Got gaps in your content funnel? See how to connect awareness, consideration, and decision content so prospects can follow the crumbs straight back to you.
Got gaps in your content funnel? See how to connect awareness, consideration, and decision content so prospects can follow the crumbs straight back to you.
Someone searching “fundraising ideas for schools” needs different information than someone searching “cookie fundraiser for schools near me.” The first person is still exploring fundraising options, while the second is ready to take action. Both searches could eventually lead to the same service, but each person is at a different point in the buying process.
Creating content for each stage of the buyer’s journey can help you account for those differences, and understanding the marketing funnel makes that process a whole lot easier.
Here’s what you need to know to spot the gaps in your own content strategy and start filling them.
To make things a little more interesting, meet Crumb & Get It — a fictional cookie retailer we’ll use throughout this guide to put everything into perspective. They sell all sorts of delicious cookie varieties, and offer dessert catering for events and a cookie fundraising program for schools, hospitals, and nonprofits.
To make things a little more interesting, meet Crumb & Get It — a fictional cookie retailer we’ll use throughout this guide to put everything into perspective. They sell all sorts of delicious cookie varieties, and offer dessert catering for events and a cookie fundraising program for schools, hospitals, and nonprofits.
Their content challenges probably look a lot like yours. Just with more chocolate chips.
The marketing funnel — or TOFU MOFU BOFU content — describes how buyers move from first learning about a type of service or product to making a purchase. It’s broken into three stages, and each one reflects a different area of their journey.
If you want to align your content strategy with the steps people take before making a purchase, you need to have all three conversations (TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU) happening simultaneously across your site.
Different content formats can support different stages of the buyer journey. Here’s how they generally map out:
| Stage | What People Need | Common Content Types | Common Locations |
| TOFU | Education, ideas, and answers to broad questions related to your brand | Blog posts, educational guides, videos, infographics | Blog, resource center, social channels |
| MOFU | Help comparing solutions and narrowing choices | Comparison guides, buyer’s guides, FAQs, targeted landing pages, webinars | Blog, resource center, landing pages |
| BOFU | Details, proof, and next steps | Product and service pages, case studies, FAQs, testimonials, pricing information | Product/service sections, case study libraries, conversion pages |
When aligning content strategy with a buyer’s journey, know that these aren’t hard-and-fast rules. A blog can answer an early awareness question or dive into a detailed product comparison. An FAQ might help someone in the consideration stage or clear up a final question before conversion.
The key is to look at the intent behind the topic. Once you know what the buyer is trying to accomplish, you can choose a format that gives them the right amount of information and a logical place to go next.
Now, let’s head down the funnel.
Top-of-funnel content serves people who are beginning to explore a subject. They may be looking for ideas, researching a problem, learning terminology, or trying to understand their options. Your job at this stage is to give people a useful answer, demonstrate your knowledge of the subject, and provide natural opportunities to keep exploring when there’s more to learn.
For Crumb & Get It, TOFU content might look like:
How Many Cookies Do You Need for a Company Party?
The event planner searching this query may be focused on quantities rather than catering companies. A helpful guide can answer the immediate question while introducing cookie catering as one way to make serving a large group easier.
What’s the Difference Between a Sugar Cookie and a Shortbread?
A curiosity-driven topic gives Crumb & Get It an opportunity to share its cookie expertise with minimal sales pressure. Showing up with the answer to queries related to this topic helps support authority, visibility, and brand recall later down the road.
Fundraising 101: How to Raise More Money with Delicious Events
A PTA coordinator researching fundraising ideas may still be considering several approaches. This article could offer practical advice for planning a successful fundraiser while introducing cookie fundraising as a possible option.
TOFU content often lives in the blog or resource center, targets informational search queries, and builds topical authority. AI-generated overviews pull from multiple sources across a topic, so a trustworthy brand with a range of well-written awareness-stage content is more likely to show up in those results.
By the time a prospect reaches the middle of the funnel, they have a better understanding of what they need and are comparing solutions. They want specifics like:
Your job at this stage is to provide detailed, honest information that helps buyers make an informed decision and to make it easy for them to see how your offering fits their specific needs.
