The Marketing Funnel vs. “McKinsey Loop” and the role of data.

Back in 2009 McKinsey made the argument in its Quarterly journal article 

"The Consumer Decision Journey"  that the traditional “marketing funnel” had become obsolete in lieu of a “marketing loop” model.

The metaphor of a “funnel” is one where consumers start with a number of

potential brands in mind (the wide end of the funnel). Marketing programs are then directed at them as they methodically reduce that number of considered

brands as they move through the funnel. At the end they emerge with one brand they choose to purchase.

The "McKinsey Loop": An Evolution of Consumer Behavior

Being McKinsey they went out and analyzed the purchase decision process of 20,000 consumers across five industries and three continents to come up with a different model. Their research showed that the proliferation of media and products combined with the shift from one-way communication - from marketers to consumers – towards a two-way conversation sparked the need to think about new ways to look at marketing.

But I am at a loss in terms of aligning current marketing data analytics with this loop model.  I’ve talked to lots of smart marketers recently who still think generating brand awareness / consideration is important, and measure it religiously. Forbes called 2014 "The Year Digital Marketing Analytics" and the Harvard Business Review declared data scientist "The sexiest job of the century."

Marketing programs using “attraction” or an “in-bound” approach like content marketing to increase consumer engagement are growing in effectiveness and efficiency. Savvy marketers use data-based attribution to figure cost-per-inquiry, cost-per-lead and cost-per-acquisition and use this learning to optimize their marketing mix spend and ROI. So measuring the moving prospects along the "funnel" still seems to have business merit.

User ratings, social media sentiment and content sharing now also come into play – maybe as part of the new “loyalty loop” - but have more positive business building impact by increasing the number of “brand advocates” who fuel modern day word-of-mouth like support via technology based venues.

The move towards ever more engaging content is changing the modern day marketing mix as well. The VB News blog recently discuss the evolution of content marketing – from simple text and visually enhanced streamed content towards customized marketing apps.

Interactive White-Paper Marketing App Example.

According to author Scott Brinker “The fourth wave will be a proliferation of responsive web “marketing apps” — wizards, configurators, calculators, assessment tools, interactive white papers, participatory e books, games, quizzes, guided tours, contests, diagnostics, workbooks, utilities, and a wide range of entertaining and educational experiences.”

The beauty of these apps will be better user engagement and the marketing data exhaust they will surely produce. These tech-driven offerings will deliver a more tangible value exchange between the marketer and consumer, with the ability for marketers to test – learn – apply based on measurable behaviors. They will tip the art vs. science discussion about marketing towards science, for sure.