If you’ve ever scrolled on Facebook or just used the internet in the past 10 years, you’ve likely come across advertisements telling you to build a “marketing funnel” for your business. Or maybe you’ve seen the ones that say “Funnels are dead . . . do this instead.” And, of course, these ads invite you to subscribe, download, or purchase something that will magically grow your business!

Marketing funnels sometimes get a bad rap. (Mostly because marketers ruin everything.) But the concept of a marketing funnel is pretty simple and can be effective for a massage practice in certain cases. So what is a marketing funnel? Is it sales-ey and icky? Is it legit? How do I make one?

The term funnel comes from the visual representation of the process of getting new clients by reaching a larger group of people first and then creating a system that results in a smaller subset of those people becoming clients. The top of the funnel is the general public, or at least the community that you want to reach. The bottom of the funnel is smaller and represents the people who end up becoming clients. And yes, we do understand that in an actual funnel, all the contents reach the bottom. But hey, it’s not a perfect analogy. We just go with it.

Components of a Marketing Funnel

So how do you build this thing and what’s it made of? Generally, a marketing funnel is simply a series of content that creates a path toward a goal. In classic marketing terms, we would say content lives at the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel.

Top-of-the-funnel content is something that is (typically) free, published with no restrictions, and requires little or no commitment to get. Examples would be blog posts, videos, podcasts, downloadable resources, checklists, quizzes, or informational images.

Middle-of-the-funnel content usually builds on the previous content and can require a little more commitment. At this stage, content can include webinars, courses, resources requiring an email address to download, group training sessions, or anything that is a little “meatier” and may require more commitment.

Bottom-of-the-funnel content can be anything that leads to a sale or, in our context, a booking. This can be a Facebook ad that invites your followers to schedule a massage online. It can be an email with a booking link, or anything that invites the recipient to take action and book a massage.

Real-World Examples

So what does this look like in practice? There is no one-size-fits-all formula that works for everyone, but here is an example to illustrate what a marketing funnel might look like.

Let’s say you are a massage therapist who works with people with anxiety. Your top-of-the-funnel content might be an article on your website that offers insights and suggested paths for people with anxiety to help them manage it. This article would be fairly in-depth, filled with links and references to other authoritative sources, and provide tangible advice for people to help them manage anxiety. You would share this article on social media and maybe even spend some money promoting it through advertising so it reaches people in your area and in your target market.

At the end of the article, you have an email subscribe box that invites readers to enter their email address in order to receive a follow-up tool kit with things like breathing exercises, visual examples of stretches or poses, or other resources that go beyond the content in the article. Some people will enter their email address, and some will not. This resource is your middle-of-the-funnel content.

In the meantime, you are also running ads that promote the downloadable resource to anyone who has viewed the top-of-the-funnel article on your website. This allows you to catch more people who didn’t download it on the spot, but who may come back and download it once they are reminded a few times.

At this point, you are starting to build an email list. Next, you need a bottom-of-the-funnel message or content piece. This can simply be an automated email that gets sent a week after the resource is downloaded. The email might talk about how massage can help with anxiety and how you specialize in working with people in this population. The email includes a button that allows the recipient to schedule an appointment online.

A marketing funnel can take many forms and can be more or fewer steps. For example, a podcast can make a great top-of-the-funnel step that leads a lot of people directly to becoming clients. This can work especially well if you specialize.

For example, let’s say you specialize in working with cyclists. You could host a weekly podcast that talks about cycling in your area. You might bring on experienced cyclists to talk about training tips for people new to cycling. You might give reviews of the best cycling paths in town. You might interview nutrition experts who can talk about healthy foods for cyclists. Given time, your podcast can become a resource for cyclists in your area.

At the end of each episode, you give a simple call to action that reminds your listeners that massage can be beneficial to cyclists and tells them how to book a massage on your website. You’ve created top-of-the-funnel content and added a bottom-of-the-funnel call to action in every episode.

Keep It Simple

Generally, the most effective marketing funnels are simple. You don’t need to create a complex chain of events, and you don’t need expensive software. Experiment with different types of content to find what works for you. It’s better to have a single amazing resource than five different content pieces that are all mediocre.

Finally, don’t be afraid to test and adapt. If you find that your community is not responding to your marketing funnel, change it up. But give it time to gain traction before you switch gears. A promoted article might start getting attention in a few weeks while a podcast might take a year or more to gain an audience.

Marketing funnels don’t have to be sales-ey or gimmicky. When done well, marketing funnels can be effective in offering insights and tools to your target audience, eventually leading them to seek out the service you provide. And that’s good for everyone.