What is the most exciting thing for a company than to have a brand that customers simply love? With a strong brand funnel strategy everything is possible. 

Brand Funnels can help you determine where your brand sits on the Brand Love curve. The brand funnel is a marketing model that is suitable for the analysis of private labels. From this, valuable information about the competition as well as implications for the positioning of the own brand can be derived in order to gain important competitive advantages, for example.  

The metaphorical funnel itself leads over six levels, which build on each other and aim at customer loyalty. The levels range from the simple awareness of the brand to the loyalty of the customer to the brand. Thus, the brand funnel is like a kind of checklist, which helps companies to increase the loyalty of their customers. 

Level 1: Notoriety of the brand 

At the first level of the Brand Funnel, it is analysed whether and to what extent the own brand enjoys fundamental awareness. For this purpose, for example, by surveys, the brand awareness. If the desired awareness is not there, you should consider then viral marketing measures, such as event hosting and advertising delivery, both offline and online. Especially advertising measures ensure that attention is drawn to the brand. 

Level 2: familiarity of the brand 

If the requirement of awareness of your brand is met, then at the next level you need to check how much sympathy and interest your customers have for the brand. Despite an important level of brand awareness, some customers may already be lost in the transition to familiarity level. Because in order to achieve familiarity, the positive association of the customer with your brand is necessary. In corporate communications and public relations, therefore, positive emotions and values ​​should be communicated. If there is a need for improvement at this level, for example, programs for the positive transfer of experience are advantageous. Donations for charitable purposes or competitions and raffles can be used for this purpose, for example. 

Level 3: The Consideration Set 

The awareness and a positive feeling of your brand are ensured? Then it is time to reach the Consideration Set or the relevance set of your customers. In a customer’s Consideration Set, only a few brands or products are “stored” that the customer first considers and is more likely to buy when making a purchase. In most cases, these are brands and products that the customer trusts because he has had good experiences with them in the past. 

The goal in this stage of the brand funnel is to be considered by customers when making a purchase decision. You can help by communicating and promoting the benefits and Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of your product. 

Level 4: Intent 

Today, people are no longer following a linear path from awareness to consideration to buy. They are narrowing and broadening their consideration set in unique and unpredictable moments. People turn to their devices to get immediate answers. And every time they do, they are expressing intent and reshaping the traditional marketing funnel along the way. 

Level 5: Evaluation 

No two customer journeys are exactly alike. For today’s search-savvy consumers, even a more linear path to purchase involves a lot of touchpoints. The user is doing a lot of research along the way. Be there. People now expect to be assisted everywhere. Be useful. People respond to brands that understand their needs. Be quick. To succeed, brands must deliver experiences that are fast and frictionless. It is time to invest in mobile experiences as well as a machine learning and automation strategy. Automate everything 

Level 6: The purchase 

Congratulation! When your customer has reached this level and buys your product, an essential step has been taken in Brand Funnel. However, the process of long-term retention of customers at this point is by no means complete. Dealing with customers immediately before and after the purchase is key to long-term customer loyalty. Especially the service after the purchase can be decisive, if the customer buys a product of your mark again or after the single purchase to the competition changes. 

Next Level: Loyalty 

To ensure the success and the transfer of customers to this level, it is necessary to promote repurchases. The avoidance of post-purchase dissonance and the sharing of a positive experience are by no means negligible and are important targets for generating loyalty. For example, some companies care for customers intensively after the purchase, offer long-term guarantees and small gifts as a congratulatory to purchase. 

Author: Liliana Țene is Marketing Director at }exghts.

A Jedi digital marketer and a courageous parachute jumper. See more about her here.