One of the most critical tools in any business's growth strategy is the marketing funnel. A properly constructed marketing funnel ensures you're meeting and influencing customers where they are in their buying journey while maximizing your marketing budget. There are easily dozens if not hundreds of marketing and advertising options today. This can be one of the biggest challenges we help our clients with.
At Wabash & Lake Consulting, we specialize in being the fractional marketing director and support team for businesses that need expert guidance to drive sales, operations, and revenue growth. Small businesses often struggle to find or afford a full-time marketing director, let alone an entire team. That’s where we come in—offering a strategic, cost-effective partnership to help our clients thrive. Here's how we approach building a marketing funnel that works:
Top of Funnel: Building Brand Awareness
The top of the funnel is where your potential customers first learn about your brand. The goal is to create recognition and trust, ensuring they remember you when it’s time to make a purchase.
At this stage, we recommend tactics such as local TV, streaming platforms (CTV), radio, magazines, and SEO strategies like backlinks. These elements allow us to build a strong brand promise, build trust, and communicate your value to potential customers. Consider this to be your brand equity. While these efforts may not yield immediately trackable results, they set the foundation for long-term success.
For our clients, we emphasize that top-of-funnel efforts are an investment, not an expense. By leveraging our strategic expertise across all areas of marketing advertising, businesses can amplify their brand without overspending, ensuring their name stays top-of-mind for potential customers.
Middle of Funnel: Blending Brand & Tactical Ads
Once customers are aware of your brand, the middle of the funnel works to engage them with action-oriented content that encourages consideration and action.
This stage includes high-volume tactics such as social media ads, influencer collaborations, and even targeted display ads. We also recommend publications like specialty magazines (i.e. HomeMag for home improvement companies) to combine brand messaging with tactical calls to action. These efforts are traceable and allow us to measure ROI, but they work best when supported by prior brand awareness efforts.
Bottom of Funnel: Direct Response & Conversion
The bottom of the funnel is where much of the magic happens—conversions. This stage is made significantly more efficient and effective by brand awareness, /brand equity and relies on personalized, direct methods to turn prospects into paying customers.
Tactics like email campaigns, direct mailers, door-to-door outreach, and expos/conventions/home shows are all part of this phase. At Wabash & Lake Consulting, we know that these efforts are exponentially more effective when your brand is already recognized and trusted. That’s why our strategy always ties back to a holistic funnel approach—ensuring your bottom-of-funnel investments deliver maximum ROI while building ongoing brand equity that pays dividends in the long run.
Tactical Ads: Immediate Results with a Caveat
We understand that businesses often want quick wins, which is where tactical ads like PPC/Search Ads, Google Local Services, Yelp, etc. come into play. These channels are effective but only as long as you’re spending and again, they're made so much more effective when the potential customer recognizes the name of your company within the search ad. The best analogy I can give is renting versus buying a home. The moment you stop paying for these quick-fix tactics is the moment they stop working.
For clients looking to maximize the effectiveness of their tactical ads, we ensure they’re supported by strong brand awareness strategies earlier in the funnel. That’s how we help you not just win customers but build loyalty.
Why Choose Wabash & Lake Consulting?
Instead of following the traditional agency model, Wabash & Lake Consulting acts as your fractional marketing director and support team. For less than the cost of hiring a single marketing director, you gain access to a full team of thinkers and doers—experts in marketing strategy, graphic design, advertising, and more.
Our clients don’t just get marketing resources; they gain a strategic partner committed to their success. Whether you’re looking to enhance your market presence, drive revenue growth, or streamline your marketing operations, we bring the expertise and efficiency needed to achieve your goals without overwhelming your budget.
Ready to accelerate your growth? Let’s build a marketing funnel that works. Contact us at Wabash & Lake Consulting today to learn how we can help your business thrive.
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