2 Tools to Create Delighted Customers for Life: Marketing Funnel & Customer Journey Map

Do you have potential clients running up begging to work for you? Do you ‘wow’ your customers and clients? Do you have a process to make sure that every client gets the same, excellent experience while working with you (every time!)?

If you’re not certain of any of these answers, you want to create a Marketing Funnel & Client Journey Map and how you interact with visitors to turn them into leads; leads to turn them into prospects; prospects to turn them into customers; and then customers to turn them into referral sources for your business.

The Marketing Funnel

You’ve probably seen or heard about some aspect of the customer journey, the marketing funnel. This follows the process that you grow your business by turning an unknown audience into your customers.

At each touch point, your goal is to provide value and demonstrating your expertise in your field, so that they see you as a valued resource and the person they want to work with when they are ready to act.

This process also includes helping them realize that they need to take action and motivate them to take it as quickly as possible (dependent on how powerful their pain points are). This process is important to ensuring that you are addressing your potential clients’ needs, concerns and pains at each step of the buying process.

The Customer Journey

Have you ever considered and planned out the touch points that your client has with your business? This is a larger blanket that includes not only the pieces of the Marketing Funnel, but also a deeper understanding of your Client Personas to best address their needs.

Whereas a Marketing Funnel is very linear, rigid and is more of an overall process for how leads will move down the funnel to becoming a client, the Customer Journey is much more customer centric and can be a more fluid process. It becomes a map of a customer’s journey through interactions with your business.

What Do You Need to Know to Better Address Your Customers?

Creating a Customer Journey Map means understanding your client personas: their motivations, desires, hopes, dreams, plus the pains and fears that you can help them overcome. A client persona is the foundational step for any branding or marketing process. To truly speak to your clients, you need to understand them.

Looking for more help with this process? The first step is creating your Ideal Client Persona (aka Avatar).

Know How You Can Interact With Clients

Consider the touch points you have with customers, places that they learn more about your business or even interact directly with you.

• Your Website/Blog
• Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
• Free Guides/White Papers
• Google/Yahoo/Bing Business Listings
• Review Sites: Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc.
• Friends and Family
• Phone Calls
• Referral Sites
• Speaking Events
• Networking Events
• Tech Support Calls/Connections with Your Staff

And more! Any interaction with your company or brand is part of this process and it is why branding is so valuable too. This process continues even once they are clients and should include looking at your customer service process and interactions.