Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog, “Lifestyle Marketing Upends Sales Funnels”

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Lifestyle Marketing Upends Sales Funnels" uncovers why marketing will shift its focus from sales funnel considerations to lifecycle marketing concepts. Top marketers and marketing pundits are currently in discussions that suggest the direction is shifting to lifecycle marketing.

Historically, the sales funnel concept has been the go-to strategy for over 90 years. Originally, the sales funnel concept, turned sales strategy, was designed for face-to-face sales presentations and pitches. For more on this, we recommend reading the 1924 edition of "Bond Salesmanship," penned by the author, William Henry Townsend.

Sales strategies formulated from the 90-year sales funnel model resulted in the infamous 4 stages of the sales journey, Awareness, Interest, Desire/Decision, and Action. As a result, salespeople were and continue to be tasked with driving customers from the awareness mode right through to the action/purchase mode.

The problem with using the sales funnel strategy is that considerations consumers may have could fall outside of the sales funnel presentation. In addition, information that falls outside of the "sales funnel content" is often comprised of necessary factual information that is truncated and limited to the sales funnel objectives.

Sales Funnels are Failing

Due to the restrictive nature of sales funnel strategies that often place the customer in a vice-grip, a sort of all or nothing sales imperative, the blow-back from customers are on the rise. Just look at how many prospective customers are responding negatively to online sales funnel offerings.

Consumers are now taking the bull by the horn and pointing out how they feel about sales campaigns. For example, apps whose marketing content promises the moon, but only when the magic curtain of in-app purchases can bring the moon promise into focus, is rapidly losing steam and acceptance.

As a result of tactics like these, consumers are posting their feedback with terms such as dishonest, deceptive, untruthful, and misleading to name a few. These are brand killing terms that all brands should avoid. Moreover, negative terms and consumer reviews lead to bottom line losses and brand erosion.

In fact, Rutgers Business Review's consumer preferences has stated; "While the short-term benefits of high-pressure tactics can lead to quick sales for the firm, the long-term effects are bad for the consumer, salesperson, and retailer. High-pressure tactics have been criticized for causing consumer discomfort. The consumer frequently perceives these tactics as unfair, manipulative and/or unethical."

Customer Lifecycle Value

Top iconic brands such as IBM, Apple and others have been proponents of the life-cycle customer value proposition for years. While the sales funnel tactic has been the mainstay of most top notch businesses, the long-term consumer viability concern has also risen. That old R&B/Pop song lyric, "It's cheaper to keep her," now resonates well within the business community, in that data suggests it is more efficient to retain customers, as boarding new customers is far more expensive.

The contrast between the sales funnel and life-cycle marketing is crystal clear. Sales funnel strategies are quite simple. Convert new customers and close the sale. That's it. Life-cycle marketing strategies are more complex, in that the overall goal is to woo new customers, and additionally create long-term, mutually rewarding relationships. Further, life-cycle marketing is dedicated to earning and establishing trust.

The interesting observation here is that the establishing trust dictate associated with lifestyle goals mirror the overall consumer fixation on trust. Trustworthiness is now a major consideration consumers are grappling with, and this applies to news, reviews, and of course brands.

Life-cycle Marketing Provides a Better Journey

In a very real sense, and regardless of the life-cycle marketing initiative, consumers are now equipped with the power of the internet. This means that in many cases, customers are more informed than any previous period in history. Translation? Consumers armed with up-to-date information wield far more purchasing power than ever before.

Therefore, it would stand to reason that buying decisions are less certain for brands. Which also points to the idea that using a sales funnel technique that limits consumer choices is practically obsolete.

Another way to look at how life-cycle marketing endears customers in their search for answers that are not predetermined in sales funnels is the open-ended experience afforded customers via lifecycle marketing.

For example a potential customer searches for "help me launch my photo site online." The following steps are most likely to follow that initial search:

1. The prospect clicks and reads the content on a creator's website, is delighted with a positive experience and consequently returns for more of the same on a continuous basis. A chat is started.
2. Invariably the chat progresses to a live call, which is deemed positive. A quote is provided and the prospect makes a purchase.
3. The prospect now turned customer relates and shares the positive experience, which in turn leads to referrals.
4. That process is rinsed and repeated for more new prospects.

Lifecycle marketing focuses on buyers, i.e., real people and not bottom line ROI. Sales funnels are designed for the sales people's primary goal, which is to close sales. Period. Life-cycle marketing raises the value of the customer, the human equation and the transference of trust, loyalty and long-term relationships.

The Net-Net

Sales and marketing strategies and the resulting techniques that have arisen over the years that point to sales funnels are steeped in one thing and one thing only: sales conversions. Lifestyle marketing is the wave of the future in that it targets real people and is better suited and aligned with content marketing. Why not place the long-term value of your customers into a consumer first mentality? Thanks for reading "Lifestyle Marketing Upends Sales Funnels."

Let's have a conversation about direct mail strategies, printing, print software, transactional documents, variable digital printing, brand equity and unified marketing collateral during our next Open House. We invite you to join us on Thursday, February 28, 2019, for an hour or two, anytime between 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. Let us show you how to improve your document processes to optimize your workflow, reduce your costs, and maximize your organization's printing, letter shop and mailing capabilities. Dove Direct does have an official USPS certified bureau located within our offices that will save you time and money. And, if you bring us your files, we will create a demo file for you. For more information call Carla Eubanks at 404-629-0122 or email Carla at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Dove Direct, your Atlanta based print and mail solutions provider offers organizations end-to-end data, printing and mailing solutions: Data Management, Variable Digital Printing, LetterShop and Fulfillment, Fully Automated MLOCR Presort Bureau, Marketing and Production Management Support and Secure Data Life Cycle Management.

If you don't want to wait for the Open House, you can reach Dove Direct today by calling 404-629-0122 or use the contact form for Dove Direct.