From Brand Strangers to Brandvangelists: Our Simple 4 Step Inbound Marketing Sales Funnel
Your brand needs stans. Like BeyHive, Barbz, Navy, Bardi Gang stans. If you don’t know what these are, they’re the named fan bases of Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and Cardi B respectively. Though the origins are disputed, a stan is defined as an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity. [click_to_tweet tweet=”Your brand needs stans. Like BeyHive, Barbz, Navy, Bardi Gang stans.” quote=”Your brand needs stans. Like BeyHive, Barbz, Navy, Bardi Gang stans.” theme=”style1″] Stans get a bad rap for being a bit too overzealous in defense of their faves, but their dedication and devotion cannot be questioned. I personally have Instagram notifications turned on for Beyoncé. So the second she posts a new picture I can see it, pull it over to Twitter (my preferred social of choice), and stan out over it with other Hive enthusiasts. When any of these artists put out a new song or video, it disseminates instantly around the world via social media because of stan accounts with tens of thousands of followers who will share anything that has to do with their fave. When they even hint at a new album or project it trends on every platform. Without explicitly instructing their fans to do anything at all or paying for the promotion, these women have a virtually global highly active street team ready 24/7 to market any and everything for them. Stans are the ultimate brandvangelists. [click_to_tweet tweet=”Stans are the ultimate brandvangelists.” quote=”Stans are the ultimate brandvangelists.” theme=”style1″] Imagine how having enthusiastic brandvangelists of your own business would help multiply your marketing ROI without increasing your marketing overhead… … Ok. Now stop imagining so I can show you how! We’re going to turn strangers to your brand into brandvangelists using my 4 step inbound marketing sales funnel process!
<script src="//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js" async defer></script> <img style="cursor:pointer;" data-leadbox-popup="kqCXosQSVUrKSK2MJFCdBD" data-leadbox-domain="v3inbound.lpages.co" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QPXYbHQf_pm4S1HOOuKNWOpNzQdPrzG8mwD-2GfPE9aMToyBolXtP169co3n0VI9gSpAnfcsB9_99VHUwAfclg=s0" alt="Click here to subscribe"/>
From Brand Strangers to Brandvangelists
If you’ve never heard of the word brandvangelist before the 5 times I’ve mentioned it so far, that’s ok. It’s my made up portmanteau of the words brand and evangelist. I define it as a devoted person who seeks to convert others to become avid consumers of a brand, especially via social media, testimonials, and word of mouth. Who are brandvangelists? They’re people so excited about your business, so satisfied with your product/service, and who find you so relatable and wonderful that they tell others about you and encourage them to buy from you as well. But the best part? They’ll do it for free. And as a small business owner myself I know that free is one of an entrepreneur’s favorite words. [click_to_tweet tweet=”Brandvangelists are so excited about your business, satisfied with your product/service, and find you so relatable and wonderful that they tell others about you and encourage them to buy from you for free!” quote=”Brandvangelists are so excited about your business, satisfied with your product/service, and find you so relatable and wonderful that they tell others about you and encourage them to buy from you for free!” theme=”style1″] Brandvangelism is word of mouth on steroids. Your brandvangelists encourage others to read your blog posts, listen to your podcast, and watch your videos. They recommend joining your email list & downloading your content when someone asks them a question they know you can answer. They share, retweet, like, and comment on your social media accounts increasing your engagement and reach to new people. Most importantly, they’ll tell friends, family, and followers to buy from you when they need your particular product or service. Whether you give them their own dedicated name (like Barbz or BeyHive) is up to you. Though I’ll say it helps to foster a collective and solidify a feeling of belonging and community. Which makes people even more likely to become strong brandvangelists. I call my own tribe V3 Visionaries. After talking to and working with them I noticed one thing they all have in common: a solid vision of success and dreams they’re dedicated to pursuing. Now you’re probably thinking, “That’s sounds great. But nobody is watching my videos or reading my blog posts right now. I don’t have any clients or customers to call my tribe yet. How am I supposed to create a squad of brandvangelists with no one?” Easy. Follow this simple process to guide people from no idea who you are to joining your tribe. Then eventually become your brandvangelists.
My 4 Step no frills inbound marketing sales funnel
For my visual folks, we’ll start with this infographic:
Entice
You kick off the inbound marketing sales funnel by enticing strangers to interact with your brand through content that’s easily consumed and publicly shared:- Original content like blog posts, videos, or podcast episodes.
- Social posting on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat etc.
- Building backlinks by guest blogging for people with larger platforms than your own.
- Writing articles for mainstream publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Black Enterprise, Essence, HuffPo, etc.
- And using search engine optimization (SEO) tactics like specifying longtail keywords in your blog posts to rank higher on search engines like Google.
Convert
Ok now people know who you are. They love your content, follow you on your socials and visit your website regularly. Mazel tov, but that was step one. It’s time to move them further down the inbound marketing sales funnel. Convert your visitors into warm leads (aka potential customers) by getting them on your email list. Do this through:- Landing pages promoting a specific paid or free product that your target audience needs and solves a specific problem.
- Lead magnets like discount codes or free downloads.
- Content upgrades (Free downloads related to blog, video, or podcast content) like PDFs, checklists/guides, webinar recordings, email courses, e-books, workbooks etc.
- Or website forms like contact pages, subscribe forms, and free consultation forms.
Capture
So your email list is growing with potential customers who have given you the most valuable thing they can give a brand: access to their inbox. Don’t take this lightly. The average person checks their email 15 times a day. So even if they don’t open it, you can be sure they’re seeing your messages. Your job now is to capture your potentials attention enough to turn them into customers. Do that through:- Personalized emails: Say their name, say their name (DC shout out lol). Most email marketing platforms like Mailchimp or Convertkit give you the ability insert a person’s first, last, or full name. This makes people feel like you’re speaking to them directly. That feels a bit more intimate than cookie cutter “to whom it may concern” emails.
- Value driven lead nurturing: Don’t just email to say hi or hard sell your latest product or service. One, that’s just sleazy, and two, it’s a quick way to get reported as spam. Too many reports and your provider may shut you down. NO. BUENO. Always pack a ton of useful information into the emails you send your tribe and show off your personality. That way, they grow to like you as a person and trust your expertise/product quality.
- CRM aka Customer Relationship Management: Put simply, keep track of your potentials and customers, what they’re interested in, and what it would take to move them to the next stage of your funnel. Note which content got them on your email list through segmentation and target them with additional similar content. Keep track of your last interaction with them so you know where to start the conversation next time. Then keep track of where they are in your funnel (warm, very warm, hot & ready). So that when the time is right you can seal the deal.
Enchant
Final step! If you’ve reached this point, it means that your inbound marketing sales funnel is up and running. Strangers are becoming visitors, visitors are becoming potentials, and potentials are becoming customers, which means you’re making money. It’s easy to kick your feet up here and say your job is done but then you’d miss out on the most important step of all: turning your customers into brandvangelists. Do that through:- High touch customer service: check ins, responsive communication, training, previews, customer Q&As etc. Be eager to go above and beyond to ensure their satisfaction throughout the buying process.
- Tailored, targeted, exclusives: Don’t just send them any and everything, make them feel like you’re paying attention to exactly what they want and consistently deliver more than they expect. Like discount codes just for your most frequent customers or free content only for your most engaged tribe members.
- Close follow ups: Once someone buys from you, don’t just drop them, keep in touch. Send them post purchase emails or surveys asking how they enjoyed their product/service, where you can improve your process, and what they’d like to see from you in the future. Or even just let them know they can contact you with any questions they have. This keeps them coming back (aka increasing their lifetime customer value) and will encourage them to want to share their experience with your business with others.
Brandvangelists are the ultimate goal of your sales funnel because they’re the ones who will go out and encourage more strangers to visit your website, follow you, and make their way down the funnel themselves. This takes some of your marketing efforts out of your hands and turns it into a self-renewing resource. Aka less active work for you. BTW, if you want a 3 Month Sales Funnel & Content Planner (and to see the next stages of my own inbound marketing sales funnel in action) you can download one for free below! This planner will help you map out a quarterly content schedule and sales funnel step by step from the content you’ll use to entice strangers to the ultimate high ask product or service you want to sell customers. Then you’ll schedule it out so that you know exactly what to post and when. No more figuring it out as you go. Click the link to fill out the form and it’ll be on its way to your inbox asaptually!
<script src="//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js" async defer></script> <img style="cursor:pointer;" data-leadbox-popup="Tkgpxqr8zHvTp2FRakt6yc" data-leadbox-domain="v3inbound.lpages.co" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FN6pceo0gpQQCoXC4DFk7x6vd6GhM5iotrzupWOr04Q9mqWI9LkYu5HxAKNEuSBeda00cmf-E0Q94GXQiirMMg=s0" alt="Click here to subscribe"/>
TC Headley
CEO
TC is a passionate trust marketing specialist, Divi designer, & entrepreneur. She founded V3 with one idea in mind: No black creative, consultant, coach, or solopreneur should fail because they couldn’t attract and nurture the right audience! Now she teaches them to attract authentically.
<script src="//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js" async defer></script> <script>window.addEventListener('LPLeadboxesReady',function(){LPLeadboxes.setExitIntent('bYUn4Er7ZMZkaZVxHuTXDJ',{dontShowFor:'3d',domain:'v3inbound.lpages.co'});});</script>