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Get a Correctly Shaped Marketing Funnel

By Jody Gabourie

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 27Jan2009
Word count: 470
Viewed: 135 time(s)

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The idea is to keep moving people through your marketing funnel. Once they've given you permission to market to them by providing their name and email address, it's up to you to woo them and guide them to a purchase.

You do this by ensuring that your marketing funnel is the right shape. What I mean by this is that you need to offer the "right" information, products and services at the right time in the funnel.

You want to start with lead-generating products or services such as a free-giveaway, teleseminars, joint venture, ezine ads, blog, networking, podcasting, article marketing and speaking. When you do any of these marketing strategies, you must collect people's name and email address.

Once you've got the prospect's contact information you need to keep in touch and continue to offer value via: ezine/newsletter, contests, e-courses, free teleseminars, special emails, free reports, CDs, audio mini-seminars and so on.

Then you start introducing paid products and services for under $40 - not too much that they can't justify spending the money but not too little that they don't perceive any value to it.

Once someone becomes a customer, you can start to upsell them with additional products and services that may appeal to them. For example, a monthly membership club, or a home study course with CDs and a printed workbook.

Depending on your target group or niche, these products in the middle of your funnel can range from $50 - $500. Try to have a variety of different offerings at different prices. For example, you can have a $75 teleseminar recording and transcript, a 75 page collection of articles and blog postings for $125, and a 6 teleseminar series recording for $300.

You continue to keep in touch with everyone in your funnel (prospects and customers) with your no-cost marketing tactics such as an ezine and articles on your website, but you can introduce special teleseminars and special VIP offers just to your list of customers.

At the bottom of your funnel you would have at least one big-ticket offer that only a few of your list will take advantage of but the return on investment for you is very high. Examples of high-end services and products would be a year long coaching mastermind including 2 retreats for $12,000 or a 2 day seminar/workshop for $1000 per each of the 100 participants.

You want to make sure that the shape of your marketing funnel is just right to help guide your prospects and clients through different levels and pricing of products and services. You want to make sure that you have something to offer everyone in your marketing process, whether it's a new lead, a first-time customer or a repeat client of yours.

That's the way to ensure you find and keep your most profitable clients - and avoid the "feast or famine" that many small businesses suffer through.

Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to take action with their marketing in order to get more results and more profits. To learn all about her unique "done-for-you" ebooks called Ready Made Marketing Plans™ and to sign up for her FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com

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