We Need to Talk About... "Top of Funnel"
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Hello Reader, By the way, the replay of my live with my friend Jamar Diggs is up on Crowdcast: http://crowdcast.io/c/sarah-jamar-2025 It's a ton of fun! You've probably heard about marketing funnels—I share a lot about this. If you're not familiar with the concept, it's not that complicated. It's effectively how people become customers of your business, moving from discovery to the sale. A common framework for this is "Top of Funnel, Middle of Funnel, Bottom of Funnel." I don't love this framing because it's too simplified and imprecise, but it does share the core concept that you need to get leads into your marketing ecosystem, aka "Top of Funnel." I call this the Discovery phase. A lot—and I mean a whole lot—of people are confused about what this means. Which is a very expensive problem. What is top of funnel marketing? So, that "top of funnel" is in its simplest form how you work (it takes work) to get leads into your marketing ecosystem. Some Discovery mechanisms include:
This isn't an exhaustive list, but you get the picture. These are mechanisms that help potential clients or customers learn that that you exist. Unfortunately, since the internet is what it is, we see a lot of confusion, leading to people believing that they can replace a top of funnel or discovery mechanism with a middle of funnel or connection mechanism (that's my term). This misstep is an extremely risky marketing plan. What is NOT top of funnel marketing? For example, many email marketing advocates will tell folks who are burned out on social media that they can just swap an email newsletter for social media. But this isn't swapping like for like. Social media can help people find you, newsletters help you build a relationship. What happens when people take this advice is that they find themselves frustrated because they're not bringing new audience members into their marketing ecosystem. How will you get people on that mailing list if you're stepping back from social media? You need a plan for that! The same is true for podcasting (for normal people—if you're a celebrity, disregard this entire newsletter). I love listening to many podcasts, but they are not a suitable top of funnel or discovery mechanism for most people. That's playing on hard mode. Don't believe me? Listen to this podcast (yes, the irony) that includes a discussion of someone who invested thousands of dollars each month into a podcast as a top of funnel mechanism, only for it to lose money every month. I have been told countless stories like this. Podcasting is a sophisticated tool to use for business, and it's one that should only be implemented when you already have other successful marketing tools humming along smoothly. And then we have Substack. Yes, Substack recommends other Substackers to readers. But it's keeping people locked inside their environment. It relies on your audience being part of the Substack ecosystem, who are effectively owned by Substack, and now that they're aggressively pushing their app versus web reading, it's an even bigger problem. I love that people are enjoying long-form writing, but a monetized newsletter is an advanced move—I know this isn't what you likely want to hear, but I am always going to be honest with you. The problem with the last two mechanisms, podcasts and Substack, is that they're not only NOT top of funnel marketing, they are also entirely new businesses. All the sudden you're having to fill your funnel for not one, but two, businesses and the new one is a media company in an increasingly challenging landscape. Marketing isn't about doing everything; it’s about knowing what each tool is actually designed to do. It’s tempting to chase the "shiny object" of a Substack or a podcast because they feel more creative or less "salesy" than traditional discovery. But unless you have a plan to get eyes (and ears) on those platforms from the outside, you’re just building a beautiful room in a cabin in the forest that no one has the map to find. Don't make your life harder by accidentally building a media company on top of your current business. Keep your Discovery phase (top of funnel) simple, keep your Connection phase (middle of funnel) deep, and keep the two separate. Your bank account—and your wellbeing—will thank you. Talk soon, Sarah P.S. If you're struggling to find a Discovery mechanism that doesn't make you want to throw your phone in a lake, my Spark Sessions Strategy Sprint helps you find your best fit. |