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What Is ToFu (Top Of Funnel)?
Top of Funnel, or ToFu, refers to content created for, or marketing actions performed at, the start of the buyer’s journey. It’s named in reference to the beginning (or top) of an organization’s sales funnel. Some examples of ToFu include blog posts and eBooks.
ToFu is intended to educate your audience about your product or service as it relates to a specific pain point or need they want to address, and its goal is to get people interested in your solution so that they convert to the next stage of the sales funnel.
Types of ToFu Assets
While blog posts are the standard, there are plenty of other types of ToFu assets beyond just blog posts and other written materials.
Anything that is meant to be an introduction to your business could be considered ToFu—including podcasts, videos, infographics, online ads, and even influencer content.
Experiment to find out what resonates with your audience.
One of the greatest things about ToFu is that it can very easily be adapted between types of media, provided the content is evergreen or the information is still accurate. Transcribe an interview and turn it into a blog post. Adapt a newsletter series to video. If you remix and reframe your content, it will serve you long after the first time you pressed publish.
How to Make Great ToFu Content
There are two main goals when it comes to ToFu content:
- Attracting new people (typically to your website)
- Converting them into leads
When someone comes to your website for the first time, the odds are that they don’t immediately start looking for the sales or pricing pages. Similarly, ToFu should not be overly promotional or sales-oriented towards your specific solution.
An offering-related call to action is fairly standard, but this should generally be the only place where you mention your product or service. Remember: it’s all about creating value for the reader, not going on about how awesome your company is.
While ToFu should speak to a specific issue that your business can rectify, take pains to ensure that your content is general enough so that those without the problem can still learn from it. Even if they can’t convert now, they’ll remember who helped them.
Maximized Distribution = Maximized Reach
ToFu is unique amongst sales funnel materials in that it is most effectively able to reach its goals when it is heavily and actively distributed:
- Share your content on X (formerly known as Twitter), on LinkedIn, or as a part of Facebook groups.
- Encourage those who find it valuable to share it on Reddit or Product Hunt if applicable.
- Take the research you conducted while creating it and answer questions on Quora.
- Pull some particularly interesting insights and use them to craft a newsletter to your email list.
The greater the distribution efforts, the greater the reach, and the more effective your ToFu will be. Consider making a distribution schedule or calendar, and don’t be afraid to post the same content more than once. Much as no business ever flourished because of a single sale, sharing your ToFu only when it is posted will not get many eyes on it.
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