The traditional marketing funnel has long been a staple in understanding the customer journey. It portrays a linear, gravity-driven process where potential customers smoothly transition from awareness to conversion. However, this model oversimplifies the complexity of modern marketing. It’s not a gravity-driven system where you place people and dollars in at the top and watch them convert into loyal customers at the bottom. In reality, countless obstacles and detours arise along the way. Achieving success is not about passively guiding customers downward but actively helping them ascend through challenges and resistance. That’s why we believe it’s not a funnel, it’s a mountain.
This reframing (which others have proposed) highlights the necessity to work strategically at every stage of the customer journey. The climb is not without its plateaus and setbacks. Progress isn’t always linear, and sometimes retracing steps or recalibrating the approach is necessary to continue upward. But every step, no matter how small, moves us closer to the goal. This journey requires not only a vision of the summit but also an understanding of the critical milestones along the way. There are multiple routes to the summit and we have to find the best options for each of our clients and their customers.
The Marketing Mountain breaks down the key components of a comprehensive marketing approach. Let’s explore the stages that lead to marketing success.
Your Website: Mountain or Molehill?
The effectiveness of your website is going to determine whether what your customers are summiting is a mountain or a molehill. All other discussions of routes, stages, and ascension discussed in this post rely on your website being the centerpiece. Ensuring your website is functioning properly is crucial. If there are issues with on-site conversion, all the efforts you pour into marketing won’t reach their full potential. Investing in a seamless user experience and addressing any conversion roadblocks is a necessary first step to unlocking the power of your marketing efforts. Start from the point of conversion and work backward.
Business Intelligence: The Foundation of Success
Every great climb begins with thorough preparation. Business intelligence forms the base of The Marketing Mountain and is the cornerstone of everything we do. Before embarking on a journey, you analyze maps, read trip reports, and ensure your fitness and equipment are up to the task. Similarly, business intelligence involves deep analysis of market data, customer behavior, and competitive insights.
But the journey doesn’t stop once you’ve started. Conditions can change rapidly, and you must adapt to new variables. By continuously monitoring key performance indicators and adjusting our strategies, we ensure our approach remains aligned with client goals and market dynamics.
Awareness: Introducing Your Brand
At the base of the mountain, awareness campaigns introduce your brand to potential customers. These efforts are crucial for creating a steady flow of new prospects. Think of this as making climbers informed about the fact that your respective mountain exists and is there to be ascended. Highlighting your brand’s unique qualities and fostering aspiration, awareness campaigns lay the groundwork for future engagement. A strong focus here ensures customers begin their journey equipped with a clear understanding of your brand’s value.
Marketing Areas: SEO and Paid Media
Consideration: Building Trust
Once customers are aware of your brand, they enter the consideration phase. At this stage, our goal is to persuade them to take the next step by addressing their specific needs and concerns. Consideration campaigns showcase your value proposition and differentiate your brand from competitors. By addressing friction points and providing tailored solutions, we help build trust and motivation that move potential customers closer to conversion.
Marketing Areas: SEO and Paid Media
Conversion: Reaching Key Milestones
When customers show strong interest, the next critical step is conversion. Whether they arrive organically through SEO efforts or guided efforts like paid media, the journey must be seamless. We ensure the path to conversion is clear and intuitive, minimizing obstacles while reinforcing confidence in their decision. Our aim is to make this milestone feel like a natural and rewarding progression for every customer.
Marketing Areas: SEO, Paid Media, Email + SMS
Brand Loyalty: Strengthening Bonds
Reaching conversion isn’t the end of the journey. Building and maintaining brand loyalty ensures customers continue to engage with your brand. Those who have already converted are often the easiest to reach, but nurturing their loyalty requires ongoing effort. Investments in customer retention—such as exclusive rewards, personalized communication, and outstanding service—deliver high returns. A focus on loyalty creates a virtuous cycle, as satisfied customers are more likely to advocate for your brand and continue their support.
Marketing Areas: Email + SMS
Brand Advocacy: Expanding Your Reach
The pinnacle of The Marketing Mountain is brand advocacy. True success lies not in acquiring customers but in turning them into passionate advocates. These individuals champion your brand within their communities and social networks, extending your marketing reach. By fostering deep emotional connections and providing share-worthy experiences, we help transform loyal customers into influential brand ambassadors. From a revenue perspective, these are customers that are purchasing regularly and influencing others around them to purchase.
Marketing Areas: Email + SMS
Lay Your Foundation then Start from the Top Down
First and foremost, ensure your business intelligence is dialed. If you can’t measure it (accurately) then your understanding as to why things changed will be limited. This includes the installation of pixels, third-party attribution platforms, dashboards, and all other necessary tools so you can track past and future efforts. This information is foundational in assessing where you are and where you’re going.
After your foundation is firmly established, start working from the top down. Past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior so these segments are likely to be loyal purchasers and brand advocates. Assuming you have an existing customer base, focusing on the top of The Marketing Mountain through email and SMS are the most cost-effective and impactful emphasis areas. Maybe the most critical focus area of your digital marketing strategy is to ensure you have fully capitalized on your owned audiences.
The next most logical step is to get those self-guided climbers (organic traffic) ascending your mountain rather than another brand’s. Similar to email and SMS, the costs associated with SEO are usually flat making it a relatively inexpensive strategy.
Although this approach runs counter to most brands that have a strong, paid media-first strategy, this doesn’t mean paid media isn’t part of our approach. All three service areas, underpinned by robust business intelligence, feed one another to become greater than the sum of their parts. The journey up The Marketing Mountain is not a sprint but a deliberate, strategic climb. By rethinking the traditional funnel and embracing a more strategic, multifaceted approach, brands can navigate the opportunities of modern digital marketing with confidence.
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