What’s wrong with the marketing funnel?

When we talk about the marketing funnel and different strategies we employ for the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel, what do we mean? Are we speaking the same language? Often, we are not. 

Awareness, intent, interest, consideration, research, engagement, desire, decision, action, retention, demand generation, capture, reengage, loyalty: a plethora of terms used to dissect the customer journey and describe our day-to-day marketing strategies. 

A common marketing funnel 

Is it all just semantics? No. Misrepresenting or mis defining stages of the marketing funnel can have us fumbling in the dark, convincing ourselves that one strategy can help us accomplish our goals when we’re spending too much time and investment on tactics that won’t meet prospects at critical stages of their buyer journey. Not having clear stages keeps us from understanding where we may need to build audience exposure and what segments we may be neglecting in our growth strategy. From awareness of their own unique problems and products that solve them, to awareness of specific brands, to interactions with those brands, down to demonstrating intent to purchase and repurchase. Buyers' stages matter. 

Too many times I’ve heard conversations about competitor search being ‘mid-funnel’ and non-brand search being ‘top of funnel’ while brand search is ‘bottom of funnel’. Arguably, all search advertising, particularly the way it is leveraged today, is bottom of the funnel.

Are Meta traffic-optimized campaigns 'top of funnel'? No, they are already capitalizing on a target audience’s existing intent to visit a brand’s website and engage. 

Why are we so adamant about these definitions? Because alignment on what the top, middle, and bottom of funnel mean and what common marketing tactics those funnel stages translate to can help us approach different objectives with the right tools and mindsets.

Thrive’s Marketing Funnel Framework

By now, you’re probably clear on what we don’t love about the conversations happening around the funnel today. So we made the Thrive Marketing Funnel Framework to better evaluate what strategies will help us meet different objectives and what questions to ask along the way.

The modern marketing funnel: Meet the Thrive Marketing Funnel Framework

Generate awareness (top of funnel)

AKA awareness

What is it? The stage of the buyer journey where people become aware of the problem you can solve.

What is the advertising campaign objective? Building awareness of your service or product offering and the unique problems you can solve.

Who is the audience? Your audiences at this stage should be highly qualified via demographic / audience guardrails and refined buyer personas that align closely with creative messaging. These campaign types focus on the user’s reception or response to a brand’s advertisements off-site (video views, reach/frequency, brand recall).

What are some campaign examples? YouTube Video Reach, Meta Video View, Disney CTV, Spotify/Pandora podcasts, etc. Any campaigns optimized to on-site activity should be considered MOF or BOF, as the behaviours they drive and capture are more engagement-oriented.

Relevant questions to ask yourself in this stage? 

• Who is our target market? Who are our target personas?

• What was our unique reach? With what frequency did our audience view our creative?

• What creatives or messaging were viewed or interacted with the most? What did creative engagement/thumb stop rates look like?

• What do we want everyone in our target market to know?

• What creatives can lift our target audience’s perception of our brand positively?

Generate intent (middle of funnel)

AKA consideration

What is it? Prospects want a solution and are considering their options.

What is the advertising campaign objective? These campaigns are geared to driving and building consideration for your service or product offering.

Who is the audience? Audiences should be qualified via demographic and intent guardrails: for example a lookalike of 1%, age and gender layering, specific interest targeting, etc.). Prospecting audiences focused on traffic optimization or events prior in the funnel to your success metric. 

What are some campaign examples? Meta traffic or landing page view campaigns, any channels focused on optimization to specific pageviews, leads, 2+ page views, 'engaged sessions', webinar download, etc.

Relevant questions to ask yourself in this stage?

• How much qualified or engaged traffic did we generate?

• Are we seeing cost-effective site activity via advertising?

• Are we seeing more engaged sessions onsite overall or via different source mediums?

Capture intent (bottom of funnel) 

AKA decision

What is it? Prospects decide on a solution or product and become paying customers or sales pipeline prospects.

What is the advertising campaign objective? These campaigns focus on driving and capturing the success metric or decision (ie, purchase) from in-market audiences considering a purchase within the next 30 days or less.

Who is the audience? Any retargeting and retention audiences — these users have proven some level of direct brand intent and engagement by exploring your website or taking specific actions. Bottom of funnel audiences can be broader to provide more machine learning flexibility for advertising platforms to focus on prospects nearest to purchase, for example, Broad, depending on your product, Lookalike audience 5%, etc.

What are some campaign examples? All search advertising as well as Shopping/Pmax, TikTok retargeting, Meta retention, dynamic product ads (DPAs), Advantage Plus campaigns, Meta prospecting optimized to purchase. For non-ecommerce advertisers, campaigns focused on driving leads or free trials.

Conclusion

The traditional marketing funnel, while a foundational concept in marketing, has significant limitations in today’s dynamic and interconnected digital landscape. Its linear approach oversimplifies the complex and non-linear journey that modern consumers undertake, often neglecting the importance of ongoing engagement and relationship-building. As consumers increasingly seek personalized experiences and value-driven interactions, businesses must adapt their strategies to reflect this reality.

To address the shortcomings of the marketing funnel, brands should embrace a more holistic and customer-centric approach. This includes focusing on building long-term relationships, leveraging data for personalization, and recognizing the importance of post-purchase engagement. By moving beyond the confines of the traditional funnel and adopting a more fluid, iterative model, businesses can better meet the needs of their customers, foster loyalty, and drive sustainable growth in an ever-evolving marketplace. Embracing this shift will not only enhance customer experiences but also position brands for success in a competitive landscape.