ToFu, MoFu & BoFu: How to develop relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel?

As we all are well aware of what Top of the Funnel (TOFU), Middle of the Funnel (MOFU), and Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) are, these three key elements of the Buying Cycle should be backed by a great communication channel that allows listening to the needs of prospects, and providing the information and answers they need.

On an average, 50% of the leads in any system are not yet ready to buy (Marketo).
Almost 80% of new leads never become sales (MarketingSherpa).
Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at a 33% lower cost (Marketo).
Nurtured leads makes 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (The Annuitas Group).

The bigger deal, apart from laying down the promotional strategy, is to have the right Lead Nurturing strategy that is aligned to the buying cycle. With this writeup, I would like to present my learning of Lead Nurturing with the use of Content being served at the right time to move the prospect forward across the funnel.

At the Top-of-the-Funnel, we are dealing with a far bigger user base with no clear intent or interest in your brand. How do we get to them, especially the targeted ones?

The most relevant form of content mapped to this stage could easily be, A Blog or Strategic landing pages or a Resource Center that identifies the problem at hand. The moment we have them visit our blog post, let’s present them an opportunity to experience our Brand without being pushy nor act like a sales rep. Can we offer them a download of an e-book or a Tip to solve their problem?

Type of information downloaded, would also give you an insight into your user’s mind or atleast you will be able to guestimate the intent of her engaging with your brand. And that Guestimate would be far more accurate.

At the Middle-of-the-Funnel, we have a prospect that knows what’s the problem and the solution she needs.

Being a Problem Solver, this stage gets a little more complex. You have to strike a right balance between “What to help with” and “How Much to Help With”. Since the lead is still not qualified, you got to evaluate the Cost of Opportunity at this stage. It should not be either a “Too Much, Too Early” nor a “Too Little, Too Late” scenario.

A Case-study that explains the experience your brand carry in solving the similar problem or an Industry White Paper meant to help prospects make a decision will go a long way that this stage.

At the Bottom-of-the-Funnel, now that you have a list of qualified leads with conversations that graduated from the previous stages to a phase where they know “Who you are” and “Your solution/ Capabilities”, it’s time for the most crucial leg of this journey. At this stage, the content you present to them would not be as generic as stage 1 (ToFu) or your past performance material as planned for the Stage two (MoFu).

It’s time for a One-on-One interaction. Carrying out a free evaluation of their problem at hand or some sort of assessment report that showcases your understanding of the problem and how good you would be in resolving them. In pure marketing language, we generally call it as a Proof-of-Concept (PoC), where we present our business understanding, our problem solving skills and plan a way forward keeping the prospect in mind.

Setting up Demo Videos, Comparisons Sheets, Free Trial of your Product can be deployed at this stage. Content strategy will differ basis the nature of your business. . For an e-commerce setup, it could be a Discount Code. For an agency, it could be a free Assessment report, or for a B2B product you can offer them a Trial use with no obligations.

What Type of Content Should You Create? Let us help you in defining your Buying Cycle and build Content that serves its purpose. Your marketing becomes ‘purposeful marketing’ rather than just marketing.