Flywheel vs funnel marketing is the age-old debate, or so it should be — unless you’re open to utilizing both. In this article, we’ll start with a direct comparison between the two. Then, we’ll briefly analyze for whom and in what situation each plays a more effective role. Let’s begin.

Flywheel Marketing

Flywheel marketing can best be described as a website where virtually all content is public-facing, meaning free and openly available to any and all visitors. Original articles are still king in this space, but flywheel doesn’t need to be limited to text; you can post unique videos, audio files, graphs, or applications (once again, to complement the written word) associated with your site’s main topic… with all of the above ideally being optimized for search engines. In fact, SEO has been somewhat of a catalyst for publishers embracing this form of marketing. More quality content equates to more targeted traffic, but it does something else, too.

Conversion rates tend to be quite high with flywheel for one simple reason; giving your product away for free builds trust. You’re offering your time (whether translated into expertise, entertainment, or other content), and so, users will often reciprocate in these instances. It’s likely the best way to develop short-term, long-term, and sustainable trust between you, the website owner, and the website visitor. But how do you make money if “the product” is free? Where and at what point is there a conversion?

Flywheel practitioners can choose to offer paid products and/or services in line with their primary content’s theme. They can also redirect traffic to the paid offerings of other merchants. The latter form is most commonly regarded as affiliate marketing. You essentially recommend a relevant (and hopefully useful) tool to your audience, and by the fact that they’re already warm-to-buy upon reaching the merchant’s website, the generated leads have graduated from qualified leads to potential buyers. This is, to our knowledge, the easiest way to make money online. That being said, creating/launching your own goods & services will prove to be more profitable (albeit more stressful as well).

Funnel Marketing

Funnel marketing, while a highly-focused form of direct marketing, is not without free offerings, either. As you can imagine, it’s named after the funnels used in kitchens and scientific laboratories, globally. On the Internet and where sales are concerned, it serves two purposes:

1. Filtering all traffic to include serious customers, exclusively

2. Re-directing traffic to your offering(s), usually only one (i.e., the appropriate purchase page on your site, or that of an associated merchant [through an affiliate program, also called associate program, as described above])

Then, where are the free offerings? They fall somewhere between the wide/top and narrow/bottom openings of the funnel. A specific (and traditional) example would be a free download (eg: an ebook, a video course, etc) used to entice potential buyers to sign up for an email marketing newsletter. This subscription eventually leads to a series of messages relating to the free content, during or after which a paid product is pitched by means of a dedicated landing page referenced in the email(s). Alternatively, value-added (free) benefits may be promised toward the top, only to be delivered at the bottom following a product or service purchase.

Which Is Better?

The answer to this question rests with the publisher, be it an individual or a group of authors. A more accurate response resides with the publisher’s character (or mission statement) combined with their objectives, naturally. Some faux case studies may help clarify (or, at the least, establish some context).

A person identifying as an introvert and/or with having A.D.D. (i.e., Attention Deficit Disorder) will likely gravitate toward flywheel marketing; it’s quick (and relatively easy) to get started, there are no development costs (since there’s no development [aside from the free content, of course]), and the lack of support tickets make it a more desirable option.

Funnels should be utilized by individuals or teams wanting to either sell a single/one-off product or a base product with upgrades. Outbound social media marketing may work well in said scenarios since, similar to funnel marketing, the infrastructure is set up to support time-sensitive information. In other words, brands can choose to post dated content to various online networks/communities promoting a limited-time offer (directly or indirectly).

Conclusion

While we try to remain objective in our comparison between flywheel and funnel marketing, ethics are an important factor in this debate. Flywheel is arguably considered the lighter side of marketing because it tends to benefit users (i.e., site visitors) over publishers (i.e., site owners), to a greater degree that is. Conversely, funnels, by many, represent the dark side of marketing, often characterized by manipulation and deceptive sales tactics. But in between we find the truth because the fact remains that small and large companies alike, many with a strong moral compass, utilize both strategies to increase their bottom line while contributing to the well-being of others. Transparency has nothing to do with the tools at our disposal.