The customer sales journey starts at the top and works its way down to the bottom of the funnel. But what happens in the middle? The middle of the funnel, or MOFU for short, is a very important phase in the buyer’s journey. This is the stage where you will begin to let your audience know that your brand is the best solution for them. The MOFU step can be a bit challenging because you are not only still qualifying leads in this step, but also working to acquire new customers. It is important to have content that can do both.
What Is MOFU Content?
MOFU content needs to be more targeted than TOFU content. In this stage, your content will continue to educate your audience but you will also need to provide content that positions your brand as valuable and important. In addition, during this stage, the content you use needs to help build your brand’s credibility. While there are fewer prospects in the MOFU phase, these prospects are aware of your brand and are looking for more information about your offerings.
Related: What Are The Goals of TOFU Content?
Pro Tip: This content should not be extremely salesy. You are still trying to build brand credibility and if you come out of the gate with a sales pitch it may turn people away quickly. The content you promote in the MOFU needs to be helpful and valuable while still lightly pushing the audience towards purchasing your products and services.
The Types Of MOFU Content
One of the most successful strategies to utilize in the MOFU stage is a lead magnet. Lead magnets refer to offering something to your audience in exchange for their information. This can be in the form of a free e-book, quiz, discount, survey, webinar, or event. Other pieces of content that work include educational resources such as case studies, free reports, or free guides.
Related: What is a Lead Magnet?
The content you are pushing out to try and capture contact information can’t just be any content. Lead magnets perform very well when you offer something that is valuable to your audience. Generally, something they can automatically download and use right then and there is one that will be successful. In addition, if you have a webinar with high-quality content and learnings than that will be an excellent tool to capture leads.
In this stage of content marketing, your content will serve as the catalyst for capturing leads and contact information. You will then use that contact information to nurture your potential customers via email and push them further down the funnel by offering them discounts and other educational information.
The Goals Of MOFU Content
Now that you are aware of what MOFU content is, we can dive into the goals. A few of the main goals of middle of the funnel content includes growing your email list, retargeting list, and the initial customer acquisition. By utilizing a lead magnet you are fulfilling the goal of growing your email list and lead pool. During this phase it is very important to qualify those leads and push them to take the first step of interacting with your brand.
In addition, you can retarget the people who opted-in to your middle of the funnel offer (lead magnet) because they are more likely to purchase something since they have shown interest in your brand. By retargeting the list of people who have opted-in, you are making sure your brand is top of mind which increases the chance of that audience to purchase.
Another goal of MOFU content is an initial customer acquisition. To do this, you can offer your audience a low dollar offer, which is also called a tripwire. This tactic turns your audience into customers by having them invest a small amount of money for either a tangible product, service, or downloadable. This could range from offering a book to a webinar. A tripwire gets your audience’s foot in the door with your brand.
Once they have taken that initial offer you continue to give them value in the form of content and then you can upsell them on other products or services from your brand. As mentioned above, the MOFU stage is important as this is when you start turning your audience into first time customers. Your content must align with your goals without giving the hardsell.
MOFU Metrics To Track
It is important to track metrics in order to see if your marketing campaigns are successful. During the MOFU stage, there are certain metrics to keep an eye on to see how your content is performing.
Since one of the goals of MOFU content is to grow your email list, one metric to track is the number of leads you receive or how many new people that have opted-in to your email list. In tandem with this metric, measuring your click-through-rate in your emails is an important one. If people are subscribing to your list but aren’t clicking through that is a sign you need to optimize your email sequences.
Related: How to Deliver Value at Every Stage of the Customer Journey
Another goal of MOFU content is customer acquisition. By looking at the offer conversion rate, you are able to see how your initial offer is doing. If your conversion rate is high that means people are interested and see value in that offer. If your conversion rate is low it may be a sign you need to switch up your offer.
As you can see, the goals of MOFU content differ from those of TOFU content. It is important to understand the distinction so that you can provide the right content to each audience. By utilizing a lead magnet and a tripwire you can capture leads and turn that audience into first time customers.