Customers in the middle of your sales funnel are in the consideration stage of their buyer’s journey. They’re interested in your product or service and are weighing their options.
Your goal at this stage is to convince potential customers that your product or service is the best solution to their problem. To do this, you need to create content that educates them about their problem and your solution.
Let’s look at how middle of the funnel (MoFu) content is used to turn leads into paying customers.
What Is Middle Of The Funnel Content?
Middle of the funnel content is content that strengthens the existing relationship you have already established with an audience. The goal of MoFu content is to help users learn more about what your solution has to offer and move them further down your sales funnel.
As a result, MoFu content is usually educational in nature—although not as deeply as bottom of the funnel (BoFu) content. It also still has some of the promotional intent of top of the funnel (ToFu) content.
Generally, MoFu content…
- targets an audience researching various solutions.
- compares or explains product features and use cases.
- aims to create brand loyalty and purchase intent.
Lower Funnel vs. Upper Funnel: Where Does the Middle Funnel Fit In?
So far we’ve covered three different levels of content. Let’s quickly cover the upper and lower funnels and explain how the middle funnel (and MoFu content) fits into the equation.
- Upper Funnel: The upper funnel consists of an audience that has little or no awareness of your product or service.
- Lower Funnel: The lower funnel consists of an audience that is familiar with your product or service and is almost ready to buy.
The middle funnel is the catch-all for audiences that don’t fit neatly into either category—those that are aware of your product but not ready to buy, or those that are considering multiple solutions and need more information before making a decision.
That’s why MoFu content is so important—it’s what helps move audiences from the upper and lower funnels into becoming paying customers.
Middle of the Funnel Content Examples
Middle of funnel content can be delivered in any medium: videos, blogs, emails, social posts, and more.
Common examples include the following:
- email drip campaigns
- product reviews and comparisons
- case studies
- webinars
- customer interviews
Here are a few companies who are doing MoFu content marketing right:
Crunch Fitness Case Study From HubSpot
This case study showcases how Crunch Fitness used HubSpot to survive the COVID-19 pandemic with ease. Their story serves as an effective middle of funnel content for users who are wondering if HubSpot might be the CRM software they need.
Social Post From WEBS Yarn Store
WEBS knows how to nurture leads with MoFu social content. This non-promotional Facebook post engages their established audience and positions the WEBS brand as fun and knowledgeable.
Review Listicle From Jotform
In this review roundup of the best task automation tools, Jotform compares multiple apps, including Zapier, IFTTT, and Insightly. They add themselves to the list as well—but their motive is still clear: to educate buyers at the consideration stage of the best options on the market.
The Purpose Of Middle of the Funnel Content
MoFu content has two primary goals:
- Qualifying leads. Lead qualification means determining which leads are the most motivated to buy your product. MoFu content helps you do this by providing leads with more information about your product, so they can self-select whether it’s the right fit for them.
- Nurturing leads. Nurturing leads means guiding them gently down your funnel by encouraging brand loyalty and building meaningful relationships with them. MoFu content achieves this by understanding your leads’ problems and explaining actionable solutions.
At the middle stage of the buyer’s journey, your audience is researching and evaluating potential products and services. Your MoFu content supports this decision-making process while positioning your brand as the ideal solution.
What Is Mid-Funnel Marketing?
Middle funnel marketing involves distributing content for audiences that are already aware of your brand and may be considering becoming a customer. In order to nurture these leads, you need to…
- develop helpful and engaging content
- gauge the audience’s interest in your offer
- make soft sells that move leads down the funnel
Tips for Effective Middle Funnel Content Marketing
Here are three ways to make the best use of your MoFu content:
Don’t Be Too Salesy
The middle of your funnel is not the place for hard sells. You can sell yourself without over promoting in two ways:
- Play fair. Don’t stretch the truth in order to paint yourself in a better light—it’ll backfire when customers realize! For example, in review posts, don’t gloss over a key feature in a competitor’s product because it’s something your product lacks. Give them their praise and highlight what your product has that theirs doesn’t.
- Give users a seat at the table. Your content should be user-generated whenever possible. This could include things like customer reviews, testimonials, case studies (here is an example about SEO), or even interviews. These all make for valuable MoFu content because they help your audience understand how others just like them use and benefit from your product.
Use Lead Scoring To Qualify Leads
Lead scoring is a data-driven way to qualify leads by assigning them a numerical value that ranks interest in your brand. Many CRMs, such as Zoho, can automate lead scoring.
Scores are adjusted based on criteria that you set, such as opening emails or bouncing from a landing page. You can then customize delivery of your MoFu content based on each lead’s score.
Highlight Your Unique Value Proposition
Your middle funnel audience is likely comparing you to other brands. So now is the time to show them what you have to offer that your competitors don’t.
You don’t need to brag that you are better. Just be honest about how your unique solutions will solve your customers’ unique problems.
Get Expert Advice On Your Sales Funnel
Middle of funnel content walks the fine line between educational and promotional content. It’s not always easy to get right.
If you are looking to connect with an experienced mentor who has already struggled through MoFu marketing, get started with GrowthMentor today.
