MOFu marketing is the strategy of using middle-of-the-funnel content to nurture leads and turn them into paying customers. It moves prospects from the awareness phase of the sales funnel down to the conversion phase.
In this article, we’ll explain how you can create an effective MOFu marketing strategy that supports a strong B2B content marketing funnel.
What Is MOFu Marketing?
A content marketing sales funnel has three parts. These 3 marketing funnel stages include:
- Top of the Funnel or TOFu where you cast a wide net to catch a large group of interested audiences.
- Middle of the Funnel or MOFu where you focus on connecting with a select group of prospects who have shown interest in your business or offerings.
- Bottom of the Funnel or BOFu where you encourage qualified leads to make a purchase.
While all the stages of a purchase funnel are important, the middle of the funnel is especially useful to B2B brands.
Related: Content Marketing for B2b: 4 Strategies and Examples
Why Is MOFu Marketing Important?
MOFu is an important part of the sales funnel because it’s the point where brands have interested leads and the ability to both nurture and qualify those leads.
This allows B2B brands to make more sales because:
Nurturing leads is an effective way to increase sales. Through lead nurturing, businesses can position their brand as an authority, show off their expertise, and build deeper customer relationships to increase sales. Brands that are effective at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales at a 33% lower cost, according to Forrester Research.
Qualifying leads is an effective way to increase sales. By collecting data and qualifying leads, brands can determine if prospects are ready to buy and which products and services are right for them. This helps sales teams get the data they need to target sales opportunities and deliver the right information to the right prospects at the right time.
MOFu marketing helps both brands and prospects get what they need. So how can you improve your middle of the funnel content to reap these benefits and make more sales?
Related: 4 Lead-Generating Marketing Strategies for B2B Companies
How to Nurture Leads in MOFu Marketing
At this point in the buying process, prospects already have a basic knowledge about your brand and industry. They are now ready to learn more about the specific details of your brand, products, and services. So as you approach your MOFu marketing content, aim to:
Educate. Provide information that helps prospects get answers to their questions. Create evergreen content and resources that will continue to provide value over time.
Solve. Show prospects how your products and services solve their specific problem. Offer proof when possible.
Relieve. Deliver facts and data that help prospects overcome objections and concerns they may have.
Differentiate. Highlight your brand’s unique selling propositions so prospects can see why you are better than and different from your competitors.
Persuade. Encourage your audience to see your perspective and take the next step by using action phrases and buying keywords.
Personalize. Customize content and communication to match the prospect’s unique needs. Also include personal touches like using his or her name or targeting his or her location.
There are a variety of content mediums and delivery methods to accomplish these goals. Consider sharing MOFu marketing content though:
- Webinars
- E-books and guides
- Resource libraries
- Microsites
- Landing pages
- FAQs
- Interactive apps and tools
- Checklists
- Case studies
- Videos
- Buyer’s guides
- Success kits
While creating content for the middle of your sales funnel, also keep these content creation best practices in mind.
Always include a call to action. Guide prospects to the next step of the marketing funnel by ending MOFu marketing content with a call to action that tells them what to do next.
Create funnels within the funnel. Break down your middle of the funnel content into smaller funnels organized by prospect data. Use segmented lists to deliver only relevant content that matches a prospect’s needs and wants.
Use the best keywords to attract your audience through search.
Perform keyword research to find low-competition keywords that are popular among your target audience. Optimize your content for those keywords to help attract audiences through search.
When you create MOFu marketing, you develop content assets that help and guide prospects and collect valuable information for your sales team.
MOFu content guides prospects and collects valuable information for your sales team.
How to Qualify Leads in MOFu Marketing
You can use two tactics to collect information on prospects and qualify leads with MOFu marketing.
1. Utilize gated content – content that requires users to provide their information to access the content – to collect data from prospects. When you set up a form that users must fill out before they can receive content, you can collect information such as:
- Name
- Phone number
- Job title
- Industry
- Company size
- Company revenue
This information helps you personalize communication and begin to qualify the lead based on data about their organization and their position in that organization.
2. Use software that tracks user behavior. Tracking codes on your website can collect data on prospect activity such as:
- Pages viewed on your website
- Forms filled out
- Content requested
- Emails received
- Emails opened
- Links clicked
With prospect-level data and action-level data, you can identify and qualify prospects as they absorb your content, navigate your site, and share details about their purchasing needs.
Examples of MOFu Marketing Content
To see MOFu marketing in action, we can look at a few examples of mid-funnel marketing tactics. The following brands have done a great job at using content as a means to nurture and/or qualify their leads.
T. Rowe Price Microsite
To promote their college savings plan, investment management firm T. Rowe Price developed the College Savings Chillout microsite. The website, which is not housed on the same URL as T. Rowe Price’s main website, includes a detailed, beautifully designed six-step guide and video library.
Both the guide and videos are unlocked and do not require users to enter their information to view them. T. Rowe uses this resource page as an initial way to educate prospects about saving for college. Then, they usher audiences to take the next step by using call to actions that tell them to get a downloadable guide, call to talk to a representative, or click to start an account.
HubSpot Guide
HubSpot is a content marketing company and software provider, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that their website includes a full library of downloadable MOFu marketing materials. An example of one of their resources is the free e-book “The Essential Guide to Internet Marketing.”
The guide targets Hubspot’s ideal audience and requires users to enter information before getting access to the free resource. Their form collects a variety of data, which Hubspot can pass on to their sales team so they can target the best, most qualified leads.
Career Contessa Webinars
Career Contessa is a website that provides career resources for women. They offer career consulting and coaching services and frequently use webinars as a way to generate leads for those offerings. An example is their “Considering an MBA? What Every Woman Should Know” webinar.
Career Contessa used a blog post “Want to Switch Careers? An MBA Might Be Your Answer” to lead into a promotion for the webinar. They then used the webinar as a way to collect email addresses from that target audience and directly promote their services at the end of the webinar.
Betterment App
Betterment, an online investment website, uses interactive tools as part of their MOFu marketing content. One example is their Retirement Savings Calculator that is part of their post “How Much Social Security Income Can You Expect?”
The calculator collects financial data from the user and creates a picture of their financial future. Depending on the results, the calculator also provides additional Betterment resources that tell the audience what to do based on their financial situation. This naturally guides them to the next phase of the purchasing funnel.
How to Get the Most Out of Your MOFu Content
Using MOFu marketing content is an excellent way to target the middle section of a sales funnel and work to nurture and qualify leads. But as you develop this content, keep something in mind. MOFu content is an important part of the marketing funnel – but it’s not the only part.
For a marketing funnel to deliver strong results, it needs content and strategy at each phase of the journey.
Don’t focus solely on the middle. Fill the top and bottom of the funnel with strategic content to get the best results. Read how to optimize for three types of buyer keywords to create compelling content that targets each stage of the buyer’s journey.
