The right audience at the right time with the right message: this is the holy grail of marketing. If you want your marketing efforts to be successful, then you need to make sure that as much of your ad spend as possible is targeting the right audience at a time when they are most receptive to hearing your message and in a way that will resonate with them.

There are three main types of campaigns that effectively feed the sales funnel:

Top of the funnel
Mid funnel
Bottom of the funnel

In my opinion, running campaigns targeting all three points of the sales funnel are required to successfully market a business. Ignoring one will have a negative impact on the others creating less than desirable results.

Let’s take a quick look at what each funnel is about:

First is the Top of the funnel or awareness campaign. This campaign lets the audience know your business or product exists and creates brand awareness. This should be aimed at the largest audience possible who may not be looking to purchase right now. Many times potential customers are not even aware your product exists! Display marketing, rich media, video, and sponsored content are all perfect for this as it hits a widest possible audience.

Second is the Mid funnel or consideration campaign. This campaign is perfect for informing people in the market looking to purchase in the three to six months of the benefits and advantages of your product or service. These people are not looking to buy immediately but can be informed to consider your product or service when they’re ready. Contextual marketing, social media, sponsored content, and SEM campaigns all hit the mark when it comes to consideration campaigns.

Bottom of the funnel or performance campaign. Sometimes this is referred to as a direct response campaign. This is designed to convert people from just browsing into customers. This is the best time to push a promotion or offer you currently have. Retargeting, direct response campaigns, social media, and SEM campaigns are perfect for this.

Before you start any advertising campaign, it is important to answer the following:

What product / service are you promoting?
What does your brand stand for? (what emotion do you want your customers to feel about your brand?)
What is the call to action the advert needs to deliver?
What is the call to action the advert needs to deliver?
Who is your target audience (age, gender, location, etc)?
Where do they spend their time?
How can we reach them most effectively?

Asking yourself these questions will help you avoid allocating your budget to unnecessary activities and will ensure your campaign is designed to achieve your goal. Now, let’s dive deeper into the funnels, what their function is, and tips on creating an effective campaign within these funnels.

Brand Awareness Campaigns - Top of the funnel

An awareness campaign is one of the most common types of advertising. It’s designed to create awareness about a brand, product, or service without trying to sell anything directly. Awareness campaigns are especially useful for introducing new products or services that haven’t yet been established in the market. This is the very top of the marketing funnel, consider this, by creating a larger top of the funnel, it will have a flow on effect lower down the funnel creating more conversions with a better conversion rate.

Tips to creating an effective brand awareness campaign

Ensure your logo is front and centre. This builds credibility for your brand.
Use high-quality content. This will increase the likelihood of people sharing it and creating more awareness.
Be consistent. Use the same colours, fonts, and styles across all your materials. This makes it easier for people to identify your brand.
If possible, use humour. This will engage your audience and increase the likelihood of them sharing your content with others.

The pitfalls to avoid when running a brand awareness campaign

If you are creating a video, be aware that most people will not watch to the end. Ensure your logo and message are conveyed early.
Ensure your brand name is readable and easily locatable.
Make the content relevant to the audience and your brand. Don't devote all your effort & expense only to miss the mark.

Consideration Campaigns - Mid funnel

The goals of a consideration campaign are to increase the number of people who have some interest in your product or service and to increase their intent to buy. Consideration campaigns are typically less expensive than awareness campaigns but they require more effort and time on your part. This often involves showing people your point of difference and how your brand compares with others (or not). This is done by providing information about features, benefits, pricing etc

Tips to creating an effective consideration campaign

Have a clear objective and strategy for the campaign
Be clear with your call to action. What do you want your customers to do once they see your ad? (i.e. visit your website, call a phone number etc.)
Use relevant imagery to support your message

The pitfalls to avoid when running a consideration campaign

Don’t be too aggressive with your sales pitch - consumers are more likely to buy when they feel informed than when they feel pressured.
Don’t make it too long - consumers have a short attention span and are unlikely to watch an ad that is longer than a minute or two at most.
Don’t be repetitive - don’t repeat yourself too much, or else people will find it boring.

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Performance Campaign or Direct Response Campaigns - Bottom of the funnel

Performance campaigns are designed to get people to take a specific action, such as submitting their details or making a purchase. These are often called “lead generation campaigns” because they generate leads (or requests for further information) from potential customers.

Tips to creating an effective performance campaign

Include a strong call to action in each ad (eg: “Click here now!”)
Make it easy for people to take the desired action by providing a link or an address to your website
Reveal something about yourself in the ad so that people can relate (the more relatable you are, the better!)
Use a strong offer that’s related to what is seen on the screen
Focus on one main action you want people to take (don’t ask them for too many things or they won’t do any of them)
Make sure your landing page is relevant and user friendly. If you can, ensure it is built with UX (user experience) tools to ensure it is intuitive and easy to use.

The pitfalls to avoid when running a performance campaign

Don’t use the same ad for all of your campaigns. Users will ignore them.
Don’t write copy that tries to be too clever or funny, as it may turn off people who aren’t interested in your product or service
Don't ask too many questions when collecting leads. For each additional question, a large percentage of people will stop the process

On a final note, all these campaigns can be run simultaneously by targeting different audiences or run as a staggered campaign depending on your marketing schedule. With over 1,000 sites and apps and a global audience of over 1.4 billion visitors monthly, Blazelift’s AI powered network is the perfect addition to your marketing campaign.

Hitting the right audience at the right time with the right message | Blazelift