Written by James Chae — Co-Founder, Expert Sapiens
Reviewed March 2026
Marketing
Definition
The marketing funnel is a model that maps the stages a potential customer moves through — from first awareness of your brand to making a purchase — and guides how marketing and sales activities should be structured at each stage.
The classic funnel moves prospects through Awareness (they discover your brand or offering), Interest (they engage with content and learn more), Consideration (they actively evaluate you against alternatives), Intent (they signal readiness to buy), and finally Conversion (they purchase). Some models extend beyond purchase to include Retention and Advocacy stages. The 'funnel' metaphor reflects reality: many people enter at the top, progressively fewer make it to each lower stage, and the job of marketing is to maximize the flow through each stage while filtering for the most qualified prospects.
Each funnel stage demands different content, channels, and messages. Top-of-funnel (TOFU) audiences need educational content that surfaces the problem and introduces your brand — blog posts, social videos, podcast appearances, display ads. Middle-of-funnel (MOFU) audiences are actively researching — they respond to case studies, comparison content, webinars, and email nurture sequences. Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) audiences are ready to decide — they need testimonials, free trials, demos, strong calls to action, and minimal friction in the purchase process. Mismatching message to stage is one of the most common and costly marketing mistakes.
In B2B contexts, the funnel often maps to a sales pipeline. Marketing generates and qualifies leads; sales develops them into opportunities and closes deals. The handoff between marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and sales-qualified leads (SQLs) is a critical integration point. Understanding where your funnel leaks — where prospects drop off — is the foundation of conversion optimization and revenue growth strategy.
Many businesses invest in marketing activities without understanding which funnel stage they're targeting or whether they have the right infrastructure in place to move prospects through. Spending heavily on awareness while having a weak consideration stage is like filling a leaking bucket. A marketing strategist can audit your full funnel, identify where the biggest gaps and opportunities are, and build the channel mix and content strategy to move customers more efficiently from discovery to purchase.
For businesses building a scalable go-to-market motion, funnel modeling also provides the data backbone for revenue forecasting: if you know your stage-to-stage conversion rates, you can work backward from a revenue goal to understand exactly what marketing volume you need at the top.
Written by James Chae — Co-Founder, Expert Sapiens
Reviewed March 2026