Business growth is simple when you understand what you need for it.

So what do you need for business growth?

You need customers who trust your brand, and a reason for them to buy what you sell.

You can build trust for your brand with content marketing, which is nothing but offering content to solve a part of a customer’s problem or at least show a path for it.

The funnel I have shared below works great for service-based businesses and coaches and consultants.

Content Marketing Powered Funnel for Agencies, Consultants, and Other Service Businesses Built on Expertise

Here are the key elements of this funnel.

1. Trust Building Content

The first customer touchpoint is your content. It can be in any form – audio, text or video. In most cases, video works the best. Because it is easy to consume and scalable. If you yourself are in the videos then it is similar to coming in front from behind the scenes and allowing your customers to watch and hear you. It makes your customers trust you. This is based on our hunter-gatherer days when people feared for their lives and saw anything hidden as a danger for life. That is why on video with your prospects it helps to show your hands. It makes it easier for them to trust you. It is important because trust comes before the transaction.

So whichever form of content you do, prompt your audience to come to your site to download a useful piece of content, a short checklist. We call it a lead magnet.

2. Lead Magnet

The checklist or the downloadable asset is called a lead magnet because it attracts leads like a magnet. So your readers, viewers or listeners (depending on which form of content is your mainstay) come to your website where they enter their info (name, email, mobile) to download the checklist. It has been popular to offer value-packed digital downloads (PDFs and videos). But they don’t work as well because a lot of people download long PDFs and do nothing with them. A good checklist or a one-page lead magnet does not take more than 2-3 minutes to go through and absorb and offer clear takeaways that one can implement.

Those who add their info to download your lead magnet go to the next page or stage in the funnel, the thank you page.

3. Thank You Page

A good thank you page, says thank you to the person who downloaded what is on offer and then nudges them to take action. And, the best action at this stage is to get them on call. That’s why you take them to a call scheduling page.

4. Call Scheduling

This does not need to be a separate page but an app like Calendly or ScheduleOnce embedded into your thank you page. Always have qualifying questions for those booking the call so that you are only talking with the right prospects. Once you get on the call, you close the sale.

For those who do not schedule a call right away, have a series of emails – also called a nurturing sequence – ready to nurture them to a point where they are ready to book a call.

Do This to Ensure Your Success With This Funnel

• Make a high-quality checklist. Don’t be confused by it being short. Pack as much power as you can in it.
• Automate everything, all the steps in the funnel.
• Avoid loaded questions in the comments section of your podcast, blog, or YouTube channel. Nudge them to get on the call. You can send such folks directly to the call scheduling page with questions.
• For high ticket sales, never disclose your price in comments or before the call. Have a standard answer ready on the lines of, “Our prices are based on what we are solving for you and I’ll be able to share with you once we discuss your challenges and what you are looking for.”
• Let go of those who insist on getting the price first, they won’t’ become your customers anyway.

This is a powerful funnel and it will work if you will work…  to make your checklist top-notch and to understand your customers so that your words reflect what they are looking for, and to make your pitch better with each subsequent call.