Content to Pour in Content Marketing Funnel to Generate Leads TOFU, MOFU, BOFU
Reading Time: 9minutes
Not all that’s TOFU is no vegan, sometimes its content also!
Yes, TOFU, MOFU and BOFU sound like TOFU, MUFA and PUFA, the terms associated with healthy food. Though considering these unique terms is also healthy, but this time it is for your content marketing strategy. Yes, these refer to the healthy marketing content that you should be pouring into the content marketing funnel to generate leads.
Now the questions arise, what is healthy content? Isn’t the regular marketing content healthy?
Yeah, in old times, the marketing content used to be the same for one and all, irrespective of whether it is hitting the target audience or not. Like an advert would bug the movie watchers, whether they are interested or not, irrespective of the buying phase they are in.
Yes, buying phase! It’s a part of the customer’s journey.
The entire journey is divided into three parts – Attention (Awareness), Engagement (Understanding) and finally the Decision-Making. Traditional marketing never followed these phases separately, and rather that few second add would carry the responsibility of drawing attention, engagement and decision making.
Today, content marketing is not conducted the way it used to be, long time back. It has become an extensive process that creating the content for content marketing funnel, which is divided into various phases of the customer’s journey. Every phase requires a different content for marketing the product or service with.
It is important to note that buying does not just happen. It involves steps that lead to the buying decision. This is very well explained by the concept of a funnel which is divided into three parts – The upper wide part, the middle narrowing part and the bottom.
The marketing funnel follows the same trend with the topmost part which depicts the earliest phase which is about getting the attention or attracting the customers when they’d say, “Hey, what’s that? Let’s see..”
The middle phase is about engaging the prospective customers, when they are aware about you and are now interested to know more. They engage with the brand in various ways like subscribing to the newsletter, watching the video, asking questions or even sharing the information further.
The bottom of the funnel talks about the final conclusion of all that happened in previous two phases. The prospective customers enter the deciding phase. By this time, they are supposed to be convinced about the product or service and all they need to do is – take the decision of buying. So, you can see all stages are different, and therefore require different efforts with different types of content to generate leads, which is the core objective of all these efforts.
As the objectives of all these phases are different, they require different content to meet them. It has to be created in alignment with the objective of every individual phase. So, you should map the content according to each and every phase.
Top Of the FUnnel (TOFU) content is meant to draw attention for the people who have absolutely no idea about the product or service. The best way you can address them, is by touching their pain-points. The people looking to resolve their pain-points will quickly pay attention, as they had been already looking for sources that may be useful for them.
Well, to get the attention of the prospects does not mean that you should be pushy about the particular product or service. Here the object should not be to sell the product directly, it is to educate the people, so that they get to know you and your offering, and on the basis of that they can research further.
Blog Posts, EBooks, Guides, How-To Content
The digital content mediums to educate prospective customers include blog posts, ebooks, and guides. The blog section in your website should be regularly updated with introductory and informative blog posts. Suppose, if you want to market Yoga sessions. So, you can start writing about Yoga and its benefits. People should know how is yoga going to sort out their various kinds of ailments. So you will be generating awareness about Yoga so that they further research on it and get to know its benefits from other sources as well.
So, you are not selling the sessions conducted by you. You are simply educating them on how in general, Yoga helps.
Of course, the presentation of content, whether it is a blog, an ebook or a guide, has to be impressive and engaging. It will be better if you open the door for them to the next stage. Yes, that door is a call-to-action (CTA).
Apart from this, the How-To content can be of great help for those looking to have the information in a quick mode, as it consists of a series of steps or instructions for the readers to follow. This type of content is the most preferred TOFU type as it requires minimum effort from the person to understand anything with accuracy. It provides maximum information in minimum possible time.
If you still have doubts, just step into the customer’s shoes looking for some quick information desperately, and then imagine you get a ‘How-to’ content. This kind of content is presented in the form of short videos and infographics and carries the capability to engage people quite easily.
