How do you build funnels so fast Mike? How are you getting these funnels build and converting inside a 2 hour period?
Whenever we release a new worksheet, guide, video or lead magnet with a call to action AND a content funnel, I’m always sent this question by a few people through email.
Out customers and ourselves need content funnels, silos and upgrades to flow naturally and to convert.
Traffic and visitors need to covert to subscribers and leads. Leads and subscribers need to convert into sales and customers.
One of the fundamentals to increasing conversions, is congruency.
Our friends at Digital Marketer say it best below.
Congruency is the clear link between what I’m reading now and what I’ll click on and view.
For example, if I have a Facebook advert talking about 3D video creation, with an image of a video demo. That’s what someone is expecting to see when they land on the page.
Notice the colours, image and most of the text is different
The above example shows a product called Insta Suite Master Package. To me, the only clear colour sticking out is the slight green from the logo.
The promotion text on the advert reads “The Total Solution To Creating Killer 3D and Animated Videos”.
However, when I click through to the page, I see a different colourscheme, a video/image I don’t recognise AND the name of the business is different.
Sure, the headline is the same. But everything else about the page isn’t congruent with the advert. It doesn’t match and that is going to reduce conversions.
We can apply this through to so many stages of the funnel and it’s not just about traffic conversions and sign ups.
Your lead magnet or light bulb moment, which might be a guide or video, will have a title, benefits, results and other copy.
That’s the copy you SHOULD be using in optin forms, signups and content upgrades for example.
Where other people go wrong
Most funnel builders or business will focus on the FRONT of the funnel and acquisition process first. They’ll create adverts and traffic driving promotions and copy, sometimes before even creating the content it’s going to.
It’s like creating an advert before you’ve got a product.
Many other businesses start in the middle and try to work forward and backwards. They’ll create a lead magnet or small splinter product, and try to shoehorn that into their core offer. But because they start in the middle, there’s no clear link between the lead magnet and product.
Instead, we’re going to start at the end goal and work backwards.
Build the end goal
We could start with the very very VERY end goal. For example, our final product or most expensive solution. But for the purposes of this post we’re going to start with our core offer.
I know I want to sell my core offer to as many people as possible. Makes sense right? Even obvious.
From that core offer, I can create a splinter offer and from that splinter offer I can create a lead magnet.
My core offer is where most of my revenue comes from (not necessarily my profit though).
My splinter product is a low barrier to entry product, that doesn’t cost a lot to my customers. It’s designed to create customers from subscribers and leads.
My lead magnet is a guide, download, software, worksheet or something I can give away for free in exchange for an email address.
I want to try and take the previous steps FROM the step ahead. The end goal should provide everything you need to drive traffic and leads.
It’s worth noting that I don’t believe you need to have a fully finished, huge product ready to go in order to start this process.
I know I said that building in the middle is dangerous. But it’s better than doing nothing.
If your only available end goal at the moment is a lead magnet, book, guide or download, that is your end goal. Use that first and work backwards.
Identify the steps before the end
What’s the step before your current goal? If it’s a lead magnet, or content upgrade, it’s probably a blog post and a squeeze page.
If it’s a splinter product, you might have a sales page, up-sell page, sales email, sales letter and advert.
Identify the previous step where you’ll be promoting your goal. I promote my lead magnets ON my blog posts and with squeeze pages.
I’m identifying the stage that my traffic, visitors, subscribers, leads and customers are at, before they decide to convert to the next stage.
Where are you promoting your goal and what stage is the person at when they see the next available stage?
Use the same copy from that end goal
Here’s the killer part.
Take the copy (text and written content) FROM the end goal and only use that in your promotional copy.
Benefits, results, headlines, subscribe buttons, optin forms, upgrade copy. Whatever copy you’ve written or used in your end goal, that’s what you need to use in the previous stage.
For example, your squeeze page copy should come from the lead magnet itself.
Your Facebook advert copy should come FROM the squeeze page copy and so on.
Sometimes you’ll have to get creative. Maybe your worksheet doesn’t HAVE any copy you can use. In which case you need to identify the benefits and results that worksheet gives.
You need to be crystal clear on what the download, product or thing GIVES your audience. How does it make your audience’s life better?
For example, let’s take this worksheet here (no optins) on running a successful client meeting.
- 6 page process on running a client meeting
- Client meetings end in more sales and closes
- Understand your clients needs better
- Give clarity to your customers and make them think you’re a genius
- Book more meetings with our email template
- Feel confident running meetings and consultations
I’ve gone through each part of the download (which is just a Google Doc) and written out the benefits and result for each stage.
This is the copy I’ll use in my upgrade sections, squeeze pages and optin forms. It’s also the copy I’ll use on my adverts and promotional posts.
Build the previous stage
Once I’ve got my copy and identified the previous stage, I’ll build that stage.
I’ll take the copy and use it in the headlines, text, images, post copy and buttons.
Take the GoCardless advert and page below.
Colours, icons and tone of voice all match. Sounds obvious but I see so many adverts failing here
By working backwards like this, we not only make our lives easier by creating optin and promotion copy easier. We also increase conversion rates by increasing the link between one action and another.
Identify the “next” previous step
Now, we’ll work backwards again. We’ll look for the next previous step.
For example, if you’ve taken your core offer and taken the benefits and results from that and made a sales letter from that. We need to create the sales email, advert and upsell copy for it.
We’ll use copy from the sales page in the advert, promotional material and emails.
If you’ve created a lead magnet and you’ve done the squeeze page for that lead magnet. You need to create the traffic post or traffic driving post using the same copy.
Make sure to expand your ideas on what comes before a stage.
- Outreach emails to your network
- Blog posts with keywords for SEO
- Paid traffic via other social sources
- Email signatures
Get creative with what the previous stage is.
Doesn’t it all get very repetitive?
There is a very VERY good reason why car adverts will play twice in a cinema before a film and four times during an hour’s worth of TV time.
You need to repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat and repeat. Seven times is apparently the magic number. You need to say something seven times before people even register you.
By repeating your message over and over, you’re building that message into your audience’s minds.
Focus on saying what you’re doing over and again until you’re blue in the face. When people say they’ve heard enough, say it some more.
You have to break through with consistency. Creativity is over-rated at this stage. Consistency, frequency and repetition are the name of the game.
Funnel builders like you, want to sell more marketing funnels. Which makes sense. Marketing funnels provide great income and recurring revenue opportunities.
Which is why we interviewed Ryan Deiss and got him to tell us How To Sell A CVO Marketing Funnel. You can download the entire playbook below for free below.
