MPG…On the Pulse
Why a Full-Funnel Approach is the Key to Stronger Long-Term Brand Health & ROI
If you’re struggling with where to cut marketing spend in today’s economic climate, you’re not alone. Many are grappling with decisions on where to focus available funds within the marketing funnel. Some are still laser-focused on the lower funnel – with its direct metrics and easier management buy-in. Yet, a multi-touchpoint, full-funnel approach is actually the surer bet. Why?
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Consider this: With a non-linear consumer journey in today’s omnichannel world, the consumer can enter the marketing funnel at any stage. Focus exclusively on conversion tactics like SEO and email marketing, and you miss many shoppers who start in the earlier awareness and consideration phases.
Without a full-funnel approach, it’s impossible to truly understand all that influences the consumer’s decision process. And the need to really know how each channel and each tactic interconnects and impacts has never been greater. According to McKinsey, 60 percent of consumers have tried a new shopping behavior in response to economic pressures, store closings, or changing priorities. Only through a full-funnel approach can you stay with them to identify and move past new friction points in your consumer’s purchase journey.
At the same time, if tactics are tied only to conversion, the opportunity to build brand equity is lost, and the risk of being perceived as a commodity increases. An emotional connection – something we know drives long-term loyalty – isn’t built.
Worst of all, many brand preferences form before the shopper gets to shelf.
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The average consumer spends 13 seconds purchasing a brand in-store
and up to 19 seconds online.
Most purchase decisions are thought to be subconscious -- based on habit or mental availability. I like how Daniel Kahneman boils it down in Thinking, Fast and Slow. Basically, our brains default to an automatic, subconscious purchase decision based on the quantity and depth of memory structures created by a brand. Brands that get deep into our subconscious with a compelling value proposition can trigger more automatic buying behavior than those requiring more investigation and analysis. It’s that simple.
Cut through the noise and create “implicit preference” for your brand at an earlier stage of the shopper journey, before the shopper is on auto-pilot at point of purchase.
Also, use consistent cross-platform messaging across all funnel stages to ensure the customer isn’t struggling with different or non-relevant messages in the lower funnel. Keep changing messages across the funnel, and you’ll be constantly reintroducing your brand and impacting your ability to move the shopper to a sale.
But what about when shoppers are in more of a “browsing” mode? Don’t forget about the opportunities to generate awareness and engagement in the retail environment. A well-designed endcap can be an awareness & a conversion vehicle in-store. And the same is true within Amazon, as shoppers browse digital end caps and brand stores, discovering new brands.
The trick is in understanding how each stage is connected to the others for your consumer. This came into play recently for a wellness functional food brand that needed to go beyond conversion-driving tactics that only spoke to a small audience. Together, we built out the brand proposition by educating a much larger audience through paid and owned media, resulting in YOY growth of 61% and doubling the new customer base.
While the plan will look different for every client, we’re finding that MPG clients who integrate upper- and lower-funnel strategies are pulling ahead of the pack, reaching more consumers at all stages of the journey, and driving both short-term gains with conversion media and longer-term ROI and brand growth. And they’re seeing better ROAS than those spending on lower-funnel channels alone. With the first-party data on shopper behaviors now available through retail media networks, as well as improving metrics frameworks across the entire funnel, many of our clients are seeing improved upper funnel KPIs.
With a long career driving highly successful Marketing campaigns, Ann has held agency leadership roles supporting clients that include Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, Kimberly Clark, Mars and Johnson & Johnson / Kenvue and at CPG companies that include Coca-Cola, Bayer and Henkel. If you’re interested in learning more about how a full-funnel media and creative approach can benefit your business, reach out to Ann at ann.mcgrath@mpgllc.com.