Gravity is NOT a Strategy – Reassessing the Lead Funnel Model

Gravity is NOT a Strategy – Reassessing the Lead Funnel Model:

from Business 2 Community by Karl Schneider

I recently stumbled onto a hidden flaw in one of the most central concepts of demand generation. It has to do with the classic lead funnel model that we all know and love. You know, the one that actually looks like a funnel and has ever-shrinking sections to illustrate that you start with lots of leads at the top and end at the bottom with…less.
(Actually, now that I think about it there are two flaws. I just realized that everything that goes into a funnel in real life actually comes out the bottom. That’s not what the lead funnel illustrates at all – but I digress.)
The big “Aha!” moment came when someone mentioned that real funnels leverage gravity to draw the material through. But if you tried to use a real funnel in outer space, the material would just sit in it for the most part, and that’s assuming you could get it into the funnel to begin with, because it would not go in by its own volition. So it is with many lead funnels in the B2B marketing galaxy: the funnel just sits there, waiting for gravity to push leads into it and ultimately pull them through the other end.
The problem is that leads are people. The only thing gravity does to people is keep them on the planet – it won’t put them in the lead funnel and it certainly won’t pull them through.  To make any of that happen, you have to first identify what will drive them into the funnel, and then, what will push them through to the other end.
But don’t fear, because it’s not rocket science! You just have to employ a structured and strategic approach to filling and moving leads through your B2B marketing funnel:

• Define the personas to whom you’re marketing
• Create content that is interesting or relevant to them
• Serve it up in a way that engages and inspires them

Combine that with the technology to provide reporting and analytics, the people who can make it happen, and the process to keep it consistent. You now have a winning strategy to drive revenue. As I said, it’s not rocket science at all. It’s actually revenue marketing™.
So from now on, I will boycott the traditional lead funnel model. Instead, I will use graphics in my presentations that illustrate a left-to-right lead funnel model rather than a top-down lead funnel model.
Because gravity is NOT a strategy.