Any seasoned marketer knows the importance of funnel momentum. True success for the business is when leads result in a sale, a process often referred to as the sales funnel. However, creating scalable and sustainable funnel momentum is challenging for most teams. For some teams, prospects don’t convert to qualified leads. And for others, initial sales stages don’t result in continued person-to-person conversations.
There are often common “clogs” in the process, and many teams are too busy keeping the marketing machine running to focus on optimizing the process or “unclogging .” Leads don’t become marketing qualified leads (MQLs), or sales presentation stages don’t result in contract negotiations. Commonly this leads to tension with the sales teams, all the while failing to deliver on the bottom line for the company.
If this sounds like your world, you are not alone. Even the most well-run teams need help with funnel momentum as changes in the market and product offerings impact the natural flow of business. Instead of feeling stuck, let me suggest we put the problem in motion. To be clear, I am not speaking about endless meetings but rather understanding your customer’s pain at each stage and working to place the pieces of those stories into creative motion.
But what does creativity have to do with better conversions, continued sales conversations, and increased sales opportunities? Let me explain. Your customers have particular emotions and pains at each stage of the process. Anyone who has bought a car knows that the test drive is fun, but the paperwork can be a nightmare. Creative teams thrive at the intersection of emotional connection and explanation. Customers are far more likely to continue with the process when presented with messages and material that “gets them” at each stage. While your sales team might claim they can solve anything over lunch, your customers have busy schedules and don’t have time for another hour meeting with your company to get to the root of the problem.
We suggest that your PowerPoints and Whitepapers aren’t doing the job either. Today’s buyers have shorter attention spans and need effective vehicles for relating to their problems and solutions. Commonly, many of the first-touch contacts are not the final decision-makers. Your material at each stage is typically sent to a higher-up in the company to help advance to the next stage. A simple, creative message is much easier to digest than rearranging schedules for another lunch with an eager salesperson. If you are a VP with a busy schedule, which would you prefer to decide if it is worth investing more of your time, political capital, and company money on a new solution?
Creativity, specifically animation, is one of the most effective methods to solve funnel momentum. Animation is emotionally relatable, differentiating, and the most effective means to tell a story. Animation has evolved dramatically since your earliest memories of cartoons and has moved past those “whiteboard with a hand drawing stuff” videos from a decade ago. Today’s animation offerings are at the leading edge of customer communication.
If a picture says a thousand words, a well-researched and executed video summarizes the words into a compelling story. Investments in an animated video often result in a more robust message with additional marketing assets (short gifs, clips, and static images) to be used in various ways for your team to deploy across multiple channels.
Our team at Kru Creative works with teams to solve for funnel momentum because we understand that you don’t need “a video”. You need more MQL’s, SQL’s, scoping conversations, and closed deals. For many marketers, the opportunity cost of continued funnel inefficiency is far too great not to act. Often animation investments demonstrate ROI within one closed sale.
We would welcome the opportunity to hear about your funnel momentum and if it makes sense for our team to start moving together creatively and cohesively.
Recent Comments