The sales funnel model originated more than 125 years ago, so it’s not surprising that it’s facing a bit of reevaluation these days. The rise in non-linear consumer behavior, increase in AI capabilities, and light-speed evolution of sales models compared to previous decades are all contributing to a “funnel is dead” narrative that has appeared in the pages of major magazines.
What is surprising, however, is the polarization this has caused among marketing organizations. While some are happy to lean all-in to the “RIP Funnel” mentality, others are holding onto their funnel-focused marketing strategies for dear life, even when presented with data that the strategy isn’t as successful as it once was (or, more importantly, as it could be).
In our view, the funnel will never truly be dead—but it is evolving. Rather than bemoaning the shift away from the traditional funnel, this should invigorate brands to explore new ways of reaching and expanding their customer base.
Why Some Say the Marketing Funnel is Dead
The idea of the marketing funnel is simple: Consumers typically move through a simple “Awareness -> Consideration -> Conversion” pathway, and marketing strategies should be built to both initiate the process and steward customers from the first step to the last. The notion that the marketing funnel is dying comes from the rise of the internet (and social media) and the emerging dominance of eCommerce.
There is some reality to consider there. Once upon a time, there were far fewer mediums for paid media: Billboards, print ads, and radio or television ads all had a distinct role, both in people’s lives and in marketing strategies. Now people have universal multimedia devices in their pockets, which they glance at roughly 150 times per day. Information is now everywhere and purchases can be instantaneous: A user can go from 0 awareness to paying customer in seconds flat.
Some of the biggest forces contributing to this “dead funnel” mindset are actually the marketing platforms themselves. As Meta Ads and Google Ads become increasingly reliant on algorithmic campaigns like Advantage+ and Performance Max, digital marketers have less control over who sees what ads at what time. In theory, these campaigns are built to span the full funnel, relying on AI to identify and target the users most likely to deliver on your campaign goals.
In practice, marketing in a post-funnel environment would depend less on assigning budgets by channel or tactic, but instead deploying spend fluidly across all campaigns and platforms. Similarly, marketing goals wouldn’t be segmented by channel; instead, the organization would take a more holistic view of cross-channel value to understand how each platform influences the other and then work to deliver timely ads that appeal to their specific audiences.
This also relies on moving fast. Consumer attention spans are short: When a trend pops up, the brands that succeed are those that can quickly capitalize on that trend in a way that is genuine and authentic to their brand. That dynamic demands a lot from digital marketers—and it’s a very different set of demands than carefully planning a funnel-based marketing strategy weeks or months in advance.
How to Adjust Your Marketing Strategy for a Changing Funnel
All this newfound opportunity shifts the challenge from getting the right placement to consistently hitting the right notes, which makes strategy more important than ever. Where once securing a full-page ad in a newspaper might have been enough to generate sales, now marketing agencies must understand how to make a memorable impact across multiple platforms.
In order to do this, you must first have a comprehensive understanding of who your customers are and what motivates them. Once you have this, it’s crucial to build a cohesive cross-channel presence that will resonate with them and serve as an authentic representation of your brand.
Doing this requires the understanding that different channels will excel in different areas. So while the distinction isn’t as wide as the difference between, say, a radio ad and a print ad, holding paid social and SEM to the same expectations is an unfair view for both channels. Google is the undisputed search leader, but it doesn’t have a comparable social platform to take on Meta—and the act of searching for something on Google is very different from scrolling on Instagram, representing different levels of intent (and thus, funnel stages). Organizations should prioritize cross-channel strategies that complement each platform rather than applying a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
Regardless of platform, though, the key is understanding that people don’t want to be sold to, they want to be engaged. This is where a marketing strategy really shines, when a company’s message is woven seamlessly across ads people see at all stages of the funnel. Rather than abandoning the traditional funnel, marketers should strategically use campaign segmentation to generate data that helps further improve performance and informs areas of opportunity.
At ADM, this can look like:
- Structuring campaigns in ways that prioritize the highest-value keywords to ensure budget efficiency and tailored optimizations
- Having Brand, Non-Brand, and Conquesting keywords in separate Search campaigns and building out robust negative keyword lists to ensure fencing when Broad or Phrase match might otherwise intermingle them, which can impact efficiency
- Running YouTube and DemandGen campaigns to reach people more likely in the top of the funnel while measuring these efforts with multi-touch attribution models and incrementality or lift studies to illustrate what role these campaigns play in feeding lower funnel campaigns
- Segmenting Social campaigns by prospecting and remarketing to better speak to users based on whether they’ve interacted with the brand previously
- Maintaining cohesive messaging and imagery to cement brand recognition and build trust among users cross-channel
And, as a final point for consideration: with so much focus turning to cross-channel marketing, it’s imperative to understand the importance of attribution. In data-driven marketing organizations, last-click channels often receive credit for behaviors that were influenced by other channels. This is why we recommend first and foremost using a multi-touch attribution model to see the full value across all marketing channels. This can look different for every client, but the overall goal is to ensure you’re looking holistically at your entire marketing effort when measuring a marketing strategy’s success.
Why the Funnel Still Matters to Your Marketing Strategy
The funnel isn’t dead—and marketing agencies shouldn’t be approaching their roles as if it is. But rather than trying to force consumer behavior back towards traditional trends, marketing agencies should prioritize building out strategies that showcase an understanding of their customers in ways that are organic and authentic. This will allow them to recognize where and when they can maximize overall value for the brand, regardless of where in the traditional funnel this interaction takes place.
Marketers must always understand how campaign evolution impacts our ability to do our job. As AI continues becoming a more important aspect of engine performance, we must think about the best ways to meet our goals. Rather than thinking of these updates as making it harder to align with a funnel stage, we should instead focus on the new capabilities at our disposal and how we can best apply them for our clients’ benefit. Not every campaign is a fit for every client, but it’s our job to identify what campaigns ARE a fit and build out strategies that utilize these campaigns to their fullest potential.
Finally, marketers should also be cautious about over-simplifying their campaign strategies, regardless of how much the platforms recommend an “all-in-one” approach. It’s our job to balance the line of adopting new features, capabilities and ways of thinking with maintaining the appropriate levels of control that come from reasonable campaign segmentation and targeting strategies.
If it seems like all this consolidation is making things more complicated—well, it is. A quality marketing agency can help. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the team here at ADM:
