Shorthand for the three broad stages of a marketing funnel: TOFU (top of funnel) covers awareness-stage content for people who don't yet know they have the problem a product solves; MOFU (middle of funnel) covers consideration-stage content for people evaluating solutions; BOFU (bottom of funnel) covers decision-stage content for people close to a purchase decision.
Why it matters
Content and messaging that works at one funnel stage often fails at another — a detailed pricing comparison is BOFU content that will underperform as a TOFU piece, and an awareness-building thought-leadership post is TOFU content that won't close a deal on its own. Mapping content to funnel stage keeps a content strategy from being one-size-fits-all.
In a sentence
"Our blog was almost entirely BOFU comparison content — we were skipping the TOFU stage entirely and missing people earlier in their research."
Related terms
- Often confused with: The buyer's journey (a closely related but distinct framework — funnel stages describe a marketing content strategy, while the buyer's journey more specifically maps a prospective customer's own stages of awareness, consideration, and decision).
- Synonyms: Funnel stages, marketing funnel.