How do you start the awareness process to get people into the top of your funnel? You need to create demand, which comes in two forms: → Inbound: prospects find and contact you, through your marketing and their own searches. → Outbound: you find prospects, either by buying contact lists to call or by researching potential prospects. For example, if your product helps those involved in billing in telecoms companies, you need to create a target list of the top 50 telecoms companies, including whom to approach. Aim to create a 50:50 balance between inbound and outbound leads. The following diagram shows the process for bringing people into your sales funnel. It shows the type of marketing content you need to generate demand and to move it forward. You need to ensure that content is useful and solves customer pain points—otherwise, it won’t resonate and they won’t be interested. Demand generation Website Landing Pages Content Marketing Social Media Ebooks Search Ads Webinars Sales Funnel Contact Lists Email Campaigns Emails Calls Conferences Source: Stefan Groschupf, Automation Hero 9