Ever heard of a video marketing funnel? Here’s what you need to know

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The video marketing funnel relies on video as a format to guide your audience from the brand awareness phase across the consideration phase, all the way to the purchase, loyalty, and advocacy phases.

I realized that this topic didn’t get the attention it deserves which is why I decided to tackle it through this comprehensive guide.

Thinking through the lens of having a video marketing funnel helps you organize your content in a way that will engage all segments of your audience. But in order to truly understand how it works, we need to start by explaining what the sales funnel is.

Did you know that Plainly is a video automation software that allows you to generate more than 1000s of different videos on autopilot? Read more about how creative production automation can save up to 85% of your time.

Sales funnel vs. video marketing funnel

Now, why do you need to think about sales funnels? Some advocate for ditching them altogether and advocate for adopting the mindset of having “growth flywheels”. Personally, I don’t see much of a difference between the two because the conclusion is the same: you have to engage people according to their level of awareness and readiness to buy.

From my point of view, it’s only natural that you think about retention instead of thinking about your buyer journey in a linear way. But the funnel makes sense because it’s descriptive enough to make you think about the content your should create.

The phases of the sales funnel are the following:

Brand awareness > Consideration > Purchase > Loyalty > Advocacy

Let’s go through each of the phases and explain what they mean for your business.

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Phase	Meaning
Brand awareness	In this phase, your audience is just starting to develop an awareness of your brand and its existence. They are forming their opinions about what you have to offer and experiencing first interactions with different touchpoints you’ve designed.
Consideration	In this phase, we’re talking about prospects. They have a pain point or a problem they want to solve, and they are doing research on which solution on the market would best fit their needs.
Purchase	In this phase, your prospects become your customers. This is the moment they convert buy buying your product or hiring you for your services.
Loyalty	However, the funnel doesn’t end there. You have to invest in keeping your customers loyal and continue upselling and/or preventing churn.
Advocacy	Lastly, you want your customers to be so satisfied and happy for choosing you that they recommend your solution to their friends or their business network.

Now, I’ve explained each phase in detail. But these phases can be grouped into three buckets: Top of the Funnel - Middle of the Funnel - Bottom of the Funnel

Top of the Funnel	Middle of the Funnel	Bottom of the Funnel
Brand awareness	Consideration	Purchase + Loyalty + Advocacy

Now that I’ve explained the main differences between each phase, let’s talk about how to ensure you’re doing content marketing and taking care of the video marketing funnel the right way.

The video marketing funnel and its place within your content strategy

When people come to your website, which is the cornerstone of your brand’s online presence, they will be in different stages. Some may just discover your brand, without having the need for whatever you are trying to sell. Others might already be ready to buy. This is why a good content strategy is designed in a way that covers all phases of the funnel.

In terms of video as a format that’s nested within your content funnel, you should think of it as a way to guide your viewers through each of the phases I mentioned. I always say you need to switch between telescopic and microscopic perspectives. The telescope allows you to see the broader picture and understand what’s the overall strategy, i.e. what’s the big picture. The microscope allows you to really focus on details and execution.

That’s what the video funnel is about.

You need to know how to use video to guide your prospects from the discovery stage until the moment they convert and become your loyal customers.

If your content budget is limited and you’re not sure where to start, my advice would be to begin with creating bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) content. Now, why does this make sense? If you start by focusing on your audience segment that is ready to buy, you will get initial traction with conversions, meaning you will start generating revenue and allocate a part of your budget to expanding your video sales funnel.‍

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Did you know? Almost 84% of customers said that video made them buy a certain product or service in the past. Check out other video marketing statistics from our original research.

Why video funnels make sense

In my opinion, video as a format beats all other content forms. That doesn’t mean you should ditch writing or never make another infographic, but to take a step back and think about the benefits of videos.

Here’s the perfect example of a company that has a well-thought-out video sales funnel: Ahrefs.

Ahrefs started their YouTube channel back in August 2015 and they are the masters of not only summarizing complex SEO topics in a video format but of repurposing video content as well. As a matter of fact, they repurpose videos into articles and vice versa. But they also create a bunch of independent, original videos.

If you go to the Ahrefs YouTube channel, you can see a variety of videos that cover all phases of the video funnel.

They cover TOFU topics and comment on trends (e.g. ChatGPT, product-led content, affiliate marketing website lists), MOFU topics (e.g. link building tactics for beginners), but they also do a deep dive into product videos that help their audience understand how Ahrefs as an all-in-one SEO suite can help them solve specific problems, aka they do BOFU video content (e.g. videos on SEO competitor analysis, low competition keywords).

Why are they masters of the video sales funnel? Well, because they know the value of providing free knowledge and expert insights to their audience to build stronger relationships with them AND they also know the value of their own product and how useful it is.

Ahrefs is a strong brand that already secured its position on the market but if you take just half an hour to go through their YouTube channel, you’ll see they’ve used video to get there. The length of their videos also varies depending on 1) the topic they are covering and 2) the phase of the funnel they are targeting.

How to improve the effectiveness of the video funnel

In my opinion, there are two ways you can improve the effectiveness of your video funnel:

You can use video personalization to increase engagement
You can use automation to decrease CAC (automation = spending less on video)

Did you know? One of our customers used Plainly to decrease CPC on their TikTok ads. Check out their story here.

There are numerous applications for automating video production. As one of Plainly's co-founders, I continue to discover novel ways to incorporate it into business practices.

It can be used to repurpose video content, create personalized emails that contain video, convert blog posts into videos, and much more.

Despite the widespread recognition of the power of video, I've noticed that it is frequently dismissed as "too much of a hassle." There are still those who believe that creating high-quality videos necessitates an entire soundproof studio. The truth is that you don't even need to record yourself to do a lot of things.

Want to learn more about how video automation software works? Head to our home page or check out our blog resources.