For Crumb & Get It, MOFU content could look like:
Cookies vs. Cupcakes for an Event: Which Should You Serve?
A reader has already decided dessert is on the menu. Now they’re comparing options. This guide could cover factors like serving, variety, setup, customization, and event type while naturally highlighting situations where cookies may be a good fit.
Cookie Fundraiser FAQ page
A dedicated FAQ page could answer the questions that tend to come up once someone starts seriously considering this option. Topics might include ordering timelines, guest counts, dietary accommodations, and what information they’ll need when requesting a quote.
A “Corporate Dessert Catering” landing page
A targeted landing page built specifically for the event planner persona — with details on Crumb & Get It’s available catering formats, types of events served, flavor customization, and links to relevant resources.
MOFU content can live in several places across a site, including blogs, resource centers, FAQs, and dedicated landing pages. The common thread between these options is specificity. Buyers have moved deeper into their research, so your content should be ready to go there with them.
Bottom-of-funnel content is your closer. Your official conversion driver. The prospect knows what they want. Now they need confidence to click the purchase button and easy access to a clear next step.
To help potential buyers in this stage, you need to get practical and make important details easy to find. Through your content, answer questions like:
Product and service pages are central here, but case studies, testimonials, pricing information, and process pages can also help buyers evaluate an offering. The right mix will depend on what you’re selling and what information people need before taking action.
Here’s what that could look like for Crumb & Get It:
A case study: “How Riverside Elementary Raised $12,000 with the Crumb & Get It Fundraiser Program”
Specific, credible, and conversion-focused, this case study gives prospective fundraising customers a concrete example of the service in action. It can explain the school’s goals, how the fundraiser worked, and the results while giving other organizations a better idea of what their own experience could look like.
Dedicated service pages for each offering
A Dessert Catering page, Cookie Fundraising page, Custom Order page, and Cookie Option Pages should each be written in a way that answers final objections and guides readers toward a clear next step.
Location Page: Cookie Catering in CITY, STATE
Location-level content serves buyers searching for a specific product or service in their area. For businesses with multiple locations or service areas, these pages can connect broader brand offerings with the local information customers need when they’re making a decision.
Testimonials and reviews
Customer feedback can provide useful reassurance at the point where someone is considering taking action. Placing relevant testimonials or reviews near a quote request, order button, or contact form lets prospective customers see past customers’ experiences without leaving the page to find them.
BOFU content often targets high-intent commercial and local searches. Someone searching “cookie catering in Los Angeles” has given you a pretty strong clue about what they want. Your page should make the relevant details easy to find and the next step equally easy to take.
Having a marketing funnel content strategy in place is beneficial because each stage feeds into the next. A TOFU article can introduce a topic. A MOFU resource helps someone dig deeper and compare their choices. A BOFU page gives them details about the product or service and a way to take action. Each piece does a specific job, and together they move a buyer through the process.
For Crumb & Get It, one path might look like:
Fundraising 101: How to Raise More Money With Delicious Events
↓
Cookie Fundraiser FAQ
↓
Cookie Fundraising Service Page
Note that internal linking and accurate sitemaps help make these connections stronger. They can point readers toward relevant information as their questions become more specific while helping search engines and AI discover and understand related pages across your site.
Of course, real buyers aren’t obligated to follow your perfectly drawn funnel diagram. Someone may land on a service page first, disappear, find a comparison guide later, and return through a branded search when they’re finally ready to act. The buyer’s journey isn’t always linear, but having content across the funnel means you have a better chance of reaching them at at least one of those touchpoints.
Do you have content at one stage of the funnel and gaps at the others? These gaps could be costing you valuable visibility and conversions. GPO can help you audit your content coverage, identify where the funnel breaks down, and build quality marketing content through blog posts, landing pages, and service content needed to fill every stage with high-quality material.
If you want a content strategy that meets your buyers where they are and moves them toward a decision, reach out and let’s map it out together.
Got gaps in your content funnel? See how to connect awareness, consideration, and decision content so prospects can follow the crumbs straight back to you.
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