Middle Of the FUnnel (MOFU) content takes the prospective deeper into the subject, to make them understand it better. During this stage, they will be getting an insight on how great can a particular product or service be and why should they buy or avail it.
Whitepapers, Case Studies, Webinars and Social Media Posts
Well, the content for this stage can be presented in Whitepapers, Case Studies, through Webinars and social media posts.
This type of content is presented especially for B2B marketing, which involves detailed research on a particular subject. The content is lengthy written in highly professional and presentable tone with industry-relevant quotes and citations.
The content should explain about why should you buy a particular product or service. The best way to do is by first elaborating on the pain points that you touched while presenting TOFU content, followed by finding out the solution. In the case studies, the same pattern should be followed. It is up to you how lengthy do you want the case study. It can be long or a one-page also.
The webinars also engage the best way, by providing a live presentation, especially for training. The best part about webinars is, that they are interactive. The interaction of the audience with an expert can be really compelling and drives great results.
For example, to help the audience understand about the benefits of new league of environment-friendly sanitary products such as menstrual cups, a webinar can be very helpful, as not every woman feels free to discuss this otherwise. A webinar overcomes hesitation and presents complete information, leading to the decision-making stage.
Another great medium for engaging people is social media posts which carry the power to connect. In fact, people are now taking them quite seriously, as a lot of business happens through them. Social media posts not just engage, they influence.
Bottom Of the FUnnel (BOFU) content further motivates the people to take the next step. Yes, now that they are provided with enough information about the subject through TOFU and MOFU content, it’s time to present them the content that motivates them to take the buying decision, which is the core objective of all the efforts in totality.
Product Demo, Free Trial, Case Studies, Testimonials
The content presented for this stage is about strengthening the facts that had already been presented, to drive conversions. Product demo explains very closely about the product, its benefits with unique selling proposition, and explains about why it is better than others. The features if the product are described to help people understand the product further.
Comparing the product with other contemporaries and outlines the differences between them. Free trial takes them a step further as the prospective buyers are given an opportunity to try the product, which is the ultimate means of making them take the next step – make a buy!
Not only this, they are also provided with reviews and testimonials of other people who used it, which convinces them further.
Well, That’s Not the End!
Once you reach the bottom of the funnel, does not mean that as a content marketer, your job is complete. It goes on with maintaining the relationship that you have built with them – yes, the relationship of trust.
Your customers may be advocating your brand to others and that’s the most important achievement for you. To maintain this treasure, you should keep looking for new means of presenting your content better through all the three stages of the funnel.
The journey never ends, it goes on.
Are you also looking to drive conversions with powerful and planned content? Contact Us!
The content marketing team at Tarika Technologies, leaves no stone unturned to turn people into prospects and prospects into customers.
Joe leads the company’s strategy development and team building processes to formulate and enact the mission and goals. His strategic decisions involve the commitment of various resources for the fulfilment of goals and purposes of the organization, with a positive impact on its various aspects of growth.
With over 30 years of leadership experience, Joe has lead transformation projects, new business ventures, and execution of change management strategies.
In his previous role in C/C Financial Corp, a start-up financial technology business, Joe served as President & CEO. The start-up was scaled up and acquired by a large publicly traded company.
Joe started PeakFormance Leadership Consulting, a leadership and strategy advisory firm that specializes in helping busy executives develop high-performing team and organizations. His experience and proven strategies have helped him lead organization development projects with Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium size start-ups.
With a strong passion for leadership, Joe has demonstrated the ability to develop cohesive teams, aligned and collaborative teams that achieve extraordinary results. Joe’s passion for leadership and team-building and vast experience enable him to connect with executive leaders and partner with them to improve performance.
Joe holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Minnesota State University, and an MBA in Organization Leadership from Walden University. He enjoys spending time traveling, golfing and training for Ironman triathlon competitions.
