The Marketing Funnel vs. The Flywheel
The Reno-Tahoe branch of the American Marketing Association welcomed Noble Studios’ VP of Performance Marketing Chad Hallert to their November 2019 luncheon to present “It’s Time to Break Up With The Marketing Funnel.” But don’t worry, it’s been a long time coming.
The marketing funnel and its process of introducing an audience to your brand worked for many years after its inception in 1924. Since then, the complexity of the individual buyer’s journey has gotten more convoluted than ever. Companies are increasingly looking for ways to stand out from their competitors who all sell similar versions of the same product or services.
The Build Up Before the Break Up
The funnel in its hay-day boasted a linear process to success. It’s what most marketers were taught in school. It’s what some marketers today still hold onto. Customers enter the funnel at an awareness stage, move down to consideration and end up at the final stage or eventual purchase. By following the traditional marketing funnel, you view consumers as an output, or just the means to the end of your marketing efforts, and not as the driving force keeping your business up and running. Linear in nature, the primary hub of the funnel is customer acquisition and a one time purchase. Each part of the funnel is seen as a separate entity, different than the others. There is no emphasis on the lifetime value of the customer, and the funnel does not reflect the complexity of the buyer’s journey.There Has to be a Better Way
As marketing channels evolved and the level of noise increased thanks to the internet, the average person became exposed to a virtually unlimited amount of information. This changed the behavior of customers and the way they move through the buyer’s journey. What was once a linear process has now transformed into consumers bouncing across increasing amounts of touch points before deciding to make even the simplest of purchases. Hallert explained how this has created ample opportunity for marketers to adopt a new marketing model that puts emphasis on a customer's experience with your brand, product of service that can make all the difference to your bottom line.Enter the Marketing Flywheel
Hallert introduced a new consumer centric marketing model he heard about at HubSpot’s INBOUND19 Conference dubbed “the flywheel.”
The flywheel takes the existing marketing funnel and reimagines it with the customer placed at the center of all marketing decisions - from initial campaign development all the way through customers’ final purchasing decision.
Like an actual flywheel, the effectiveness of the model is dependent upon the amount of energy you put into it.
It’s about continuously optimizing your marketing strategies so you’re meeting customers in the middle of their individual buyer’s journey with an engaging content strategy that aligns with your market opportunities. The continuous optimization of these processes only keeps the flywheel spinning faster, and in turn generates pipeline you can count on that will only keep growing if you keep it fueled like a well oiled machine.
Make Your Move: Embrace the Flywheel
After explaining the many advantages of adopting a flywheel model, Hallert gave the AMA audience three practical factors that fuel growth within the flywheel. Developing a strategy in each area of the flywheel can accelerate growth within your organization. The following three factors dictate how much momentum and energy your flywheel can create.- Speed - How fast are you spinning the wheel?
- Friction - Are you limiting external forces or friction so the wheel can stay in motion?
- Composition - How big is your flywheel? Does it take much effort to get the wheel moving?