The dominant model of marketing over the last number of years has been the “marketing funnel”.

Drop some leads in one end of the funnel, take them through a bunch of steps, and out will pop paying clients.

Lovely analogy.

Except, well, it doesn't work like that.

As the folks at Marketing Experiments pointed out, marketing is more like an upside down funnel.

With a normal physical funnel if you pour liquid in at the top, gravity pulls it through. It's inescapable.

But when you drop leads into a marketing funnel, they don't automatically go through all those lovely steps you've defined for them. 

In fact, it's more likely that those leads will fall out of your funnel than drop through it. There's no natural gravity in a marketing funnel.

So you need to create your own gravity. Pull those leads through your funnel.

In my experience, Value is the force that most effectively pulls leads through your marketing funnel.

The value of a lead magnet gets them to take the first step of signing up and giving you permission to follow up.

The value in your emails or other ongoing communications gets them to look forward to and actively engage with your follow-up.

The value they get from a meeting with you is what motivates them to have one.

And finally, the value they see in working with you is what persuades them to hire you.

Think value at every stage and pull people through your marketing system. Don't expect them to drop through it automatically.