Top of funnel marketing tactics to build brand awareness

A recent study found that 43% of consumers like to discover new brands, even if they aren’t in the market to buy. With all those people just waiting to discover you, there’s no wonder that brand awareness should always be in focus. 

Introducing your brand to potential customers and creating a positive first impression is key to finding new customers. This initial step, known as “top of funnel” (or “TOFU”) marketing, is crucial for attracting new leads and nurturing them into loyal customers.

What is the top of funnel marketing?

Top of the funnel marketing is a term for all the marketing activities that are aimed at increasing awareness of your brand with your target audience. The marketing funnel as a whole is a classic approach to map a customer journey. The funnel follows the customer from the first time they hear of your brand (the “awareness” stage, at the top of the funnel) right through to the moment they make a purchase (the “action” at the bottom of the funnel). 

Generally speaking, brands need to create a much larger pool of awareness up at the top of the funnel, as not everyone will filter down to the bottom of the funnel and make a purchase. At this stage in the process, the goal is to educate your audience, help them understand any pain points they might have and cover some more general, high-traffic topic areas. 

Top of funnel marketing tactics include things like sponsorship for events, TV and radio advertising and content marketing. Interestingly, TV and radio ads can sometimes act as a bottom of the funnel tactic – for example, by advertising a limited-time offer or special discount code, while ads that focus on general brand awareness sit more at the top of the funnel.

Top of funnel content marketing often looks like:

• Articles that aren’t overtly selling something
• Conversational topics that are often educational
• Introducing products or services for the first time

The trick at the top of the funnel is not to launch into sales right away. People in the discovery phase of the funnel aren’t ready to buy – the idea here is just to pique their interest, let them get a taste of what your brand personality is like, and start to get to know each other. It’s just like any relationship – you can’t barge in and ask someone to marry you without getting to know them first. Top of the funnel is the rom-com “meet cute” of the marketing world. Make an impression, but keep it casual. 

Here's a breakdown of the full customer journey and its alignment with the marketing funnel:

• Awareness Stage (TOFU): Customers are just beginning to realize they have a problem or need. Your goal at this stage is to educate them and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
• Consideration Stage (MOFU): Customers are actively researching solutions and comparing different options. Here, you need to provide valuable content that demonstrates how your product or service addresses their specific needs.
• Decision Stage (BOFU): Customers are ready to make a purchase decision. Now, you need to convince them why your offering is the best fit.

Why top of Funnel is crucial in any marketing strategy

Customer journey vs. marketing funnel

Before diving into specific tactics, let's understand the context. So let’s go back to the marketing rom-com. Your customer has a problem – they might not realize it yet, but they’re looking for something to change their lives. They may not be actively searching for it, but there’s some niggling feeling that things could be going better than they are. This is where the customer journey begins.

The marketing funnel represents the different stages customers go through as they become aware of your brand, consider your solution, and ultimately make a purchase. The top of the funnel (TOFU) is the widest part, where you aim to attract a broad audience and raise brand awareness – the meet cute. As they filter down through the funnel, they become more familiar and trusting of your brand, and you can start to show them how great you could be together. And poof – before you know it, we’re getting wedding invites. Or subscription emails. Or something. Anyway!

Effective strategies for the top of the funnel?

When planning top of funnel content, there are a few things you should keep in mind. 

• Customer-focused messaging: Let’s face it: people don’t want to hear about how great your products and services are. What they do want to hear about is how their problems can be solved, what issues they shouldn’t have to struggle with and how to make their daily lives better. When creating your TOFU content – think customer-first and don’t shoehorn sales in unnecessarily. 

• Engaging stories: Our brains are wired to connect with stories. Laying out facts is fine, but stories are going to make meaningful connections in the minds of your customers. Giving examples of successful stories, providing content as videos and images as well as text, and avoiding clichés will help your message land.

• Brand appeal: TOFU marketing is all about reaching a broad audience, many of whom won’t be actively looking for what you’re offering. A strong brand appeal with a clear and consistent message helps you cut through the noise. Building trust and relatability helps create positive associations that will pay dividends later in the funnel process. 

Here are 7 top-of-funnel marketing tactics to consider:

1) SEO (Search engine optimization)

SEO is the process of optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When potential customers search for keywords related to their problems, you want your website to be among the top results. Top-ranking pages do well because a) it’s obviously higher footfall when you’re right there at the top, and b) people tend to trust content that appears at the top more than the results lower down the page.

SEO content can look like blogs, videos and infographics – a mix of content helps you reach a broader audience.  But by focusing on relevant keywords and creating high-quality content, SEO helps drive organic traffic to your website and increases brand visibility in the online space.

2) Content marketing

SEO and content marketing work hand in hand. Strong SEO helps your content get discovered by the right audience, while valuable content keeps users engaged and encourages them to learn more about your brand. Regularly publish high-quality, SEO-optimized content to establish your brand as a trusted resource and attract organic traffic.

Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable, informative content that attracts and engages your target audience. Ideally you want to cover common pain points and showcase your expertise. This content can take various forms, including blog posts, infographics, eBooks, videos, or webinars. The key is to offer content that educates your audience about their pain points and subtly positions your brand as the solution provider.

3) DOOH (digital out of home) advertising

With all eyes on the digital presence – don't forget the power of offline advertising. Digital billboards, digital signage in public spaces, and even transit advertising can be effective TOFU tactics. Digital out of home or “DOOH” advertising allows you to reach a broad audience in high-traffic locations, creating brand awareness and sparking curiosity.

