Build credibility and trust in the top-funnel track
Branding is more than just pretty colours and a unique identity. Branding is your public face — it is the feeling your customers get when they buy and use your products. Top-funnel activities, also known as the awareness phase, aim to create attention around your brand and establish this feeling with potential customers.
Consistent and professional branding builds credibility and trust with your customers. When your brand comes across as reliable and authentic, customers are more likely to choose your products or services.
That is why we always recommend that our clients' paid social setup should consist of at least one top-funnel track alongside the low-funnel track. Depending on the length of the customer's journey and their position in the market, we also occasionally recommend adding a mid-funnel track to the setup.
Top funnel is also excellent for priming your audience ahead of major e-commerce days or seasonal peaks. By warming up the audience before the e-commerce days truly kick in, you significantly increase the opportunity for conversions.
If your business is highly seasonal, top funnel is also effective for keeping the audience engaged and keeping you top of mind and relevant during the off-season.
Here are some concrete examples of top-funnel ads that can strengthen your brand:
How-to videos
Create instructional videos showing how to use your products. This can help potential customers see the value of the products and inspire them to make a purchase. In addition, this type of content increases your credibility and positions you as industry experts.
Tip articles
Write articles that provide useful tips and advice related to your products. If you sell kitchen equipment, for example, you can share recipes or cooking tips.
Customer reviews
Share stories from satisfied customers showing how they use your products in their everyday lives. This builds credibility, demonstrates the value of the products in a realistic context, and creates social proof.
Lifestyle inspiration
Use images and videos that show your products in use across various lifestyle situations. This helps create a visual narrative about how your products can fit into customers' lives.
Interactive elements
Use interactive elements such as quizzes or competitions related to your content. This can further engage visitors and make them aware of your products.
Increase the effectiveness of mid- and low-funnel activities
A strong brand identity makes it easier to target and engage with customers in the middle and bottom of the funnel. When customers already have a positive perception of your brand, they are more receptive to your messages and offers.
Furthermore, it is crucial that top-funnel activities not only create awareness, but also serve as a bridge to the continued customer journey. By integrating data collection early in the process, you ensure that the information you gather — whether it is interactions on the webshop, video views, or social media engagements — can be used to improve the targeting and personalisation of subsequent marketing efforts.
For example, data about which videos a potential customer has watched can be used to tailor the ads they will encounter later, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Effective use of this data ensures that previous contact with the customer is used to show content that takes their preferences and needs into account, optimising every subsequent step in the customer journey.
Once you have created awareness through top-funnel activities and formed relevant segments for targeting, the next step is to convert these visitors into paying customers. Here are some strategies to achieve this:
Focus on new loyalty club members
Use lead ads to recruit members to your loyalty club or newsletter, whom you can later convert into customers. Having a large loyalty club with engaged members is a far cheaper and more effective way to communicate than constantly having to reach the same people with ads.
Target those who have already shown interest
Target ads based on the content they have interacted with. For example, if a user has read a recipe, you can show ads featuring related products or ingredients. If someone has watched a “how-to” video about a specific product, you can show them ads for that very product.
Use data wisely
Use data from people who have interacted with your top-funnel content to create lookalike audiences on social media platforms. Also integrate data from your loyalty club to advertise products that the relevant member has already indicated an interest in.
Bonus: Remember social proof — include customer reviews and testimonials in your low-funnel ads. This can strengthen trust in your brand and product.
Conclusion
Branding and top-funnel activities are not merely nice-to-have elements in your marketing strategy; they are essential components that drive long-term success. By creating awareness, building credibility, retaining customers, and supporting mid- and low-funnel efforts, you ensure that your business is well positioned to reach its goals and grow in the long run. So make sure that branding and top funnel are a central part of your paid social setup — it will pay off in the long run.
