Latest / The Marketing Funnel Podcast with Fexingo: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action Stages / How a Tiny Consulting Firm Built a Marketing Funnel on LinkedIn
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I was looking at a case study from a tiny consulting firm in Chicago called Oak Street Consulting. Five employees, no ad budget. Over six months, they generated forty warm leads and closed ten new clients. All from a marketing funnel built entirely on LinkedIn. Luna: Forty leads with no ad spend? That's impressive. How did they structure it? Lucas: They focused on thought leadership articles. One article per week on LinkedIn Pulse, each one tackling a specific problem their target clients faced—things like 'How to write a pitch deck that investors actually read' or 'Three metrics every B2B startup should track.' Very actionable, not self-promotional. Luna: So that was the awareness stage. But how did they move people from reading to engaging? Lucas: Great question. They didn't just publish and disappear. Every day, the founder spent about an hour engaging in comments on both their own articles and others' posts in relevant LinkedIn groups. They answered questions, offered additional insights, and built relationships. That turned passive readers into active participants. Luna: So interest stage came from consistent interaction. What was the conversion mechanism? Lucas: At the end of each article or in comment threads, they would offer a free thirty-minute strategy call. No pitch, just a diagnostic conversation. Roughly twenty-five percent of the people who engaged in comments took them up on that offer. That was the decision stage. Luna: Twenty-five percent conversion from engagement to call? That's strong. And then on the call, they'd move to action. Lucas: Exactly. On the call, they'd listen to the prospect's challenges, then outline a potential solution. They'd follow up with a proposal. Out of forty calls, they closed ten—a twenty-five percent close rate. Average deal size was around fifteen thousand dollars. So in six months, they added a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in revenue. Luna: That's a six-figure return on just time and expertise. I love that they used a simple spreadsheet as their CRM. Lucas: And if you find value in hearing how small businesses are making the marketing funnel work without huge budgets, that's exactly the kind of conversation listener support helps us keep going. If you'd like to help, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It really does make a difference. Now back to Oak Street—how did they craft those articles to attract the right audience? Lucas: They researched common pain points by reading comments in startup and investor groups. Then they wrote in a direct, almost tutorial style. Each post was about eight hundred to a thousand words, with a clear headline and a specific promise. They also included a call to action at the bottom. Luna: Did they use any paid promotion at all? Boosts or LinkedIn ads? Lucas: None. All organic. But they were incredibly consistent—one article per week like clockwork, plus daily engagement. Their articles averaged about five hundred views each, with twenty to thirty comments. The quality of comments was more important than quantity. Luna: Because those commenters ended up being leads. So the funnel starts with reach, then engagement, then conversion—all on one platform. Lucas: Right. And they tracked everything in a simple spreadsheet: where each lead came from, which stage they were in, follow-up dates. It wasn't fancy, but it was disciplined. Luna: That's a lesson for any small business. You don't need a billion-dollar tech stack. You need a strategy and consistency. Lucas: Exactly. The founder told me the hardest part was the first month—writing articles when nobody was reading. But after about six weeks, the algorithm started pushing their content to more relevant feeds, and the comments began to flow. Luna: So there's a threshold to cross. What was their posting schedule beyond articles? Lucas: They also shared shorter updates two or three times a week—stats, quotes, behind the scenes of their client work. But the articles were the engine. The shorter posts drove traffic back to the articles. Luna: That's a classic content hub model. And they used LinkedIn groups to amplify? Lucas: Yes. They joined three or four niche groups for startup founders and CFOs. They'd share the article with a brief teaser and then engage with people who commented. That expanded their reach beyond their existing network. Luna: So the funnel had multiple entry points, but the core was the weekly article. I'm curious—did they measure any other metrics? Lucas: They tracked profile views, connection requests, and direct messages. Each article generated about ten to fifteen new connections. Those connections were warm because they'd already seen the content. And out of those, maybe two or three would eventually book a call. Luna: That's a healthy funnel. So for a tiny firm, the key is creating a scalable content asset—one article per week—and then being relentless about the follow-up. Lucas: Exactly. The founder said the biggest mistake people make is publishing and walking away. The real work happens in the comments and the DMs. That turns awareness into interest. Luna: And ultimately, into action. Alright, so what's the one takeaway for our listeners who want to replicate this? Lucas: Pick one platform—LinkedIn, if your audience is professional. Publish one valuable, specific article every week for three months. Spend fifteen minutes a day engaging with commenters. Offer a free, no-obligation consultation. Track everything in a spreadsheet. If you do that consistently, you will build a funnel that works. Luna: And you don't need a big budget. Just expertise and discipline. Lucas: That's it. The marketing funnel isn't dead—it's just moved to where the conversations are. For B2B right now, that's LinkedIn. Luna: Great episode. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And thanks to our listeners for tuning in.