4) Online radio

With the rise of online streaming services like Spotify, radio advertising can be game-changing for marketers. Targeted ads on these platforms can be a great way to reach specific demographics and introduce your brand to potential customers who might be actively consuming audio content. Think about strategic placement, and whether your ad will be best as an overlay, a homepage takeover or maybe a sponsored playlist. 

Online radio gives people a personal experience that can make it more engaging and emotionally powerful than digital video or social media advertising. In fact, research found that Spotify ads result in greater recall and attention than other comparable ad formats.

5) Sponsorships

Sponsoring relevant events, podcasts, or online communities can be a strategic TOFU tactic. By associating your brand with causes or organizations that resonate with your target audience, you can build brand awareness and generate positive brand sentiment.

An important factor for sponsorship marketing is understanding your brand’s category entry points. Category entry points are situations that are appropriate moments for the brand to appear. For example: a shower gel belongs in a bathroom, while an umbrella belongs outside in the rain. For some brands, it’s a bit more vague. Beer, for example, belongs in a bar – but Corona has leveraged the category entry point of the beach, so that consumers begin to think of Corona specifically when they sit on the beach. Meanwhile, Heineken saw Formula One racing as their entry point and chose to increase their “mental availability” in that context.

6) Social media 

Social media platforms offer a multitude of ways to increase brand visibility. Create engaging content with vivid imagery, run contests and giveaways, collaborate with influencers, and participate in relevant online conversations. By actively managing your social media presence, you can connect with potential customers on a personal level and build brand recognition.

7) Broadcast

Even in our digital world, radio and TV continue to be powerful tools for TOFU marketing. These are channels associated with storytelling, so the ability to leverage emotional connection and the opportunity for brand building, together with mass reach makes broadcast media a perfect platform for awareness-type content. Broadcast channels can be used further down the funnel too – with limited time offers, or special discount codes, but it’s less common since targeting is more challenging at this level. 

Metrics to measure

But wait! Once your TOFU content is out there, don’t forget to measure it. Strategic measurement gives you the keys to understand your audience’s taste and hone your output to make it even more effective.

• Reach: This shows how many people saw your marketing message. Higher reach indicates you're casting a wider net and potentially attracting more leads.
  
  
• Impressions: Similar to reach, impressions count how many times your ad or content was displayed, regardless of interaction. It helps gauge the overall visibility of your campaigns.
  
  
• Time on page: This measures how long visitors spend on a particular webpage. Higher time on page suggests your content is engaging and captures interest.
  
  
• Content engagement: This goes beyond just time on page and considers actions like comments, shares, and downloads. High engagement indicates your content resonates with your audience.
  
  
• Organic traffic: This refers to visitors who found your website through search engines, not paid ads. Increasing organic traffic shows your content ranks well and attracts potential customers organically.
  
  
• Click-through rate (CTR): This is the percentage of people who see your ad or content and click on it. A high CTR suggests your messaging is compelling and entices users to learn more.
  
  
• Email captures: This measures how many people sign up for your email list. A growing email list indicates you're building a base of potential customers interested in further communication.
  
  
• SQLs (Sales qualified leads): While not a traditional marketing metric, SQLs can be a good indicator of qualified leads generated at the top of the funnel. These are leads who have shown some level of interest, such as downloading a whitepaper or requesting a demo.
  
  
• Conversion: Strictly speaking, conversions are often measured lower in the funnel, signifying a desired action like a purchase. However, in the context of top funnel marketing, conversions could include things like signing up for a free trial or attending a webinar. These micro-conversions show progress towards your ultimate goals.

Top of funnel marketing examples

Squarespace: influencer marketing

If you listen to podcasts or watch YouTube, you’re bound to come across a native ad for Squarespace. Squarespace has focused on attracting a wide audience by offering drag-and-drop tools to make professional-looking websites. By giving popular podcast and YouTube hosts the freedom to create their own ad script (we love Adam Buxton’s hilarious examples) lends trustworthiness to the brand. 

Rhode: social media marketing

We wrote about Rhode in our ‘5 inspiring marketing campaigns from 2024’ blog, but their social media marketing is so great, we’re mentioning them again. Even as a global influencer at the helm of her company, Hailey Bieber made strategic partnerships and created strong brand values to help raise Rhode above the sea of celebrity beauty brands.

Red Bull: event marketing

Red Bull has become synonymous with extreme sports events, with a global presence as athlete and sports team sponsors, as well as competition partners. The brand faced setbacks early on, but realized that success lay in their ability to create a rich and unique brand identity that would go beyond a product – something that would resonate with people on a deep level. 

Funnel: SEO marketing

Here at Funnel, we take our own advice and use TOFU marketing to help us reach out to more businesses. We know how important keyword integration is for Google rankings, so we make sure that we use keywords in the title, body and headers of our blog posts, as well as the URL. We’re always checking in on page speed, and making sure our videos and images are optimized so that they don’t slow down page load times.

Brand awareness: a continuous journey

Building brand awareness is a continuous process, not a one-time effort. By implementing a well-rounded TOFU marketing strategy, you can effectively capture attention, establish your brand as a thought leader, and nurture potential customers throughout their buying journey. Remember, the tactics discussed here are just a starting point. Analyze your target audience, experiment with different approaches, and track your results to identify what works best for your brand. As you consistently deliver valuable content, engage with your audience, and leverage the power of various online and offline channels, you'll be well on your way to achieving top-of-mind awareness and building a loyal customer base.