Time to upgrade the Funnel to a Pipe.

The traditional marketing funnel:


It's rough but generally flows like this. Most media campaigns are also structure like this. The largest advertisers in Australia follows this structure. Matching media to reach and message to speak to customers at the most relevant time of their decision making process.

TV gets the awareness, DR guides & influence, the Retail captures the purchase.

It's simple, it worked it the past, and it is proven.

But with the advent of digital and consumer empowerment, has this changed the funnel?

I believe so.

My thoughts is to upgrade the funnel. It's very one way. It's about pushing an elephant through the funnel and expecting the business to increase sales.

We hear this constantly - Driving mass reach and awareness. Big TARPs. TV gives me the most reach. What is my CPM rate? If I can get more people to hear about it, I'll get more people buying my product.

Digital has fundamentally changed the way we endorse products, purchase products, consume media. Everyone of us has a voice. A voice that consumers listen to. When we purchase any product, a simple Google search will bring a list of not only the Brand's websites but also past customer's experience of the Brand's product. Good and Bad. Google doesn't differentiate.

The funnel needs to be upgraded. It needs to be a dialogued approach with Brands and Customers. What are they saying? Am I even listening? Can I speak to them? Let's start evolving the funnel to a pipe.

A pipe can flow both ways. Brands and Customers can speak to each other at each step of their decision making process. It's also one to one. Personal. A Brand can have many pipes. Speaking to all their customers. Ability to manage different types of customers. If a customer is not happy, the Brand hears about it and fixes it.

But fundamentally, this is beyond media. It is a change of the Brand's business approach and culture. It will need to look at evolving their business model to be Rapid Response. Ability to listen, identify, and react.

Benefits? Rapid Response means remarkable experience for customers, drop fall out rates, high conversion rates, positive influence on customers, positive WOM from customer, customer retention, create better products, NPD, lower cost per sale and cost per customer = $$$ revenue.

It's a big cultural shift for Businesses so it's easier to do what they do. Like this Mac ad.

Happy Friday!

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