You’ve likely heard of tofu – the soy-based staple beloved by vegans! However, we are not here to help you understand vegan food (although that would make for an interesting blog post). Today, we’re diving into a different kind of ToFu. Not food-related, but equally important if you want your business to thrive.
ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu might sound like a foreign language at first, but they’re essential terms in the world of sales and marketing. These concepts represent the stages of a sales funnel, a tool designed to guide leads through the purchasing journey in a way that builds trust and prevents overwhelming them.
Understanding where a lead is within this funnel allows you to tailor your marketing efforts, making your approach more effective and less sales-driven. Let’s break it down.
What Is the Sales Funnel?
The sales funnel captures a wide range of potential customers – people who know they have a problem but are still learning about solutions. As leads move through the funnel, they gain more knowledge and confidence in your business, narrowing down to those ready to make a purchase.
Recognising a lead’s stage in the funnel helps you deliver the right content at the right time, prioritising their needs while avoiding a hard sell.
ToFu – Top Of The Funnel
Also known as the top of the sales funnel, ToFu deals with a high volume of leads and is the first stage used to spread awareness without pressuring potential customers into making a purchase.
Within this stage, you will have a lot of leads however, not all of them will continue the search and buy. They will be researching a problem they have, but do not know much about.
The goal for this stage is to not attempt to make a sale too quickly, but to educate with quality content.
You can do this by using:
- Blog articles
- Videos
- Short e-books or infographics
- Research reports
These forms of content should be educational and will attract a larger audience that is relevant and showing interest in what you have to offer.
You could use a call-to-action, asking the lead to find out more information in exchange for contact details.
Is Top Of The Funnel under attack – Serps have changed – check this article to find out more
Remember, your goal in this stage should be to educate and not to try and make a sale as this could discourage possible conversions. (Site visitors who are paying customers)
MoFu – Middle Of The Funnel
This stage is known as the middle of the sales funnel. If a lead reaches this stage, they know they have a problem and it is clear what they want and need.
During this stage you must help the lead consider your company as the best option to solve this problem using targeted content and offers.
Leads still won’t be looking to make a purchase from a specific company but will be researching specifically to their problem. They will be using your content to educate themselves however, they will most likely be looking at content from other businesses as well.
This stage helps build trust with leads therefore, trying to make a sale could jeopardise this trust.
MoFu should also be educational and more in depth content however, this time you want to position your company as the solution to the needs and wants of the lead.
Content that can support this:
- Case studies
- Podcasts
- Content charts
- Webinars
This stage is seen as the most complicated due to the diversity of potential leads.
BoFu – Bottom Of The Funnel
The final stage is known as the bottom of the funnel. BoFu is known as the most crucial stage as this is where the sale is made.
Leads at this stage have done a significant amount of research and know exactly what they are looking for. They know about your company and what you do.
Leads should be ready to talk to you at this stage.
BoFu might not consist of any content at all. Instead this is where the main call-to-action should be used, enticing the lead to make a purchase.
You can do this by having:
- Free trials
- Live demos
- Free consultations
- Free discount codes at the time of transaction
By using these as calls-to-action, you are creating a sense of urgency within the conversion and therefore will more likely make a sale while keeping the trust.
So, you’ve read through this process, but does it really work?
Well, research shows that the leads who have been nurtured through this process create 50% more sales and 47% of those leads have larger purchases.
Automation
Parts of this process of nurturing the lead can be automated as this can help campaigns be less time consuming for marketers. However, you can still include a personal touch, for example:
- Customised greetings
- Customised subject lines
- Sent from a specific contact within the company
With more time freed up, you will be able to focus on creating more intriguing content.
A modern day sale isn’t what it used to be. The use of cold-calls and pressuring doesn’t work anymore and customers are aware of these sales methods. Instead the use of educating and informing will create trust between your company and the customer making the sales experience a lot nicer.
Take Your Sales Funnel to the Next Level with Nivo Digital
At Nivo, we specialise in crafting tailored marketing strategies that guide your audience through every stage of the sales funnel – from awareness to conversion.
Get in touch for help with compelling content, automated processes, and to build trust with your customers.
