The job of the top of the funnel
At the top of the funnel, the people you want to reach do not know your business. Many may not know they have a need, or may know only that something is bothering them. The job of content here is to be found, to be useful and to make a good first impression.
This is the awareness stage. It is wide because it includes everyone who might ever become a customer, plus many who never will. It is common to see large numbers here and few sales directly attributed to it. That is expected, not a failure.
What people look for at this stage
People who do not know you tend to search for or browse around a problem, a question or an interest, not for a brand name. Examples are “why does my basement smell damp” or “how do I start tracking my spending”. They want an explanation, a way to understand their situation, or inspiration.
Good top-of-funnel content responds to that. It addresses the question honestly, without assuming that the reader is ready to buy.
Common formats
Which formats work depends on your audience and your skills. Options include:
- Articles and guides: step-by-step explanations and answers to common questions. These can be found through search engines if they are well written and the topic is in demand.
- Video: short explainers or demonstrations on a video platform or your own site. Captions help people watching without sound and people who cannot hear.
- Social posts: tips, observations and examples shared where your audience spends time.
- Podcasts or talks: longer conversations that build familiarity over time.
- Checklists, templates and simple tools: useful items people save or share.
- Local presence: a well-kept business listing, community involvement or events, for local businesses.
Pick one or two formats you can maintain consistently. A small number of useful pieces, kept up to date, usually beats a scattered effort across everything.
How to choose topics
Start with your audience, not your product.
- Listen. List the questions customers ask before they buy, and the ones they asked at the very beginning of their search. Customer feedback and sales conversations are good sources. Basic audience research does the same job more formally.
- Check demand. Search tools and your own site analytics can hint at what people look for. Treat these as indications, not exact figures.
- Check fit. Choose topics where you have real experience. People can tell when content is generic.
- Link topic to a possible need. Each piece should have some plausible connection to what you sell, even if it is distant, so that a curious reader could reasonably become interested later.
A content calendar can help you keep a steady pace without overcommitting.
Make it genuinely useful
A few principles apply to most top-of-funnel content:
- Answer the question early, then add detail.
- Use plain language. Plain language and clear headlines help every reader, including those with reading difficulties or limited time.
- Add alt text to images and keep colours readable so that the content is accessible to more people.
- Be accurate. Do not exaggerate or make claims you cannot support.
- Leave a gentle next step, such as another helpful piece or an invitation to subscribe, rather than a hard sell.
An important point is not to disguise sales material as education. Readers notice, and misleading content harms trust. Where content is promotional, say so.
What to expect
Realistic expectations help you avoid giving up too early or expecting too much.
- It is slow. Search visibility usually takes time to build, and no one can promise rankings or traffic. Social reach can change suddenly, because platforms change how they distribute posts.
- Most readers will leave. Very few strangers become customers on their first visit. If your content is good, some will return, subscribe or remember your name.
- Direct sales are hard to attribute. A person may read an article, forget about it, see an advert weeks later, and then buy. The first piece rarely gets credit in simple reports.
- Quality matters more than volume. More posts do not automatically produce better results.
Measuring top-of-funnel content
Because sales are a poor measure at this stage, use measures that match the goal of getting discovered and being useful. Possible measures include:
- visits from search, social media and other sources
- how many people read to the end, or watch a significant part of a video
- new email subscribers or followers
- returning visitors
- the questions and comments that readers send
Be careful with the numbers. A page with 500 visits and no sign-ups is not necessarily failing; it may be attracting readers who want information only. Look at patterns over months, and compare similar pieces with each other. Your own analytics setup will involve cookies or other tracking in some cases, so check the privacy and consent rules that apply to you. They vary by country and change over time, and this is not legal advice.
Connect awareness to the next stage
Top-of-funnel content works best when readers have somewhere sensible to go next. Think about what a curious reader might want after the first piece: a deeper guide, a comparison, or a way to stay in touch. Those pieces belong to the consideration stage. If strangers arrive and nothing relevant is waiting, much of the effort is wasted. A simple email sign-up with a clear promise of what subscribers will receive can bridge the gap, and a lead magnet can help if it is genuinely useful.
A modest plan
Choose three questions your potential customers commonly ask before they know you. Write or record a clear answer to each. Publish them, share them where your audience is, and review the results after a few months. Adjust based on what people actually read. Outcomes vary widely, so treat the first round as learning.