With a multitude of options available, marketers are constantly grappling with the question: Which platform will not only reach, but also resonate with potential customers who are just starting their buyer’s journey?
Below, 19 Forbes Agency Council members share their favorite platforms for finding target audiences and supercharging top-of-funnel marketing efforts. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer seeking new insights or a beginner just starting to navigate the digital marketing realm, these expert tips can help steer your brand toward successful top-of-funnel engagement.
1. Facebook And Google Ads
Facebook and Google Ads are often effective for top-of-funnel audiences. The choice depends on your goals and audience: Use Google for intent-based searches and Facebook for demographic targeting and broad reach. – Muhammad Eltiti, BOOST
2. Connected TV
There is nothing more persuasive than a well-crafted story to capture the attention of viewers. With programmatic connected TV delivery, we control where, when and to whom the video will be served for the greatest impact. Pair a CTV plan with some creative display and mobile retargeting, and you have the best of both worlds. – Rosie Walker, Mediate.ly
3. YouTube And Facebook
YouTube and Facebook are our favorite platforms for building top-of-funnel awareness. We like these platforms because we can plug our own first-party data into them to generate strong lookalike audiences while using video as our breakout medium. These platforms allow us to either amplify or echo our message based on levels of engagement. We’ve found this to be effective at penetrating our niche. – Austin Irabor, NETFLY
4. Podcast Guesting
For B2B and B2C, podcast guesting is amazing for reaching top-of-funnel audiences. Podcast guesting is where you, as an expert, get invited to speak on someone else’s video or audio podcast. There are five million podcasts in the world today that have spent time nurturing and growing their communities. With podcast guesting, it’s plug-and-play to connect and build awareness. – Ivana Johnston, Puzzle Partner Ltd.
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5. Deterministic Intent Data On Any Platform
Deterministic intent data offers a powerful way to supercharge how you reach and engage audiences at the top of the funnel—on any platform. It allows you to reach decision makers who may already have an interest in a product or service like yours (based on their digital activity, such as online searches or clicks across various websites), enabling you to get to conversion faster. – Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc.
6. Sponsorship Platforms
For B2B companies with niche audiences, leveraging trade shows’ and industry organizations’ sponsorship platforms to get access to their lists is a great place to start. Then, create hyper-targeted lookalike audiences to layer on top of the list information, and you can make your top-of-funnel efforts really effective. – Jill Whiskeyman, Simpatico Studios, LLC
7. The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk is the most robust platform for top-of-funnel activation through display, connected TV, native and more. The targeting options are endless with their third-party data segments, and the data you get out of TTD about your own first-party audiences can enhance your media strategy across all platforms. It’s a great platform for brands who want to go beyond the classic digital media mix. – Courtney Hiller, All Points Social
8. LinkedIn
The top platform for top-of-funnel engagement is LinkedIn, all day long. Know the algorithms, capitalize on them, showcase your best thought leadership, use the right hashtags and do paid amplification of your most successful posts to strategically push them into the feeds of prospects who otherwise might not know about your brand. – Jodi Amendola, Amendola Communications
9. Google Autocomplete
Our favorite platform for reaching top-of-funnel audiences is Google Autocomplete, a new search engine optimization technique for predictive searches in a search engine’s search box. It positions your brand favorably and eliminates your competition because users perceive that the search engine recommended your organization, and upon clicking, their organic search results are only about your organization. – Jason Mudd, Axia Public Relations
10. X (Formerly Twitter) And LinkedIn
I am a big fan of using X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn for top-of-the-funnel audiences; but in different ways. For example, using X to initiate conversations, gauge interest or ask questions can help you drive the engagement you need to get data on what to build out further. Using LinkedIn to then elaborate on that top-of-funnel interest can then bring them further into the funnel, even if at the top! – Vanhishikha Bhargava, Contensify
11. Public Relations And Content Marketing
PR and content are twin pillars for top-of-funnel success. PR is the art of storytelling on a grand stage. Its significance for top-of-funnel engagement is to build credibility and trust while offering massive reach and third-party validation. Meanwhile, content marketing provides educational value, trackable audience engagement and SEO benefits. – Lars Voedisch, PRecious Communications
12. Broadcast And Streaming Radio And TV
The best platform for reaching top-of-funnel audiences is really dependent on who you are trying to reach and what you are trying to achieve. With that said, generally, vehicles like broadcast TV, radio and their streaming counterparts can be effective for driving broad awareness, while premium digital destinations or influencers can be strong drivers of engagement early in the consumer journey. – Christa Chavez, À La Carte Media Consulting
13. Programmatic Media
Programmatic media is ideal for reaching top-of-funnel audience segments, as you’re able to define who your audience is and reach them where they are across a variety of channels. Leveraging a mixed media strategy, you can manage and optimize touch point frequency across CTV, display (including Meta) and audio to effectively drive awareness and desired audience engagement down the funnel. – Larry Gurreri, Sosemo LLC
14. Guest-Contributed Content
Since I’m in the B2B space, I reach top-of-funnel audiences by guest posting and contributing content to high-profile websites. I tend to link to a lead magnet so that I can nurture prospects with email marketing. – Kristen DeGroot, The Campfire Circle
15. Meta Ads And TikTok
When it comes to media buying, Meta ads are still the preferred method for top-of-funnel audience building. Brands can still move their top-of-funnel audiences through the funnel down to the bottom, ultimately leading to conversion. Utilizing TikTok properly is the best way to go viral. However, if it is not implemented as a part of a holistic strategy, it may not have the impact you’re looking for. – Revecka Jallad, DIVISA
16. Amazon DSP To Engage Buyers
My preferred platform for reaching top-of-funnel audiences is Amazon DSP. It provides unmatched precision targeting and extensive reach, enabling brands to engage potential customers early in their buying journey, thereby increasing brand awareness and driving growth. Trust me—Amazon “knows” all about you, so why not leverage that data to help grow your brand? – Denny Smolinski, beBOLD Digital
17. Instagram
I still think Instagram is the top-of-funnel king for its versatility as a platform and for how consumers utilize it. You can spread awareness, initiate conversations, get shared, find leads, build community, highlight others and so much more. The depth of the platform brings in so much from so many different avenues, and this is what makes it my go-to top-of-funnel source for the majority of industries I work with. – Tony Pec, Y Not You Media
18. Speaking At Conferences And On Webinars
As a medical marketing agency, our target market is physicians. We find the best way to fill the top of the funnel is through speaking engagements at medical conferences and on webinars. This builds instant authority and gets our company in front of large groups of physicians who are eager to learn how to grow their practices with digital and community marketing. – Lori Werner, Medical Marketing Whiz
19. Long-Form Content
One of our favorite platforms for reaching top-of-funnel audiences is long-form, optimized content aligned with search intent. This ensures that we’re connecting with them at the precise time that they are seeking information and answers. By capitalizing on long-form content specifically, we’re able to go deep, drive engagement, build trust and deliver a great experience. – Tom Shapiro, Stratabeat