Marketing Flywheel vs. Marketing Funnel: A Guide to Strategic Growth

In loving memory of the marketing funnel… 🪦We’re now entering the age of the marketing flywheel! 

As SMMs, we know that your social media strategies aren’t as direct as the marketing funnel makes it out to be. This is exactly why we’ve started using the marketing flywheel to guide our strategies.

FLYWHEEL MARKETING VS. MARKETING FUNNEL: COMPARE + CONTRAST

In marketing, there are two main ways to think about how customers interact with a business: 

• The marketing flywheel

• The marketing funnel

The marketing flywheel is a cycle that focuses on keeping customers happy and coming back for more, while the marketing funnel is like a direct map that guides customers through the steps from first hearing about a product to making the purchase. Both are about putting customers first and ensuring they have a good experience, but they have different ways of doing it. 

The marketing flywheel is all about building momentum by keeping customers satisfied and creating a symbiotic relationship between brand and customer. On the other hand, the marketing funnel helps businesses understand the journey customers take before they buy something and how to get them to cross that finish line.

THE MARKETING FUNNEL 

The marketing funnel plays a key role in mapping out the journey a customer takes from first encountering a brand to becoming a loyal advocate.

 These funnels streamline this journey into four key phases: 

1. Awareness: This initial stage marks the introduction of customers to your brand. It's where the widest audience becomes aware of your existence. However, not everyone progresses beyond this point. 

2. Consideration: In this phase, customers move beyond mere awareness and start actively exploring your brand, considering its value proposition.

3. Conversion: This stage signifies a significant commitment from the customer, such as making a purchase or subscribing to your service. 

4. Loyalty: The final stage is reserved for your most devoted customers, those who consistently support and engage with your brand.

While the marketing funnel has helped to guide marketing strategies for decades, it’s clearly designed to get customers from point A to point B. How to keep the momentum is where the marketing flywheel comes into play. 

FLYWHEEL MARKETING: ATTRACT, ENGAGE, AND DELIGHT 

The marketing flywheel is a customer-centered approach. It’s focused on three main things:

1. Attracting

2. Delighting

3. Engaging

This strategy aims not only to convert but also to retain leads. While other marketing models think of customers as an outcome, the marketing flywheel thinks of customers as what helps it turn. Think of it as an ongoing loop, emphasizing the ongoing effort put into the everlasting customer journey⁠. 

The first step in the marketing flywheel’s journey is to attract your customers — this is where the design girlies thrive. Think love at first sight. You win over customers by captivating content that appeals to them. You want to know your ideal customer’s pain points, likes and dislikes, and how you can solve a problem for them. Once you have this info down, create content that reels them in. 

Next up, we’ll dive into how to engage your customers in the marketing flywheel. Here’s where you want to develop relationships with your audience and make them feel a connection to you, making them more likely to purchase from your brand. Great ways to incorporate engagement-driving content is personalized emails or making yourself accessible by spreading communication channels across multiple channels. These make your audience feel a connection by showing off your brand’s identity and voice while also speaking directly to the audience. 

Lastly, the marketing flywheel calls to delight your audience. In this stage, you must be there to support your audience, further building a mutually beneficial connection with them. Great ways of applying this strategy include loyalty programs (with enticing perks, of course!) and feedback surveys that help your audience feel heard in their concerns. 

When you focus on how you can make your customers successful, they’re more apt to return the favor and become loyal fans that will help you grow. 

FLYWHEEL MARKETING: BENEFITS OF THE FLYWHEEL STRATEGY 

Not fully convinced that the Marketing Flywheel should be your go-to strategy? Let’s talk benefits. 👏

1. Flywheel Marketing helps you secure better customer leads. When you are satisfying your customer base, they become more inclined to share their love for your brand with others, organically expanding your audience.

2. Flywheel Marketing lets you take a breather. Even during slower campaign periods, this strategy practically ensures consistent momentum in engagement by developing a close relationship with your audience. 

3. Flywheel Marketing makes your audience eager for launches! Think of how excited you get every time your favorite brands tease new launches. This is likely due to their application of flywheel marketing! It’s because loyal customers are already more likely to engage with and invest in new products. 

Applying Flywheel Marketing to our strategy has revolutionized our social game. Through it, we’re able to develop deeper relationships with our audience that help us understand them better, which encourages more appealing content that drives engagement and creates loyal customers.

We hope you found this blog post helpful! Need help tracking the results of your strategy? Check out our social media analytics course, Decode Your Data, or our Social Media Analytics Bundle for our top resources. Enjoy!

xx, 

The Homies