If you are in the marketing industry, you are probably familiar with the acronyms TOF, MOF, and BOF. If not, we are here to break down the meaning of these acronyms and define what type of content works best at each stage of a marketing funnel. TOF refers to the top of the funnel, MOF refers to the middle of the funnel, and BOF refers to the bottom of the funnel. By applying these principles that we outline today, you will have the blueprint for a fully functional funnel that warms up your audience at the top of the funnel and guides them through an online sales process that generates highly qualified leads at the bottom of the funnel.
Online Sales Funnel Marketing with TOF, MOF, BOF (LOF), but what is it?
First of all: This is about real marketing for e.g. Facebook Ads (Social Media Ads) in combination with Instagram Ads, Google Ads, Bing Ads and possibly also LinkedIn Ads in B2B marketing. A funnel, in German Trichter, is simply put the refinement and „thinning out“ of user flows (visitors to my site, my offer) based on their interaction and interest.
The tracking cookies and pixels then do the further spreading and refinement via the algorithm. However, setting up the online sales funnel marketing is the „art“ and the important thing for the success of the campaigns. This article is not about traffic but purely about conversions like leads & sales!
Important: This process only works with a minimum advertising budget of 100 euros per day per network / platform! Below that, the algorithm usually cannot work really well.
This strategy is ideal for Facebook & Instagram Marketing (Social Media Ads).
What is an Online Sales Funnel and a Marketing Funnel?
Imagine the funnel as the discovery process your customer takes on their way to purchase. The stages they go through include awareness, consideration, and finally making the decision. As a marketer, you need to create content and ads that reach them at every stage of their decision-making process and have a suitable retargeting setup (remarketing) that guides them through this funnel.
The structure and stages of the funnel for effective online marketing and performance marketing
TOF – TOP OF FUNNEL
At the top of the funnel, you want a larger audience, as your audience gets smaller as it moves to the bottom of the funnel, and you want to drive as many conversions as possible through the funnel. Content that works great for the top of the funnel can include a video that allows your audience to segment themselves (marketing segmentation). By that, we mean that someone who watches 75% of a video on „How to Claim a Business Page“ is likely interested in the topic.
You can compare this audience with those who only watched 3 seconds or 10%, which would be a rather uninterested audience. The cool thing about Facebook advertising is that you can now take the audience that watched a certain percentage of your video and then retarget them with another set of ads. Gamification also works great at the top of the funnel stage, especially in the industry. For example, if you are a financial planner, you can put together a quiz with an integrated calculator that predicts how much they could have by the time they retire. They fill out a few fields and thus become a lead that you can follow up or retarget, who is interested in creating their strategy for a pension.
MOF – MIDDLE OF FUNNEL
In the middle of the funnel is the consideration phase. Note that conversions can happen at any time throughout the funnel. However, this is where you should target a warm and highly interested audience. The type of content that usually works well at this stage of the funnel can include a conversion campaign where you send those interested in your product to a landing page funnel with a pixel to track traffic throughout the funnel. The pixel on this landing page is key as it tracks who became a lead and who did not. This information is incredibly important when creating the bottom of the funnel, which ties some of these loose ends together.
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BOF – BOTTOM OF FUNNEL
At the bottom of the funnel, you will retarget highly interested audiences who were not converted into leads earlier. It is important to change the offer/motive in these ads, as repeatedly showing the same ad will inevitably irritate your customer and lead to low conversion rates. Often, a Messenger ad with a direct response works well for this type of audience, but an aggressive remarketing ad also works.
This lower part is also called LOF (Lowest of Funnel).
How Marketing Automation Works with a Lead & Sales Funnel for B2C & B2B Marketing
Although we have shared some types of content and ads that work best at each stage of the funnel, there is no single „best practice“ that must be followed. Why? Because every industry and every audience reacts so differently. It is important to test several different motives, offers, and personas throughout the Facebook ad process to fully optimize a campaign and achieve the lowest cost per acquisition with high-quality leads. We currently have one client who gets leads & sales at low prices via Messenger, while another does best with landing pages. As you become familiar with Facebook ads and testing, you will find where your niche works best.
This works ideally for new customer inquiries, more sales, and significantly more revenue in B2C marketing, B2B marketing, and e-commerce (online shops), but also dropshipping stores.
Interested in a funnel from a professional for Social Media Ads (Facebook Ads / Instagram Ads) in combination with remarketing and Google Ads?
Fragen zu TOF, MOF, BOF und Funnel-Marketing? Ihr Ansprechpartner:
E-Mail: fi@vastcob.com
Florian Ibe
By the way, you can also call it TOFU MOFU BOFU:
ToFu, MoFu & BoFu simply explained – and why this funnel is so important in marketing
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