Note: Some of the examples cited in this post are old, but they remain excellent illustrations of what good content marketing looks like.
This short-and-sweet blog post covers:
- What people mean by “top-of-funnel content”
- Marketers’ goals at this stage of the buyer’s journey
- Key elements of top-of-funnel content
- Four examples of companies creating brilliant top-of-funnel content
1. What Is Top-of-Funnel Content?
When marketers refer to the top, middle, and bottom of the marketing and sales funnel, they’re referencing the concept that—in marketing—you pull a large pool of people into your website or database that may be eventually interested in your products or services. As these people move down the funnel, the pool gets smaller. Those who are actually interested in purchasing your products continue to engage with your brand and learn more about your offerings. Those who are not interested in your product or service leave the funnel.
Marketers publish content at the top of the funnel to reach a wide pool of potential customers. They do this by pushing content through channels and tactics like:
- Blogs and websites
- Social media
- SEO
- Video
- Online ads
- Influencer outreach
Content at the top of the funnel has very little to do with products and services, and everything to do with your buyer’s interests and needs. More on the elements of top-of-funnel content in Section 3.
2. What Are Marketers’ Goals at the Top of the Funnel?
There are two main goals at this stage:
- Drive brand awareness
- Generate leads
You’re trying to get the attention of your target audience and convince them that your brand provides value. Once your buyers start to think of your brand as a thought leader—as a resource for interesting, useful information on topics they care about—they’ll be more willing to opt-in to communications with your brand in order to access your insights. This is a value exchange, and the goal of top-of-funnel content is to facilitate that exchange.
3. What Are the Key Elements of Top-of-Funnel Content?
Because it’s meant to attract a larger audience interested in high-level topics associated with your brand, top-of-funnel content is both attention-grabbing, easily consumable, and useful to your buyers. Top-of-funnel content tends to be:
- Engaging
- Buyer-centric
- Snackable
- Visual
4. 4 Examples of Brilliant Top-of-Funnel Content
MINDBODY targets small business owners in health, fitness, spa, and beauty industries. Their clients share a common story, one that starts with passion, evolves into a dream, and grows into a business. Tapping into that emotional experience creates brilliant, engaging, buyer-centric content.
These short videos from Farmer’s Insurance manage to be both funny and teachable. If “snackable content” ever makes it into the dictionary, these videos will be next to the definition.
This wonderful content comes from the health information technology company, HIMSS—and this B2B brand knows how to have fun with visual, entertaining, and highly shareable content on social media.
Buffer. They’re consistently some of the best content producers out there. They focus on in-depth, fascinating, and useful articles that relate to pretty much everyone. Through their content, they pool a huge number of followers and subscribers—people who trust their insights.
Get Started with Your Top-of-the-Funnel Content
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