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- Weekly Update February 22nd
Weekly Update February 22nd
The #️⃣1 Mistake Founders Make When Building their Marketing Funnel
Happy Tuesday! This week, I’m breaking down how to build an incredible marketing funnel for your e-commerce business. Read until the end and I’ll also share my marketing funnel template and guide so you can build your own.
PS. If you were forwarded this newsletter, please
.
The #️⃣1 Mistake Founders Make When Building their Marketing Funnel
If you’re like most people you’ve heard of a sales or marketing funnel. For those who haven’t, it’s a broad series of steps customers go through on their journey with your company.
This is the 5 step marketing funnel model I use:
👋 AWARENESS >
🤔 CONSIDERATION >
💲 DECISION >
🤝 LOYALTY >
📣 ADVOCACY
Here’s where things get interesting.
I’ve found that founders typically invest the most time and money in top of funnel activities first, like spending money on Facebook ads to build awareness.
This is the number 1 mistake! Why?
If you don’t have the rest of the funnel optimized first, you’re literally going to be throwing away money, because those people likely won’t buy, and you won’t have a way to get in touch with them again.
So what do you do instead?
Invest time and money optimizing the bottom of funnel activities first, then work your way up.
This way, you know that every person who lands on your website at the top of the funnel will have the best chance of becoming a repeat customer by the time they reach the bottom.
Also, it’s soooo much easier to get an existing customer to purchase a second time than to get a new person to purchase once. You should be doing everything you can to nurture your current customers so ideally they never leave.
So what do you need to do at each step of the funnel? I’ve broken it down below:
📣 ADVOCACY
The best customers you can have are those people who not only repeatedly buy, but also tell all their friends about it too.
That’s why it’s important to develop customers into advocates.
It’s unlikely that someone who buys your product once will start referring people unless they have an amazing experience. This type of trust takes time to build.
For this stage, target people who have purchased from you twice or more.
Automatically send them a bonus gift in their order.
Recommend they sign up for a subscription.
Ask them to refer a friend, providing a discount or affiliate commission.
Send a plain text email from the founder thanking them for their support and asking if there’s anything you can personally do to make their experience even better
Ask them to sign up for SMS alerts for new product launches
Build a community of customers into a Facebook group. Ask for new product feedback.
🤝 LOYALTY
Customer loyalty starts with someone’s first purchase. They liked your product enough to try it out, but now it’s up to you to win their hearts, minds, and tastebuds.
You want them to know everything there is to know about your products and brand, so they can live the lifestyle.
The goal is to get this customer to enjoy the first purchase, then come back for a second.
Welcome Series automated email flow with information about the founder, product, and company
Use Maverick Lab to create individually personalized videos (with a customer's name) welcoming them to your community. Foodbevy members save 40%. Reply to this e-mail for an introduction
Create a memorable unboxing experience
Ask for a product review
Ask to follow you on social
💲 DECISION
There will come a time when a customer is ready to purchase but will need to get over a few obstacles. They’re thinking:
Is there a coupon so I can purchase this cheaper?
Does my cart meet the minimum for free shipping?
If I don’t like the product, can I return it?
How long will it take to ship and deliver?
If I add it to my cart, will I get a discount code emailed?
Here are some suggestions to overcome these obstacles:
Offer a 10% discount on all first-time orders. This way, everyone feels they’re getting a deal.
Clearly display free shipping minimums on the site. You can use a tool like Free Shipping Bar
Offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on the product page
Show shipping and delivery times on the product page. Bonus points for 2 day shipping
Setup an abandoned cart automated flow that only offers a discount or free shipping in the 3rd reminder email.
Offer a variety pack so customers can find their favorite.
🤔 CONSIDERATION
Once someone lands on your website, they are looking to find out “what the product is, why should I buy it, and will it work for me?
People want to know if the product aligns with their lifestyle and values (current or aspirational), so get creative with your copy and visual content.
Setup landing pages for different ad audiences to test language and conversion rates.
Setup Microsoft Clarity to see where people are clicking on your site, spending time, and getting frustrated. It’s like Hotjar but free!
Fill out your blog with lifestyle content or product benefit content
Build a recipe database if you’re selling an ingredient or mix
Your product detail pages should answer all the questions a founder has about your products, including benefits, function, and nutrition.
👋 AWARENESS
Finally we get to awareness. It’s time to drive traffic to your website once you have all the other funnel elements setup and optimized.
Most people will drop money into Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads to drive traffic. While these can still work, they are getting incredibly expensive.
Look for organic audience building opportunities, including on Linkedin, TikTok, Instagram Reels, events, and more.
Getting free press in your local paper, radio station, or tv station are my favorite ways of getting awareness.
