Pretty dramatic title I know.

Let me be totally clear. I love Clickfunnels, it’s a fantastic tool and one that I believe anyone who is looking to grow a business online should use.

However, I had a conversation with a prospective client this week who was at her wits end with it. She actually used these words at one point.

It turned out that she was seriously struggling to get any results from her funnels. She told me how she had spent weeks learning how to build the pages, link everything up, making sure it all worked.

I totally applauded her action taking, as she had created and launched a number of funnels, and spent a decent amount of money running traffic to them.

They just weren’t working.

Why?

Because she had made a critical mistake.

She had focused on learning how to use the tool instead of how to develop a strategy.

So there was no consistency or core ‘big idea’ linking everything together.

She wasn’t clear on her objectives, who she was targeting, what they wanted, why they wanted it or how to move them through a journey with her and her business.

In other words, she didn’t have a clearly defined offer that she knew a specific type of customer wanted before she started building her funnel. On top of that she hadn’t worked out the right metrics to measure its performance against.

It’s All a Big Misunderstanding

I think that when she said “Clickfunnels has ruined my life”, what she really meant was that she had misunderstood how to use it.

This had meant that she had lost weeks of time, lost focus, dropped balls in other areas of her business, and spent money that wasn’t being replaced quickly enough.

While this is the first time I’ve heard such a dramatic statement about Clickfunnels, it’s not the first time I’ve had a similar conversation. In fact it’s pretty common.

I believe that the reason behind this is because the very thing that I, as a 13 year marketing veteran loves about Clickfunnels, is actually the very thing that can cause trouble for people who have little to no experience of how marketing actually works.

That reason is that tools like Clickfunnels have made it easier than ever before to launch a marketing campaign or funnel online.

This is great for those people who have a solid background in marketing, as they let us launch and test new marketing ideas, strategies and campaigns much faster than ever before.

However, for the inexperienced person, like this lady, tools like Clickfunnels only really offer a faster, easier way to throw up web pages online.

They do so willingly, with great expectations based on little more than a hunch, and without any consideration for the strategy that should guide how they all fit together to help them achieve a defined objective or goal.

It’s a perfect example of how the simplicity and ease of use of tools like Clickfunnels can actually hurt your business if you’re not careful.

It’s a bit like handing a 17 year old the keys to a Ferrari, then getting angry when they crash it. They just didn’t have the driving experience to handle what the car could do.

Unfortunately strategy is not quite as ‘sexy’ as tactics. It doesn’t seem quite so fun.

The idea of conducting research, planning and really understanding the needs and wants of your market isn’t as appealing as using the latest funnel or page template, pop up, or video feature these tools offer.

Yet without a strategy, you’re launching marketing campaigns and funnels on little more than hope.

And hope is not a strategy…

What Does Strategy Really Mean, and How Do You Bring it to Life?

I like to use the following quote from someone who knew nothing about marketing, but a thing or two about how to create a winning strategy…“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” — Sun TzuIn other words, when creating your marketing strategy, start with the end in mind. Then work backwards. Strategy Before Tactics. Every Time

To put it bluntly, most businesses don’t think strategically. They are so focused on doing, they forget about planning. Don’t get me wrong — I’m all for systematically and consistently rolling out tactics, but only those that support a committed strategy.

Why is it so important to have a strategy before tactics?

Because most businesses think that all their problems will go away if they just had more leads, or a better looking funnel.

In reality, this is rarely the case. There’s no such thing as a “lead” or “funnel” problem, there is only a strategy problem.

You need a marketing strategy that tells you how to attract the right people, build trust with them, and provide them with value, so that when they’re ready to buy, your business is top of mind.

So before you start building your next funnel, ask yourself these questions….

• Who is my ideal customer?

• What problems or challenges do they have?

• What do I offer that can solve this for them?

• How do I structure this offer so that it is a ‘no brainer’ for them

• What is the right message that will connect with my audience?

• What are my revenue/profit goals?

• How many sales do I need to reach these goals?

• How many leads do I need to make these sales?

• How much can I afford to spend to get me these leads?

• Do I have the necessary resources to generate these leads?

• What steps do I need in a funnel that guides my ideal customer through a journey to achieve my goals?

• What marketing and sales assets do I need to create?

• What numbers do I need to monitor to guide my decisions?

• How will I define success?

• What contingencies need to be in place if things don’t go as planned?

The fact that tools like Clickfunnels makes building funnels and campaigns so much easier, doesn’t change the need to build these on a solid foundation of what makes for good, profitable marketing.

That’s strategy.

In case there is any misinterpretation of what I’ve said, and to avoid any ‘haters’, I’m definitely not hating on Clickfunnels. I absolutely love it and everything Russell Brunson does and stands for.

It really is true that you’re “Just One Funnel Away”…

But for every person that has created their ‘One Funnel’, they have built this on the back of a winning strategy, first.

Yours will be no different. So ‘hack’ what works!