Meet Alex—she recently visited your website and, due to your stellar inbound marketing strategies, felt intrigued and became interested in learning more about your products and services. When a banner popped up asking if she’d like to sign up for exclusive content, she couldn’t resist and voluntarily gave you her name and email address. Without knowing it, she became a qualified lead. One you can now nurture and convert to a sale.
What is lead nurturing then, and how can it boost your business sales?
Lead nurturing is building a relationship with a potential buyer through digital marketing efforts such as emails, ads, and direct mail pieces. It understands that the buyer’s journey is a fragile one, especially when there are many other businesses pulling for someone’s attention, so it provides personalized content that pertains to a lead’s interests and needs.
With Alex’s attention, you already have a leg-up on your competitors. Take that advantage and nurture that relationship with valuable content, timely follow-ups, and customized tactics, and you will get her from a qualified lead to your most devoted customer.
The content
Nowadays, you have the opportunity to get to know your lead—their tastes and needs—and then use this information to build and nurture a relationship. You can discover what a particular lead is interested in by their interaction with your brand. Perhaps they clicked on a specific product advertised in an email or followed a link with the word “free” in it. All of this information helps you tailor your marketing strategies for different audiences.
Personalized and thoughtful content at every stage of the buyer’s journey is key. From adopting the simple practice of personalizing emails to digging deep into data trends, every interaction with a potential client should be met with intentionality. It is important to use your marketing platforms wisely to educate your lead about your company’s story—and how they can become a part of it—as well as the value in what you have to offer.
Writing this type of content is a dance between engaging and entertaining your readers while educating them about your brand, services, and solutions. As you get to know them and they become more familiar with your business, you’ll develop a relationship that will be the foundation for the eventual sales. And though sales are the overall goal, be sure not to rush the process.
The timing
Lead nurturing is about lasting engagement, rather than quick sales.
Just like you don’t want to stun your leads with generic content that doesn’t hold much value, you also don’t want to daze them with emails every hour, which is why timing is everything.
Instead of getting marked as spam before you’ve had the chance to show all you have to offer, adopt the well-known principle of quality over quantity, and let lead nurturing take its time.
If you’re not quite sure how to do so, there are platforms like Hubspot that can help you automate your efforts in a timely fashion, and you can always rely on the expertise of a digital marketing agency to set your lead nurturing campaign in the most effective way.
The sale
In a world where millions of companies are offering products and services to your potential clients, a lead nurturing campaign helps them choose your business over your competitors when they are ready to buy. Continue nurturing that relationship long after the sale, and they will not only show loyalty but recommend you to others, bringing in new business.
Remember people are more likely to buy from someone they know, like, and trust. And though it takes time and effort to incorporate lead nurturing as part of your marketing strategies, they will prove to be well worth it.
We’re a digital marketing agency with proven expertise in leading successful lead-nurturing campaigns. Contact us today and let us help your business grow!