It may come as a bit of a shock to learn businesses have just eight seconds to capture their audiences’ attention. That slim window is what best represents the average consumer’s attention span. Worse still, some experts suggest that these spans are continually shrinking, meaning you may have even less time in the future to win over new prospects and draw them into the sales funnel.
In order to effectively grasp the attention of your target audience and deliver impactful content that drives them to make a purchase, you must first master the concept of top-of-funnel (ToFu) marketing.
With that said, join us as we explore the question, “What is top-of-funnel marketing?” while providing some best practices to maximize your audience’s engagement.
What Is Top-Of-Funnel Marketing?
ToFu marketing is the first of three stages of the sales funnel, followed by the middle and bottom. In the middle of the funnel, prospective customers are researching your products and comparing other options, and by the end of it, customers are ready to make a decision and purchase a product or service.
The top of your marketing funnel, therefore, acts as the beginning of a potential customer’s interactions with your brand, and as such, ToFu marketing is the process of targeting consumers who are still in the awareness stage of the purchasing journey. It is a chance to introduce your brand and provide high-level information about your value proposition.
If you set a great first impression, customers will want to learn more and may consider buying your product. If your ToFu marketing strategy falls flat, you will struggle to generate enough quality leads to support your growth goals.
How To Seize Your Audiences’ Attention
When engaging in ToFu marketing, time is of the essence, given that you only have seconds to grab your audience’s attention, deliver your message, and encourage them to take the next step in the purchase journey.
To make the most of that narrow window, make sure that you do the following:
Choose the Right Mediums
There are several mediums that you can use to effectively display your ToFu marketing content, including your website, social media channels, email, paid search engine ads, out-of-home advertising, and Connected TV. While all of these have their place in marketing strategies, a few tend to be exceptionally effective for ToFU marketing in particular.
Ideally, you’ll want to choose mediums in which your audience is already engaged. For instance, when using video for your ToFu marketing efforts, Connected TV is at the top of the list.
Connected TV refers to television content streamed over internet-connected TVs via integrated apps or devices such as Roku or Amazon Fire Stick. With that said, if you deliver Connected TV ads in the middle of an audience member’s favorite TV show or movie, you set up a great opportunity to engage with them, as they’re already paying close attention to the content they’re streaming.
Focus on Your Message
Avoid stuffing your ToFu ads with excessive information, as overwhelming audiences with a broad array of details can cause them to tune out. Instead, focus on your product or service, its benefits, and the problem that it exists to solve, remembering that the purpose is to generate intrigue and encourage customers to learn more about your product or service. Customers who make it to the consideration stage will dig deeper and explore all of the benefits of your product.
Use Captivating Imagery or Video
With only a few seconds to grab someone’s attention, video and imagery are far more effective than long-form written content. There are a variety of ways to integrate captivating imagery into your content, such as attaching eye-catching photos to your social media posts, running banner ads, or producing short-form explainer videos.
Use Marketing Software To Inform Your Next Campaign
As you approach ToFu marketing and the strategies that you can deploy, remember the age-old wisdom that knowledge is power. If you want to maximize your reach and connect with the right audiences, you must inform your campaigns through data collection and analytics software.
In doing so, you can determine what resonates with your audience using the power of analytics and then deliver content that generates intrigue, increases engagement, and draws viewers into the next stage of the purchasing journey.
Upgrade your marketing analytics software and learn how to transform CTV into your top-performance channel.
