The marketing funnel is a model that represents the stages a potential customer goes through before making a purchase. It’s typically visualized as a funnel because the number of prospects decreases at each stage as they move closer to becoming a customer. The stages often include awareness (where the customer becomes aware of the product), interest (where they show interest in learning more), consideration (where they evaluate the product against others), and decision (where they decide to purchase). Understanding the marketing funnel helps businesses guide customers through the journey, optimizing strategies at each stage to increase conversion rates and drive sales.