. These ads allow you to reach users without overwhelming them with information, whilst still familiarising them with your brand and what you have to offer. These ad types also tend to have lower cost-per-clicks, allowing you to gain visibility within a wide audience with a relatively low budget.  

Consideration

The consideration stage is found below awareness within the digital marketing funnel, and represents the phase in which potential customers are considering your product, service, or brand as a potential solution to meet their needs.  

Within the consideration stage, ads should aim to prove how your product or service can solve a problem for the user, and why they should choose you over your competitors. Think of consideration ads as watering the seed to allow your plant to grow – if you neglect the seed at this stage, you won’t see any real growth. Use consideration phase ads as an opportunity to demonstrate your unique selling points, call out customer pain points, and set yourself apart from competitors to show why you are the best option out there.  

Tactics such as social media ads which allow more detailed content are commonly used within this phase, such as document download ads (think whitepapers, guides etc.), carousel ads, and search ads. These ad types allow you to include more information about your product or service, demonstrating to potential customers how you can relieve their pain points and meet their specific needs. Performance Max ads are also useful within the consideration stage, as they follow the user around the web, ensuring that you remain front of mind.  

Conversion

The conversion stage is found below consideration within the digital marketing funnel, and represents the phase in which potential customers are ready to commit and convert.  

Within the conversion stage, ads should aim to lock in potential customers – you have helped them to discover your product or service and proven to them why you are the right choice – now it is the time to make the final push. Think of conversion ads as finally harvesting the fruit that you have carefully grown – it requires a certain finesse! Your conversion stage ads should summarise the most meaningful selling points of your product or service and feature strong calls to action that drive the customer to make that key conversion you have been building up to.  

Tactics such as search and lead generation ads are most commonly used within this phase, though the ad type you choose is primarily dependent on the type of conversion that you are aiming for. For example, if you are looking for users to click on the telephone number on your contact page and speak to a sales representative, search ads are the way forward. On the other hand, if you are looking for leads, a lead generation ad could work very well.  

Loyalty

Loyalty is at the very bottom of the marketing funnel. You have managed to make the sale or collect the lead, and you may think your work here is done. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case!  

Many brands rely on the same customers coming back to them again and again to make a majority of their sales. Think of a coffee machine – a brand such as Nespresso makes more money from the repeat purchase of their coffee pods than they do from selling the coffee machines themselves. If repeat customers are a key source of profit for your brand, it is important that you don’t simply forget about your customers once they have made a purchase or submitted a lead, you need to continue to nurture them. Think of your plant – just because they have grown a single fruit doesn’t mean that you should neglect them – you can continue to care for the plant to receive crops for years to come.  

Within the loyalty stage, more personal advertisements such as emailers are often the most successful. These allow you to utilise the information that you have gathered about your customer to provide them with highly personalised marketing that will keep them coming back again and again. Keep yourself front of mind by alerting customers to new products, services, or deals, or perhaps even reach out to keep them up to date with the latest company news (of course, try to keep this interesting and relevant to the customer!).  

The importance of a full funnel approach 

Hopefully, by breaking down the funnel, we have helped demonstrate the importance of utilising a full funnel approach within your digital marketing strategy. Without awareness ads, potential customers may never discover your brand. Without consideration ads, they may not choose you over a competitor. Without conversion ads, you may never get the sale or lead. And without loyalty ads, they may not come back for more. Each stage of the funnel holds its own purpose and works together with the other phases to drive the best results possible for your brand.  

Advertising throughout the full marketing funnel ensures that you reach and engage customers at every stage of their buying journey – from awareness to consideration to conversion and beyond. It helps build brand visibility, nurture trust, and drive action by delivering the right message at the right time. This holistic strategy maximises your ROI by not just generating leads, but also turning them into loyal, repeat customers wherever possible.  

Need help assembling the perfect full funnel approach? Get in touch with our digital team today and learn more about how we can help elevate your marketing strategy.