3 Videos to Jumpstart a Complete Marketing Funnel

Geometry. It was the only math class that ever truly made sense to me.

I’ve never been the type to bend the rules, so the confines by which proofs operated aligned with my Type A, writer’s mentality.  

Thinking of numerical outcomes in terms of proven logic laws helped me generate answers to problems that would otherwise confuse me.

In its most fundamental form, a proof is built on connections determined by the following formula: If A, then B and If B, then A

You can’t have one without the other. They must be equivalent to prove the theorem true.

While most of us left if/then sequences behind with school books and backpacks, the constructs can inform our marketing in monumental ways. 

The Buyer’s Journey and Your Ad Campaigns

The first concept any marketer or business owner promoting their services and products learns is the buyer’s journey. It’s an explanation of the psychological and physical stages your prospects go through after an initial interaction with your company. Typically, there are 3 steps in the sales process.

1. Awareness: This is when a lead first encounters your company - whether it be through organic or paid advertising campaigns or offline sources like flyers, business cards, and more.
2. Consideration: After your potential client has learned of your company’s existence, they should receive content and information detailing how your service is different from your competitors. Make your service the only option by providing valuable advice and compelling data points.
3. Decision: This stage is all about comparing and contrasting value propositions and features.

Many marketing campaigns - from discounts and trial offers to seasonal promotions - target one of the 3 stages singularly and independent of other workflows. To have a healthy marketing mix, however, you should create one comprehensive funnel that takes new leads from the awareness to decision stage seamlessly and automatically.

Yes, I did say AUTOMATICALLY.

3 Videos to Automate a Core Marketing Funnel

Now, I can’t take all of the credit for the strategy I am about to introduce to you. Dennis Yu, writer at Adweek and Chief Technology Officer at BlitzMetrics developed a Facebook advertising strategy based on a 3x3 grid of 1 minute videos.

Basically, using Dennis’ format, you would shoot 3 one-minute videos detailing different parts of your story for starting your business or providing the services you offer. The key here is personalizing yourself and your company through that origin story because Facebook is a highly personal and family/friend-driven platform. Your content must mesh with the user’s Newsfeed in order to gain that first engagement.

From there, it’s setting up if/then sequences based on custom audiences segmented by video views and percentage of the video users watched.

For example…

WHY VIDEO #1 → 3.5K 10 second views = A custom audience

If user watched 10 seconds of WHY VIDEO #1, then user gets served HOW VIDEO #1

HOW VIDEO #1 → 2.8K 10 second views = A custom audience

If user watched 10 seconds of HOW VIDEO #1, then user gets served WHAT VIDEO #1

WHAT VIDEO #1 → 1.5K 10 second views = A custom audience

Creating nine videos may seem overwhelming for first-time Facebook Ads Manager users, so I’m going to break down Dennis’ grid format into an abbreviated series of 3 videos.

Instead of creating 3 videos per content topic (i.e. why, how, and what), streamline the funnelization of your services to 1 video for each bucket like I did in the example below.

WHY VIDEO #1

• Story: It was a cold, October day. I had just exited the plane in Boston. A business meeting. Quick get in and get out sort of deal. I grabbed my suitcase from baggage claim and proceeded outside into the frigid elements to meet my driver. But, he wasn’t there. I checked my phone, no calls, no texts...nothing. That’s when I decided that no client should ever be treated this way. The next week, I implemented a No Wait & Communicate Policy at Company XYZ.

HOW VIDEO #1

• Explanation and Behind-the-Scenes Footage: Take a short video of your confirmation communications method in action to reveal exactly how your No Wait & Communicate Policy works.

WHAT VIDEO #1

• Introduce Your Service: In previous videos, you’ve talked about your service without actually promoting it. The final video of your if/then sequence could be a short video showing the client’s perspective of getting off of a plane and being greeted by one of your drivers. You could even place an offer at the end of the ad as a call-to-action to purchase.

Requirements for Set Up

A core marketing funnel takes advantage of real-time user engagement and specific retargeting to weed out the poor quality leads who are least likely to convert on an offer you introduce later in the sales process.

But, there are a few caveats to note during the setup process.

1. Each video should be around 1 minute.
2. You must know your audience.
3. You must be able to discern what type of information they would desire in the next interaction with your company.

According to Dennis Yu, the relevance of your ad to any given audience is found at the interaction between content and targeting. Always make sure that the videos, images, and copy you create for an ad or boosted post resonate with the audience you’re attempting to reach.

And don’t forget to structure your campaign like a proof using if/then sequences.