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If you work in content marketing and have never heard of or seen the sales or purchase funnel, stop what you're doing right now and go talk to your sales team. This funnel - where you aim to get your products out there, help your customers make the decision to buy, and then take the action to buy - is Sales and Marketing 101. It's a proven model of buy email list how you draw a consumer from outside to inside. It is also closely tied to your content marketing funnel, content strategy, target audience, and audience development.
All too often, sales teams – and many content strategies – stop at that moment of action or conversion, when a prospect becomes a buy email list customer. For many, it almost feels like the final chapter, the end of the story. However, according to Content Standard contributor and digital marketing expert Christine Warner, retaining customers is just as important as acquiring new ones, if not more. Bain & Company reports that when customer retention rates increase by just five percent, profits increase between 25 and 95 percent.
Therein lies the crux of this story: the content buy email list marketing funnel never really ends. While you're focusing all of your attention on top-of-funnel outreach content, or creating whitepapers and eBooks for mid-funnel decision aids, all the leads you already have generated languish in Forgotten Customer Land. Yes, new customers are important, but so are your existing customers. What can you do to make sure they stick with you and keep buying more of your brand?