What is a Lifecycle Marketing Agency and How Can it Help You?

The sales funnel. For many, it is the gospel of marketing and sales, the only way to think about the way we communicate and connect with potential customers and clients. Today, however, people are starting to as their lifecycle marketing agencies if the sales funnel is truly the most effective model, especially because it is becoming less relevant in the modern world.

The first documented mention of the sales funnel was in 1924 by a man named William Townsend. It has been taught and used consistently since, which begs the question: why are we using a century-old sales approach in a post-internet world. Certainly, some things that are over 100 years old will stand the test of time, but your lifecycle marketing agency is probably going to tell you that the sales funnel isn’t one of them.

Lifecycle Marketing Explained

Enter “lifecycle marketing,” a new approach to marketing that focuses less on the funnel and more on engagement with your potential clients and customers. Instead of moving through awareness, interest, decision, and action, lifecycle marketing agencies create a feedback loop of awareness, interest & intent, decision, and loyalty.

Why the change? Well, the sales funnel focuses on restriction, where you draw customers into fewer and fewer options until they choose you. In a world of billions or trillions of online reviews, multiple platforms, and word-of-mouth becoming something entirely different, the idea of restriction simply does not apply. Your well-informed consumers have too much at their fingertips to be tricked into restriction. Instead, your lifecycle marketing agency will explain, the focus needs to be on creating ambassadors, those who started out as curious and are now dedicated to your business, product or service.

How Does it Work?

So how does lifecycle marketing work? It starts with the understanding that people don’t always start at the start, that they may already be aware of you, and that they may pop in and out of the lifecycle at multiple points. After all, more and more touch points are required these days to get to “decision.” Having multiple touch points, all designed to draw people in at different parts of the lifecycle is key. How does one accomplish this complicated web of sales and content tactics? Through experience in lifecycle marketing, which often requires a lifecycle marketing agency that understands the approach. It also requires a data-driven and deep understanding of your target audiences. After all, without knowing to whom you are communicating, you cannot hope to win them over.

More than anything, however, lifecycle marketing isn’t simply focused on single sales. It’s focused on turning the curious into people who will spread the word for you. This is important because you want people to choose you again and again, rather than once and then disappear forever. Lifecycle marketing is the new way to think about sales and one that requires the help and guidance of an experienced and dedicated lifecycle marketing agency. The truth is that the restrictive nature of the classic sales funnel doesn’t match the new kind of consumer. Lifecycle marketing is a proven method to meet people where they are and to turn them into ambassadors.