Key Takeaways
Consumers face a lot of friction in their buying journeys. They have to overcome lots of other content before finding you, so your goal is to make that process as simple as possible for them. It should be smooth and natural for people to find and consume your content, because any bump in the road could send a frustrated buyer backward on their journey.
If you’re struggling to get results out of your content marketing strategy, you could be operating on the wrong framework. The traditional sales funnel focuses on the outcome, and that means it limits itself by failing to consider the buyer’s experience. It doesn’t matter how great the content is if there are too many obstacles getting in the way.
HubSpot adapted the flywheel model after realizing that the typical sales funnel wasn’t focused on customer experiences. The inbound marketing flywheel model advances prospects to promoters using friction-free content that delivers value without any fuss.
And customer experience matters. Brands that focus on customer experience can see an 80% increase in revenue. Customers will even pay more for the same services or products — up to 18% more — for a better customer experience.
To deliver truly great experiences, you have to focus on what the buyer wants to take away from your content and eliminate the obstacles in the way. The flywheel model is the only one that considers both factors.
Let’s break down what the flywheel actually looks like. The flywheel is a cyclical model that self-sustains its momentum to generate a steady stream of unqualified leads or strangers, as well as qualified leads or prospects.
All leads start as strangers. You either attract them or they come in on word-of-mouth from brand promoters who are outspoken about how great you are. Strangers then self-qualify when they rank up to prospects, but you must engage them to make that happen. Keep engaging them, and prospects convert into customers.
But the work’s not done. Delight your customers consistently, and they’ll become long-term champions for your brand. That’s the goal.
So, how does the flywheel build momentum? It builds kinetic energy to self-fuel its forward motion based on three key factors:
The takeaway: If you get your flywheel moving and remove friction, you’ll see the benefits of better customer experiences.
Now, let’s talk about what we mean by content inertia. Every piece of content you produce has an overarching goal to move the buyer forward on the flywheel. Inertia is the enemy of this desired forward motion. When your buyer encounters friction while viewing your messages, the flywheel stalls. That’s content inertia.
The flywheel model can’t operate to its fullest potential with inertia. They are mutually exclusive. In the real world, this invention rotates in a constant circle fueled by nothing but the kinetic energy it contains. As long as it keeps moving, the flywheel maintains momentum. It’ll keep going as long as you let it!
That is, unless it encounters friction. Then it plateaus, slows, and stops.
That’s why the framework focuses on eliminating friction, the biggest source of content inertia. Buyers leave the flywheel for a reason: they didn’t get the value you promised.
If your content’s not performing, it could be that there is friction behind the inertia.
"Buyers leave the flywheel for a reason: they didn’t get the value you promised."
Switching up your established framework may sound like a lot of work, but it takes just a few steps to transform your sales funnel into a flywheel. Improving the customer experience will make it all worthwhile when long-term relationships form and self-qualified leads start pouring in.
Here are the three steps to make the change:
Chances are good that you have some established processes that can translate to the flywheel without much extra work. Your first step is to comb your former sales funnel and inbound marketing strategy for these elements:
When examining your current processes, ask yourself:
Keep what works and finesse it. Don’t be afraid to ditch forces that don’t fit the flywheel (or move them to a stage where they do fit).
Now’s your time to deliver kickass experiences by delighting the buyers who make your flywheel go ‘round. Inbound marketing is customer-focused at its core, and what better way to keep your flywheel moving forward than providing above-and-beyond experiences?
Late-stage touchpoints can be tailored to what the customer expects to see, and opportunities are everywhere. For instance, (nearly) every business has a ticket support process for current customers. Could you add delight to yours by adding chat support? If you already have chat support, but it’s staffed by live agents who work nine to five, what about chatbot integration for 24/7 availability? This small change can make a huge difference to a customer’s experience.
Third, examine your entire process from start to finish with a critical eye for friction. Here are tips to get started:
It’s best to do this part last since a lot can change when you’re swapping around your current processes and inserting new touchpoints.
Remember, any change could introduce friction if it’s not 100% right, so sweep for sources of friction again when you’re done converting your sales funnel into a flywheel.
We’ll let you in on a secret: You can get ahead of content inertia by crafting your content around the three phases of the flywheel.
One of the biggest drivers of friction is failing to provide the right content at the right time. The value’s just not there for the buyer when it should be. Keeping a finger on the pulse of your buyers allows you to hone in on what they want. Then, get it in front of their eyes exactly when they want to see it.
"Keeping a finger on the pulse of your buyers allows you to hone in on what they want. Then, get it in front of their eyes exactly when they want to see it."
Let’s look deeper at the three stages your buyers go through:
In the first stage, strangers want to consume content that gives them as much upfront value as possible with no pressure to buy. The best way to reach them is with free content that’s easy to consume (e.g., targeted and concise) and costs them nothing but a few minutes of their time.
A blogging strategy delivers no-cost information to these early-stage leads. An established blog with a consistent posting schedule reaches leads passively as the same industry-specific questions come up for months or years (and your reputation as a subject matter expert grows).
The second stage is when buyers are considering their options. Now’s the time to bring out the big guns, since prospects aren’t just looking at your solutions — they’re eyeing up the competition, too.
You want to position yourself as the best value compared to your competitors by delivering content that provides solutions to a specific problem (and those solutions include yours, of course). Content for this stage includes:
Engage, inspire, and stand out.
Late-stage buyers are the most qualified. As customers, they have all the information about their problem and they know what their options are. Now, they’re weighing those options and deciding whether your solution is the one for them.
Alternatively, they could already be your brand promoters. They’re already on board with your solution and they’re looking for even more reasons to tell the world about it.
You can reach late-stage buyers by building intriguing landing pages around resources that are:
This kind of content can include:
The point is, whatever the stage they’re in, you must attract, engage, and delight every buyer who enters your flywheel. And you do it by delivering valuable, tasty content at exactly the right time.
Creating amazing content that fuels your flywheel is easier said than done, but ContentBacon can help. We offer a customer-focused approach that uses premium content as the value that gets buyers to trust and connect with your brand.
Because we know another secret: Masterful storytelling fuels every inbound marketing strategy.
And that storytelling has to be your buyer’s story, not just your own. They want you to practice reflective listening and show that you hear them. Research shows that 79% of consumers want brands to actually show them that they understand and care about them before they consider a purchase. They want to feel seen. Then, you can start building trust.
"Masterful storytelling fuels every inbound marketing strategy."
The ContentBacon team creates custom stories for every stage of the buyer’s journey. We help you capture every buyer’s attention when they’re ready for you to have it. Imagine a strategy where you don’t have to qualify leads because they qualify themselves!
Our content fuels the flywheel’s motion with that energy, especially that of promoters who are delighted. This constant movement protects against the damaging effects of content inertia.
Book a (no-strings-attached) discovery call with our team to learn more about our content subscriptions.