Whether it is in regards to B2B, B2C, or working in different agencies, the issues we are all solving are the same. When it comes to the acquisition of people to invest in your company, there has to be a clear line of communication.
The Funnel Process
The funnel process is all about communication. It's all about the message you're putting out. It's all about the visuals that you have that go along with that. How to resonate quickly and clearly, so when people come through the funnel, they're ready to invest and be involved in your company as an issuer.
The marketing funnel showcases the theoretical investor journey towards your company. It's designed to symbolize that user's experience. What are they seeing? What type of education are they presented with? What's engaging them, nurturing them through their process to the point of investment?
Top of funnel
The top of the funnel is about awareness. This is your opportunity to engage and convert before you get to that actual investment. From there, there's an opportunity to get multiple investments. We're seeing 10 to 30% of investors on these campaigns participate a second time with strong content marketing, (mid-funnel). Many think it stops at the investment stage. What we want is peer-to-peer marketing.
The top of the funnel is all about attracting. You want to be intentional about the prospective investors you are going to see during the awareness stage. This includes prospecting ads. The ads drive people to the offering for the first time. This includes blog articles, any articles, and social media posts.
Additionally, a landing page is an important component, this is where you start capturing your own audience. You need an audience to crowdfund. When I first learned about content marketing, I was taught that the definition is the creation of good engaging content that's designed. It's physically made to stimulate social sharing and high authority links, meaning getting publishers to carry it. You want third parties, organizations, different types of influencers to reference it.
For a successful landing page, simple is best. Once you get straight to the point, you have a very clear call to action. A busy landing page is overwhelming and may result in resistance.
If the landing page isn't converting, we can do AB tests to see what people are tracking and resonating with. It gives us a chance to figure out what kind of messaging is resonating with these potential investors. Essentially, a landing page makes it easier to figure out how people will respond to your offering before going live. Testing the waters, we want to have that head start.
Mid funnel
the time the public has entered the mid-funnel, they already have heard about your venture through an article. Engage and convert, the mid-funnel is really where the conversations happen.
Networking helps you find those partners and advocates, the ones we want to convert. So what is in the mid-funnel?
Email marketing
Blogs Social posts
Retargeting ads
Social Retargeting
These are the ads that are running to people who have visited your offering page. This is where you really bond with somebody over lunch or a golf meeting or whatever it may be.
People really respond to conversational content because you really get a sense of who is behind the company, what is the real vision for the company, and that engaging in the converting process all happens in that mid-funnel.
How do the retargeting ads work?
The larger your retargeting pool, the stronger your ads are going to perform. That's the job of the initial ads, to traffic the right target audiences at a good rate.
You want to provide variety with your ads to anticipate a higher conversion rate, cost proposition, stronger cost proposition of each investor, and higher return on ad spend.
Taking the time to message properly, brand it properly, get the content calendar for all the content marketing that coincides with the advertising.
If you get people in your email drip, it's really important to keep this conversation going because they may not find you again on social media. This is why email drips are important.
Bottom of funnel
The bottom of the funnel consists of loyalty and advocacy. As an investor invests, it's important to keep them engaged by pushing them through an email drip updating them on the campaign's progress and sending them new content, keeping your social media platforms updated and relevant.
A converted email drip can be composed of a sequence of emails designed to thank the investor, collect data, and encourage reinvestment.
With these investment opportunities, you're looking after someone who is like a friend of yours, who has some extra cash. You know they're looking to place it in a spot with great potential. It’s all about networking.
People will stay subscribed to your email drip or your email campaign as long as you keep giving them content or value. Even if it's not directly related to your raise, even after a raise, you can still nurture your email list and have a really good relationship with your investors.