Create an irresistible story and pitch to press (Foodbevy PR editor database)
Build an audience of supporters using organic growth. Meet your customers where they already are.
That’s all! Let me know what tools, successes, or failures you’ve fun into with your marketing funnels.
If you use it, send over your experience, I’d love to know how it helps you.
What have been your experiences? Join the conversation in the Foodbevy Slack (e-mail me for an invite).
Jordan Buckner
Foodbevy
HOW NOT TO FAIL AT RETAIL IN CPG
Friday, March 4th at 9 am PT | 11 am CT | 12 pm ET - FREE
Getting product on the shelves is fantastic – but it’s only the opening bet. It’s what comes next that will determine whether you end up with all the chips, or none. And the vast majority of startups – over 80% – end up with none. One of the major reasons for this is that most only discover the real challenge of winning in the retail game AFTER they’ve already sat down at the table. That’s a really bad time to learn the rules of the game - but it’s not too late.
Join us for this workshop and learn how to take control of Trade Promotion. Topics will include:
Re-framing Trade Promotion: what it is and levers that can be pulled to manage performance
Choosing the right objectives (growth, profit, velocity)
Obstacles in trade promotion to watch for (especially DEDUCTIONS)
Opportunities in trade promotion that benefit your whole company
GET YOUR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT R&D AND CO-PACKING TEST RUN CREDITS FROM THE IRS THIS TAX SEASON
Did you know that the IRS offers tax credits for your R&D work?You can get refunded for:
Product Development work (ingredients, labor time, facility rental)
Co-packer test runs
New flavor formulations
and more.
We've partnered with Leyton to offer this service to the Foodbevy community. They do all the paperwork and you get cash. If they can't help you claim any credits, you pay $0.One of our brands, Natural Stacks received has received $100,000+ in tax credits from the IRS, I personally talked with the founder about it. As long as you're doing $100,000+ in sales you likely qualify.Reply to this e-mail with questions or schedule a call with their team below.
STARTUP FRIENDLY DIGITAL MARKETING EXPERT
If you're looking for help with your e-commerce marketing, let me introduce you to Christina Rice and the team at
.
They believe the first (and arguably most important) best practice for advertising your E-Commerce brand online is “
make purchasing from you quick and easy”
. If you want your brand to be memorable and highly regarded, it is crucial that you do everything in your power to make the online shopping experience for your potential customers as effortless as possible. From how you execute your advertising to how you build your website, you should be making the user experience as
convenient
and
direct
as possible.
They have startup-friendly rates to help founders with:
Blog Writing and SEO
Performance Marketing
Paid Facebook and Google Ads
E-mail Marketing Campaigns
Social Media Management
and more
Christina is a hands-on owner, offering free consultations prior to agreeing to do business. She believes that not only does it take a strong digital strategy but there must be a comfort level with the agency you entrust your brand to. Spend 30 minutes learning how sO2digital can help you.
NEW PODCAST EPISODE: CLARK NOWLIN, GOLDEN RATIO
I first met Clark a few months after launching Golden Ratio Coffee and doing $10k in sales at launch. Now two years later he's built a successful business on it's way to being profitable this year. Join me for a conversation and learn exactly how Clark launched, and how his business has gotten easier and not harder as he's grown.
LOOKING FOR HELP WITH FUNDRAISING OR RECRUITING?
Dave Adams and Alex Gould of
have recently joined our platform. They bring their extensive experience in hospitality, brewing, and food production backgrounds. Dave spent the last 10 years building the Green Flash Brewing Co. brand and was instrumental in their recent acquisition. Alex has been an entrepreneur, held interim COO and DOO titles, and has led nationwide expansions with companies from startup to sale.
Together they now lead a division within
, a boutique professional and executive recruitment agency, in their efforts to aid startups find the right talent and funding partners. Their unique approach and methodology allows them to take their own experiences and network to partner and build the next generation of industry leaders.
DISCOUNTS
- Mindful Goods
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- Amazon Brand Success Academy
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- Maverick Lab
allows you to create individually personalized videos (with a customer's name) welcoming them to your community. Foodbevy members save 40%. Reply to this e-mail for an introduction
- Chop
is a
that allows you to drive in-store trial, collect customer shopping data, and build customer profiles to further drive your business. Foodbevy members save 20% off. E-mail me for the discount.
- Stripe
is now providing $20,000 in fee-free processing for new and EXISTING customers.
The Accountrepreneur
is your go-to outsourced CPA and CFO firm for the food and beverage industry. Receive
- Airtable
can store information in a spreadsheet that's visually appealing and easy-to-use, but it's also powerful enough to act as a database that businesses can use for customer-relationship management (CRM), task management, project planning, and tracking inventory.
With your help we're building an amazing community of Food and Bev entrepreneurs helping each other!
Jordan
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