The Prosecutor’s Method To Build Marketing Funnel

This is a guest post by Todd Brown. To learn the rest of Todd’s system for engineering your own big money, evergreen customer-generating marketing campaign, go here.

“How do I know what things to say and in what order to say them in my marketing funnel?”

It’s a question I’m asked at least once a week.

And, while I can’t give you specifics, since each niche, market, product, service, etc., is different, I can tell you a simple way to think about the construction of your marketing funnel message.

I call it, simply…

“The Prosecutors Method of
Marketing Funnel Construction”

As a fan of real crime stories and high-profile court cases, I’ve always enjoyed watching a good prosecutor in action.

Seeing how, from the beginning, they methodically lay-out a cogent and persuasive argument of guilt is just a beautiful thing. One block at a time, in logical order, with proof upon proof, building an undeniable case against the defendant. In the end leaving the jury with no other plausible position to take other than one of guilty.

If we boil down the essence of an effective message within a marketing funnel we’ll find something very similar: an undeniable logical and emotional argument established by a string of assertions and claims each backed by a preponderance of proof.

In other words, laying out the message of your marketing funnel is very similar to what a prosecutor does when laying out the message of their case.

A prosecutor constructs their opening remarks, entire line of questioning, and closing argument to establish certain beliefs in the minds of the jury members. With the ultimate belief and corresponding conclusion, hopefully, being, “Guilty”.

You must do the same. Only, in your case, the ultimate belief you want to establish in the mind of the prospect is, “The best thing I can do right now is buy this”.

To do that, you must first answer the question…

“What does the prospect need to believe
at the end of my marketing funnel to buy?”

Answering this question is essential since the entire message of your marketing funnel is then going to be engineered to establish those beliefs in the mind of your prospect.

Next, you must lay-out the order in which those beliefs need to be established.

In other words, which beliefs need to come before other beliefs, and so on, in the mind of your prospect.

For instance, let’s say we were selling a Facebook Advertising course to local pizzerias. Well, before we establish the belief in their mind that Facebook Advertising is the easiest and best paid traffic platform for them to use, we would first need to establish the belief in their mind that paid traffic is better than “free traffic”.

That belief needs to come first.

If it doesn’t, they may in fact believe that Facebook Advertising is the easiest paid traffic platform to use… but… that paid traffic in general isn’t as effective as free traffic.

You see what I’m saying?

Once you know what beliefs the prospect needs to have at the end of your funnel to buy, and the logical order those beliefs need to be established in the mind of your prospect, the next step is to begin crafting the skeleton of your actual marketing funnel message.

To do this you’ll begin by laying-out the different statements and claims you’ll need to present throughout your funnel to establish each belief in the mind of your prospect.

Simply put:

What are you going to say, claim, or assert
for each thing you want the prospect to believe?

For instance:

Using our prior Facebook Advertising example – maybe I need the prospect to believe that they’ll have an easier time getting started with Facebook Advertising than any other paid traffic platform.

So, what could I say to begin to establish that belief in their mind?

Let’s keep it really simple and say, “The Facebook Advertising platform is easier to use than any other paid traffic platform available right now. So, no matter what your skill level with the computer or the internet is right now you’ll be able to use Facebook Advertising to start driving qualified traffic and leads to your website.”

Now, here’s the key…

Just like a prosecutor must present a preponderance of proof throughout the presentation of their case, so must you throughout your marketing funnel message.

More specifically: For every statement, claim, or assertion you make in your marketing funnel, in an attempt to establish one of the necessary beliefs in the mind of your prospect, you must back it up with one or more proof points.

Proof, in the form of factual, social, and anecdotal proof, is at the bedrock of every truly persuasive marketing message. It’s the proof that makes your message credible and believable.

Without proof, all you’re doing is making claims. Claims, that prospects will be naturally skeptical of.

So, just like a prosecutor, be sure to prove beyond a shadow of doubt everything you want the prospect to believe.

Finally, once you’re confident you’ve made your case, it’s time to present your closing argument. In a marketing funnel this is when you present the offer and give the call to action.

And just like a prosecutor who’s led the jury through a persuasive argument proving the guilt of the defendant, you’ve lead the prospect to the natural conclusion that your product or service is the perfect solution for their problem.

Wrap up the case.

Enjoy the victory.

And go home.