Awareness and Conversion - Know The Funnel & Your Marketing

In today's landscape of digital marketing, there are so many avenues, types of software, and strategies. I believe that navigating all of this effectively starts with a sound marketing plan, which begins by understanding the basic funnel your customers will go through: awareness, interest, consideration, conversion, and retention.

I totally get it - when marketing is considered in this way, it can seem daunting to decide what the best approach is for your business, and objectives are unfortunately often not carried out correctly. Take social media and the awareness stage, for instance. It can be so easy to devote a large amount of time and energy into creating reels (for tips & tricks on that click this), curating posts, or simply trying to make your page look good thinking that it will attract customers. Yet, this is an inbound marketing strategy - and businesses are using it for the awareness stage - which is the wrong approach.

In smaller markets, social media is better suited for conversion and retention. While it's definitely true that every business ought to be on Instagram and Facebook, there isn't one 'catch all' marketing strategy - especially when all you're just trying to let people know you exist. Small businesses shouldn't focus their capital on generating awareness through outbound marketing. This type of large scale outreach simply won't generate loads of new customers in the way people might expect it to! By definition, your market is small - focus on the customers in front of you. Ultimately, it comes down to this: keep using social media (obviously), but understand why you're doing it and what it will accomplish.

Often, I observe the consumer stages being mixed up, and as a result businesses end up using the wrong strategy at the wrong time for the wrong things. Marketing itself isn't guaranteed to be effective on 100% of customers 100% of the time. That being said, when businesses are intentional about their objective, message, and call to action, their entire marketing system becomes more efficient, more predictable, and far more effective.

2 Stages That Often Get Mixed Up Or Misrepresented

Continuing from my discussion above, the awareness stage (when you pitch your business to a mass audience - think radio commercials) is where potential customers are simply discovering that your business exists, yet many businesses treat this stage as if customers are already ready to buy. A common mistake is relying too heavily on inbound strategies like social media posts, blogs, or SEO while expecting immediate leads and sales, when the primary goal at this stage should be visibility, not conversion. Awareness-stage marketing should focus on reach, repetition, and clarity so that people remember your name when they eventually need your product or service. This often means using methods like local networking, partnerships, signage, community involvement, or targeted ads rather than only posting content and hoping the right people find it. The key is understanding that awareness is about being seen and recognized, not about closing the deal. My tip to small businesses, as mentioned above: don't focus too much time, energy and money into this. Get creative, and find ways to get out there, but not break the bank. Allotting resources to your inbound efforts is a better move.

At the conversion stage (what makes people looking to buy choose you), the mistake made is often the opposite of the awareness stage: businesses continue running awareness-style marketing when the customer is already considering whether or not to buy. It's easy to make the mistake of continuing to post awareness-style content on social media instead of content that actually drives action. If someone is already following your page, engaging with your content, or visiting your profile, they are no longer in the awareness stage - they are considering whether or not to buy from you. Still, many businesses keep posting tips, trends, and general content without ever subtlety explaining how to work with them, what their pricing looks like, or why they are the best choice. Conversion-focused social media should include clear calls to action, testimonials, before-and-after examples, case studies, limited-time offers, and direct instructions on how to take the next step. At this stage, your content should answer the customer’s biggest question: “Why should I choose you?” My advice to small businesses is to find a way to connect with people on an emotional level, whether that's through influencer marketing, earned media, carefully curated ads, or through other creative methods.