Why TOFU is the secret ingredient for agency new business

We are not talking the high protein soya based ingredient but TOp of FUnnel content. We see very few agencies who are actively and properly producing TOFU content for their agency new business programs. Compare this to other business and professional services companies, or technology firms who are producing vast amounts of TOFU with great results reported.

Why TOFU is the secret ingredient for agency new businessOur anecdotal experience, gathered from talking to our clients and studying agency websites suggests a few reasons for this. 1) Resource – agencies are busy keeping their clients happy, after all they are the ones who put food on the table. They don’t have dedicated resource to produce content and have to effectively, take people away from paid work. Even those that produce TOFU often don’t do enough of it or do it frequently enough.

2) “Giving away secrets” – the agency business model is about selling time and expertise. Some agencies believe by giving away useful information they are giving clients the ability to do it themselves. If they could, they would regardless!

How is TOFU used in agency new business?

Top of funnel content is information that is useful to clients when they have a problem and aren’t sure of the solution, or are seeking education on a trend, topic or concept. It needs to be optimised, so you need to understand what your clients are looking for – there are plenty of useful tools out there that will look at keyword databases for you to gather this. Also try to get your team together to profile existing clients. We call these buyer personas. These can be used to guide content production.

TOFU for traffic driving

If you blog. It should be to drive traffic. You want your blog to answer questions that your potential clients are searching for online, or have in their head. “Great examples of b2b web design” “What is programmatic buying” “marketing trends in automotive” If your blogs can answer questions like these they will get visitors. Get visitors and you can capture their details and manage them appropriately.

TOFU for capturing data

Shop assistant: “Can I help you, CAN I HELP, excuse me.” You: “I AM JUST BROWSING P*SS OFF!”

Ever pop into a shop to look about and research. You are not buying but you will soonish. This is often the position clients are in. They don’t want to be sold to they are just researching. This is where your top of funnel content such as e-books, whitepapers, research can come in. Make them useful, not over branded or pushy and ask for something in exchange – an email address and contact details. You can then market to them. Amazingly 96 – 99% of your web visitors won’t come back, but they will at some point in the future appoint an agency. So, give them something useful. Capture their details in return, then stay in touch with more useful and relevant info until they move from research to consideration.

TOFU for building authority

If in a prospective client’s eyes you are a thought leader you might avoid the dreaded p-word – PITCH

So when it comes to agency new business don’t forget to add some TOFU. It might be the magic ingredient.