Funnels or No Funnels?

The term “funnel” is not one that is foreign to any modern day marketer and/or online entrepreneur. Large cooperations have started incooperating these into their marketing strategies. Although exsisting way before the inception of Click Funnels & the whole Funnelology movement. The word has some how become associated with the founder and CEO of Click Funnels, Russell Brunson. While Brunson is an undesputed guru, who has taken funnel building to another plateau. There is more to funnels and funnel building than just Russell and his theories.

Firstly, what is a funnel?
Very simply put, a funnel is a sales or marketing cycle or loop that you send a buyer through.

Simple Funnels
Simple funnels have one or two steps, such two-trip wire (Russell), lead magnets and free plus shipping funnels. Even squeeze pages fit into this category for the most part. This pages generally require simple contact information in exchange for a product or service. A squeeze page requires the interested individual to enter some kind of information before viewing a page/content, some kind of incentive is generally offered such as a cheatsheet, free webinar, report and so on. Lead magnets are normally used for list building while commonly used for building an email list, some templates offer the option of adding other fields such as a phone number which can also create a second contact list. This option is powerful for network marketers in particular. Free plus shipping and two-trip wire funels generally take the interested person who has now by become a buyer, through a two-step process of optin-in and entering information/purchasing. This person will also be added to your list.

Complex Funnels
More complex funnels are what I like to call sales cycle and marketing cycle funnels. As crazy and complex as this sounds, this is just a series of web pages linked together in a loop often with upsells and downsells. See? Simple!!! A sales cycle funnel is more focused on selling products or services. Where as a marketing funnel is more focused on promoting an event or opportunity, such as a webinar or network marketing company. Simple funnels tend to be more marketing funnels, because the goal is to build a list. While goal of a sales cycle funnel is to qualify a buyer/lead, make a sale and build a list.

The theory of funnels, more so the argument about platforms and which should or should not be used is an ongoing social uproar. While many seek to dethrone Brunson and one day just might. The fact remains that he still is still King and click funnels while a tad bit pricey is unbeatable.

I personally use several platforms, some of which I have purchased out right to build my funnels (options available in my The LaZy Marketer FB Group). The reason being different situations require different funnels. And at the price point of click funnels, with a 5 funnel cap it would be a waste to build simple funnels using this platform. ($97.00 option) I can host 50 funnels for $29.00. (There unlimited options) And build more complex funnels for $67.00. Not bad huh? Now there are options out there we are not here to promote a platform. But in this rapid pace funnel movement marketing age that we are living in, you need to be making use of some kind of funnel. Remember, the power is in your list! So go build one!!!