A digital marketer, especially today, must be wary of the customer journey. This is ever-changing and mapping it throughout the marketing process is of prime importance. As a marketer, it is high time you get familiar with the digital marketing flywheel model that is replacing the marketing funnel for better results.
It is not a newly introduced idea but the marketing funnel was declared dead by Hubspot and was replaced by this exciting concept.
The purchase process and customer experiences have changed drastically today. They have more options than ever before to lead them to a decision either to purchase the product, to make a phone call or even to write an inquiry. With the reshaping that’s happened to this journey, it is time for marketers to shun old habits and practices like the funnel and move on to effective ones like the Flywheel.
Why is the funnel no longer useful?
Go ahead and ask any marketer if they’ve used the funnel system in their marketing techniques. 10/10 answers would be a yes! The marketing funnel is an age-old concept and has been around for almost a century!
Bidding goodbye to this can be hard for traditional marketers.
The history of the funnel:
E. St. Elmo Lewis developed an advertising concept in 1898 that progressed from awareness to action. William W. Townsend in 1924, further developed this concept through a funnel right from taking a customer through different stages of attention, interest and conversion.
The funnel is not a strong concept as it does not keep the customer at the centre of the marketing strategy. It attracts a huge number of prospects and has a small number of conversions or sales.
After the sale is completed or the bottom of the funnel is reached, there was nowhere for the customer to go to or to be out into. This created a lot of confusion for marketers and was not practical enough when it came to real-life situations. It got in their way of thinking and executing marketing plans. The funnel fails to keep in mind the customers who come back and there is no space provided for retargeting customers.
Funnel can bring you customers but does not care for their attitudes and experience in the marketing strategy. The growth is hindered and becomes stagnant after a point.
What is the solution for this?
The digital marketing flywheel is a concept that takes into account stored energy to further the customer journey and make it better. It is a device that stores and releases energy when needed. This concept was a big hit when it was adopted for businesses.
Similarly, the flywheel concept can continue to power growth even after the sale is complete.
Once you’ve established your flywheel, you don’t have to continually update it. If it is good enough, customers themselves will apply force to make it run in the form of referrals or repurchasing. This bit is called advocate marketing.
They have a small following and a highly engaged audience. They usually only promote a niche sector like sports, food, travel, beauty etc. The messages are to the point and usually have a close knit of followers who tend to absorb what the influencer puts out a lot better.
How to keep up the flywheel’s momentum?
There are three main factors that determine how well your flywheel performs or what drives its momentum.
- How fast it spins
- How much friction is there
- How big or small it is size-wise
Your marketing strategies must revolve around these three things.
Let’s elaborate the three.
Your flywheel’s speed is increased by adding more force to the places where it gives substantial impact. Similar to a funnel where all the push is given to attract customers, a flywheel also gives you the opportunity. Keep in mind to make sure all your goals and investments are aligned right from marketing, sales to customer retention. Flywheel also grows on word of mouth, so make sure your customers are smiling all the time. You don’t want it to slow down your momentum.
Friction is identification of the places where your customers are unhappy. Inefficiencies must be taken care of to improve conversions by delighting customers. Friction might arise between different team’s working in tandem for the same goal too. This needs to be reduced for smooth and fast functioning of the wheel.
The weight of the digital marketing flywheel is determined by how happy your customers are. This increases speed, reduces friction and gives you the results you want out of your marketing strategy. Retaining customers can also increase the weight of the wheel.
- Determine the core metrics you track for a brand.
- Identify the points that gives momentum to your flywheel. This can be word of mouth, shares etc.
- Identify friction points between your brand and customers and solve them.
To summarize, keep customer experience at the core of everything you do. Optimize customer growth by making tactical changes to reduce friction and align your structure. Early success of the digital marketing flywheel can contribute to its future growth.
Would you like to know more about this innovative, growth bringing technique? Talk to our marketing experts today. At Let’s Goo Social, we are all about everything digital, marketing our clients’ digital footprint through innovative designs and actionable insights.
