Funnel Marketing and the Texas Rangers (what?)

The Texas Rangers won the American League Conference Series last night and I am pumped. They play game one of the World Series this Friday. I can't wait!

However, this blog is about funnel marketing. What? How's funnel marketing relate to the Rangers playing baseball. 

This is how. Texas Ranger fans are excited right now, this moment, this very second. Therefore, marketers of Major League Baseball shirts, jerseys, and caps are popping everywhere. On Facebook this morning, I clicked on an add showing a cool Rangers hat, a classic one with the blue colors and logo. What happened? I was taken to a web site landing page for women's apparel!

What? Women's apparel? I'm interested in the Texas Rangers! I want a classic hat! I'm not a woman. I don't want stretch pants. 

Here's the problem: the funnel for this Facebook ad was nonexistent. It took me to a place I did not want to go. So I left immediately. That MLB marketer just lost a potential sale because their funnel was clogged up with debris. 

A marketing funnel describes your customer's journey with you from the initial stages when someone learns about your business, to the purchasing stage. The idea is to guide a specific buyer to a specific location to make a specific purchase. Easy and uncomplicated. If I click on an MLB-sponsored ad on Facebook looking for a baseball cap, I should land on a page full of caps. And not just any cap, but a Texas Rangers cap.

We live in a world begging for funnels. This is why many web sites are so pathetic and outdated. Typical websites are not funnels, they are feeding troughs. My dad owned pigs when I was growing up and he fed all three hogs in a feeding trough. It was a dirty, disgusting fifty-gallon barrel cut in half and turned on its side. He threw the pig slop in the trough and the pigs ran to it for dinner. 

Some web sites are primarily pig slop tossed into troughs. Good luck trying to find what you want.

My advice? If you place an ad on social media, use it to funnel a customer to where THEY want to go. I know. It's easier said than done.