Welcome to Part Two of our series that examines how the consumer decision-making process has evolved beyond the traditional linear marketing funnel to influence maps. What used to begin with awareness and lead to consideration and, ultimately, action has transformed into a new process entirely. Thanks to the rise of mobile-first browsing (some might call it doom scrolling), social commerce (hello, TikTok Shop) and AI-powered experiences (Google Lens, anyone?), the consumer journey has become far less predictable. Make sure to take a minute to read Part One – Beyond the Funnel: Aligning your Brand with the 4S Behaviors.

Today’s consumers can’t be easily compartmentalized, as they stream, scroll, search and shop in no set order. Oftentimes, they loop, backtrack or convert in moments that were once considered passive. This shift is best referred to as the 4S behaviors and the knowledge that modern marketing success depends upon reaching consumers at the right moment, across the right platform and with the right message, regardless of what “stage” they might fit in within the process.

This nonlinear approach demands a more nimble, holistic approach to understanding how overall influence works throughout the customer journey. That’s where influence maps come into play.

This second installment takes things a step further, diving into why marketers must move beyond the limitations of the three-part linear funnel and adopt influence maps as a more dynamic framework for guiding marketing and selling strategies. Read on to learn more about influence maps, how they reflect real-world, digital consumer behavior, and how AI plays a critical role in identifying and optimizing influence pathways that drive results.

Understanding Influence Maps

For decades, the traditional marketing funnel has served as the foundation for overseeing potential customers from general awareness to action and purchasing but, as covered in Part I, today’s consumer travels various pathways, from scrolling and searching to streaming and shopping, in a constant loop of information that is influenced by an array of digital touchpoints, opinions from friends or trusted sources and algorithmically-curated content.

To effectively reach and connect with today’s savvy consumer, marketers must embrace the new model: influence maps. This non-linear framework visualizes how various touchpoints, platforms and moments of engagement work together to influence a consumer’s decision. While the original funnel assumes a clean, top-to-bottom action progression, influence maps recognize the overlapping, albeit chaotic and fluid nature of modern decision-making.

Previous efforts were focused on moving customers “down” the funnel – but no more. Instead, influence maps allow brands to better understand how and where influence occurs and optimize those moments for greater impact. Examples might include a TikTok home tour prompting a buyer to search for the community online, or a prospect who starts a floor plan comparison but leaves the site, only to return after seeing a targeted Facebook ad promoting quick move-in homes.

A key insight to note is that multiple paths can lead to an action or purchase, and in this new model, they typically intersect or even repeat. While jumbled in theory, influence maps provide a tangible way to visualize and pinpoint high-impact points that seal the deal. While the traditional funnel focuses solely on converting leads and narrowing audiences down into stage-based actions, the influence map relies on understanding influence in a behavior-based, evolving format that maps multi-directional behaviors.

Implementing Influence Maps in Marketing Strategies

To move this concept from theory to execution, marketers should begin by pinpointing their top influence pathways, consisting of their brand’s individual blend of content, platforms and moments that most effectively guide their customers toward action. These processes might include:

• A floor-plan tour on YouTube that drives consideration
• A product review on Reddit that builds trust
• A limited-time incentive shared on social that prompts a form completion

When it comes to actually creating an effective influencer map, marketers must examine their customer data, overall content performance and engagement metrics to determine where influence happens most often and most effectively. It also requires a base understanding that influence is multi-directional, meaning that the same consumer might bounce from social media to the website, then email to the model home, then back to Instagram or the website before finally converting.

At Denim Marketing, this process often involves building reputable, industry-specific content ecosystems that allow consumers to ebb and flow seamlessly between exploration, research and purchase, rather than trying to force them into the more traditional sequence.

The Role of AI in Enhancing Marketing Efforts

While influence maps support brands in interpreting where and how customers are most heavily influenced, artificial intelligence (AI) enables them to act on that knowledge with speed, scale and precision. The role of AI in modern marketing goes beyond automating tasks, as it better optimizes the entire customer journey by aligning outbound messaging with specific behaviors to unlock opportunities that manual analysis might have missed.

For example, AI helps predict which types of content, such as reviews, videos or testimonials, are most likely to impact a specific individual. Alternatively, AI adjusts messaging in real-time from educational to a more conversion focus, if needed. By identifying which content, platforms or timing combinations deliver the most conversions, AI empowers marketers to reach better media-spend decisions, produce more strategic content and develop more effective campaigns.

In an ever-changing, digital landscape, the traditional marketing funnel simply no longer applies. Today’s modern consumer now loops, bounces and decides in moments that are, more often than not, spontaneous, impressively personal and highly influenced by messaging, context and overall connection.

Influence maps offer marketers a smarter, more adaptive way to connect, visualize and respond to this new reality by accounting for the way people currently behave – whether scrolling late at night, taking note of brands their favorite influencers promote, researching via general search or shopping impulsively when they have the most immediate need.

Ultimately, marketers cannot continue to think in funnels but should start considering strategies around influence. At Denim Marketing, we help brands embrace the future of marketing with strategies rooted in real-time consumer behavior, not outdated models. For marketers ready to build influence maps, harness the power of AI and make meaningful connections with their intended audience, call 770-383-3360 or Contact Us.