WILLIAM ANSAH
Head of Africa Operations, Tarika Group
20+ years of professional experience
William Yaw Ansah, Chairman, and CEO, Origin8 Limited in Ghana is an accomplished executive with experience spanning multiple sectors – Publishing, International NGOs, Education, Consultancy, and more.
Most recently, William was appointed as Course Manual Author Monitor for Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana. He was also appointed as a Member of the Management Committee, School of Arts, University of Ghana. He is also a Member of the Institute of Directors Ghana, an Accredited Member of the Institute of Public Relations, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketers, U.K
Over the years, he has been a mentor and advisor to a number of new ventures in Ghana and has trained several organizations such as SSNIT, Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Water Company Limited, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme among others.
William has authored a number of books such as Simple English for Senior High Schools in Ghana, Simple English books for Primary Schools in Ghana, and Simple English books for kindergarten, among others.
William received his Master’s degree in Global Marketing from the University of Liverpool, the U.K, and a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Ghana, Ghana. He started his career in Ghana as an Instructor, Consultant, and later management member of Afram Publications, Sahabia Publications, Comland Ghana, Origin8 Limited to mention a few.
SACHIN AGRAWAL
Founder & CEO, Tarika Group
20+ years of professional experience
Sachin has over twenty years of experience managing innovation and development of solutions and optimizing complex business processes; Business & Technology Architecture and Integrations. His proficient leadership and exceptional communication skills, technical expertise, combined with industry experience have delivered extraordinary results for his firm and clients.
Sachin instituted Tarika Technologies to support businesses by implementing a strong process-oriented system and the virtual CIO model, managing a team of offshore and onsite professionals. He performs complete business and technology assessment, advises on Enterprise Architecture and provides solutions for mid to large companies, globally. Under his leadership, Tarika Technologies has acquired several key accounts, providing Enterprise Solutions, Infrastructure Solutions (PaaS, IaaS, SaaS), Software & Web Solutions and Mobile Applications.
In addition, Tarika Technologies provides technology and communications infrastructure set up and has successfully launched several products in the ERP, Communication, Entertainment & Media domains. Today, Tarika stands as a global company with presence in America, Asia, and Africa.
Sachin is the CIO to a leading firm in Bethesda, Maryland USA that provides acquisition support services; and technical advisor to the Crisis Center Hotline located in the state of Maryland in the United States. During his career, he also served as Director of Information Technology at a prestigious infrastructure management firm in the DC area providing IT consulting, infrastructure design and enterprise solutions for small to large corporations all around the mid-Atlantic region, as well as governmental organizations. His innovation in business process has led to a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Offices for one of his clients.
Sachin’s keen interest in International business has formed key alliances and relationships worldwide apart from just Technology. In recent times, he has partnered with Origin8 Limited, a leading PR & Advertisement firm located in Ghana, extending all the products and services offered by Tarika to the African region. As an integral part of this partnership, Origin8 will be heading the sales and marketing of EBIMS AirWatch in the West African market; a cloud-based ERP solution by Tarika, supporting the needs in the Media industry providing real time strategic planning, monitoring, management of operations, automation of collections and complete digitization of payments through integrations to local payment gateways. He is also the Chief Technology Advisor for Origin8 Limited, driving advanced digital solutions for clients in Ghana; and introducing customized ERP for businesses across West Africa.
His keen interest in international business has formed key alliances and relationships worldwide in areas aside technology. Other areas of his expertise include managing and streamlining business processes, vertically independent Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure Management, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, high-level network and systems architecture, design and development capabilities of secure distributed applications for both private as well as governmental organizations.
Sachin holds a Master of Science in Information Architecture with highest honors; a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Associates in Computer Engineering Technology from Capitol Technology University in Maryland, USA. In his leisure, Mr. Agrawal enjoys playing musical instruments and practices Haidong Gumdo, the Korean swordsmanship, as a senior martial arts practitioner. His personal blog can be found at www.sachinagrawal.com.
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