It's Time To Bury The Marketing Funnel

CMOs must bury the marketing funnel and embrace the customer life cycle.

More than a century after its first use, marketing leaders still use the "marketing funnel" to describe three key aspects of their work: consumer psychology, marketing mix measurement, and the business value of marketing. However, as marketing has grown more complicated over the past decade, the funnel has struggled to continue to reflect reality. Forrester believes the funnel's value as a framework is over, and a new model — the customer life cycle — provides a better fit with modern marketing as it puts the customer at the center of the effort, involves the entire brand experience, and describes an ongoing relationship with the customer. Just as the funnel infused every aspect marketing historically, the customer life cycle will transform how marketers talk and think about their discipline in the digital world.

Agenda:

• The century-old funnel's influence is starting to fray.
• The customer life cycle better represents today's marketing process.
• The rise of the customer life cycle will cast marketing in a new light.