You Don’t Have a Funnel. You Have One Message.

Most accounts don’t actually have a funnel.

They have one message being pushed to everyone.

In this episode, I break down why understanding the customer journey in paid social is critical and where most businesses/marketers get it wrong.

Because it’s not just about traffic or targeting.

It’s about saying the right thing at the right time.

We get into:

•  Why TOF, MOF, and BOF require completely different conversations 
•  How misaligned messaging quietly kills performance 
•  Real examples of what each stage should actually sound like 
•  Why your creative is shaping your targeting (whether you realize it or not) 

If your ads feel inconsistent or conversion rates don’t make sense…

There’s a good chance this is where things are breaking.

If this episode changes how you think about your funnel, send it to someone still running the same ad to every audience.

And if you want more of this - find me on LinkedIn.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

If your robas looks like your ads are flopping harder than a bad TikTok dance. And you're tired of throwing cash at meta like it's a charity. You're in the right place. Welcome to Break the Buddha. It's got the thing to break in the bottle. And the guy's closed. Oh what's going on, everybody?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Thanks for tuning in today's episode. And man, am I really excited to hit on today's topic? Because as I was prepping for today's episode, the more I dug into this topic, the more passionate I just realized I had for this because I've been able to problem solve and have different strategies. And I'm not going to give away that topic just yet, but understand that as a business, if you're a founder and you're struggling with customer acquisition, today's episode is for you. Or even if you're a marketer listening to today's episode and you run a book of business managing multiple ad accounts, in some form or fashion, you've had this problem with the client and you've had these discussions. So before I go ahead and say what that topic is, I'm going to give you a backstory from an experience that I had with a client working at a previous agency because it's going to really flow into what I'm talking about today. So let's get into it. A brand came to me with the problem. They were spending consistently, running multiple campaigns, and getting just enough traction to think that things were working, but nowhere near the results they expected. They thought they were doing everything right. Strong creatives, clean design, clear product features, and on the surface, it looked really good. But then I audited the account, and one thing stood out immediately. Every ad was saying the exact same thing. Didn't matter if it was co-traffic, warm audience, retargeting, same message, same angle, same conversation. So yeah, the the creatives looked good, but they were all doing the same job. And the funnel, mostly top of funnel messaging. So of course, performance felt inconsistent. They weren't guiding the customer forward. They were repeating themselves. And that's where I feel a lot of accounts get stuck. Which brings me to what I want to break down today. Why understanding the customer journey and paid social isn't optional, guys, and why getting this wrong quietly kills performance. We all know the funnel. Top, middle, bottom, you know, the acronyms TLF, MOF, BOF, but knowing it and actually building for it are two completely different things. What most brands do is this they take one message, one angle, and push it everywhere. Cold audiences, same message. Warm audiences, same message. Retargeting, same message. Guys, that's not a funnel. That's distribution. And I know it might feel good as a business to just dish out a bunch of ads using the same messaging or different variations, but has the same feeling and it feels like feels like a success. That's that that really isn't winning. You're actually dragging down your strategy instead of creating momentum. So if that's the gap, what should that conversation actually look like? Now, when I think about the customer journey, I don't start with the funnel stages, I start with intent. At the top, people aren't looking for your product. They might not even fully understand the problem yet. Let's use a budgeting app as an example. Most top of funnel ads sound like track your expenses, build your budget, start saving today. And it sounds great because it reads off great, but that's product first. No one cares yet. A better approach is ever check your bank account and wonder where your money actually went? That hits a moment. That's someone seeing themselves in the problem. And here's another quick one. Let's go with the skincare brand. Bad top of funnel sounds like this. Our moisturizer hydrates and improves skin texture. But here's a better version of that. Why does your skin still feel dry? Even after moisturizing? You see, you're not selling here, you're surfacing the problem. Now, once someone engages with that, they're in a different mindset. They're aware, but they're skeptical. They're asking, what actually works? Back to the budgeting app. Middle of funnel could sound like most budgeting apps tracked after you spend. This one forces a plan before you spend. Now you're introducing three key things mechanism, differentiation, a reason to believe. Now, here's a skincare example. Most moisturizers sit on top of your skin. This one absorbs deeper because of ingredient or the mechanism. Now you're building belief, not pushing a cell. And if they keep moving forward, now they're close to making a decision. This is where a lot of brands overcomplicate things. They introduce new ideas. You don't need that. You need reinforcement. For the budgeting app, join 100,000 plus who've taken control of their money. Start your free trial today. Or most users connect their bank in under two minutes. See everything in one place instantly. And how about the skincare? Rated 4.8 stars by over 5,000 customers. See why people are switching. You're removing friction, not adding complexity. Now on paper, this all makes sense, but here's where it starts to impact performance. When your message doesn't match intent, it doesn't just hurt conversions. It corrupts your data. If you run bottom of funnel messaging to co traffic, you're asking for commitment with no context. So what happens? Low engagement, weak clicks, poor conversion signals. Now the algorithm is learning from bad inputs. So it broadens, trying to find something that works. And now performance dips, and it looks like a scaling issue. But it's not, it's a journey alignment problem. And you'll hear people like Ben Heath talk about how creative is the new targeting. And if you don't know who he is, he's a big brain that I really like to follow. I watch a lot of his content on YouTube and even on LinkedIn, he's constantly posting about platform updates, especially meta, and how targeting has shifted from the old dinosaur days to now creative being that targeting. And this is what that actually means. Your creative isn't just messaging, it's telling the platform who to go find based on how well it aligns with intent. So if alignment drives signal and signal drives performance, what does good execution actually look like? The best accounts don't rely on one ad, they build progression. So instead of one campaign trying to do everything, it looks more like this. For your top of funnel layer, multiple hooks around the same problem. Where did my money go? Why do I feel broke even with a good income? I make money, but still feel behind. For the middle of funnel layer, different ways to build belief, breaking down the system, showing how it works, explaining why it's different. And then the bottom of funnel layer, stacked proof. This can range from testimonials, results, ease of use, a clear call to action. And inside each stage, they're iterating, not guessing. Top of funnel isn't one ad, it's multiple angles around the same pain point. Middle of funnel isn't one explanation, it's multiple ways to build trust. Bottom of funnel isn't one testimonial, it's layered proof. That's where performance stabilizes. And once you start thinking this way, you stop asking, what's the best ad? And you start asking, what does this customer need to hear next? So if your ads aren't converting or performance feels inconsistent, don't just look at targeting, look at your journey and ask, Am I speaking to the right version of the customer at the right moment? Because if you're not, everything downstream gets harder and more expensive. If this episode changed how you think about the funnel, send it to someone who's still running the same ad to every audience. And if you want more of this, find me on LinkedIn, Joe Oligan O L G U I N. I'll catch you in the next one.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

That's a wrap for this episode of Break the Funnel, where we stop wasting money. The first episode delivered the good, don't keep it out. Lightning there's a button on fire. Follow the channel, drop a review, and let's break it down.