Lead Nurturing Archives – Page 7 of 10

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How to Get Your Lead Nurturing Prospects to “Talk” to You

November 26, 2012/1 Comment/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Have you ever wondered how to get your lead nurturing prospects to talk to you? B2B leads can tell you a lot about themselves through their responses – or lack thereof – to your marketing messages. They can reveal personality, interest, motivation, determination, and authority through their actions following a marketing contact. Successful lead nurturing starts with getting the information you need to make progressively more effective impressions.

But how do you get them to “talk” to you?

Direct response marketers have been doing this for years. DR companies care primarily about – what else – a response, so DR messages are often designed to initiate a specific instant reaction. Often, this means a one-off sale, but non-DR marketing can employ similar strategies in order to nurture leads towards a sales engagement.

In order to uncover vital information about your prospect during the lead nurturing process, response mechanisms should be included in each message that is sent. Here are a few ideas that can be used to provide insight into critical characteristics of your leads:

Act now! One of the mainstays of direct marketing reveals how motivated your lead is, what messages resonate enough to stimulate a response, and what buying authority the lead has.

Want to learn more? Providing teaser content, such as a brief product description, can be effective at collecting email addresses or other contact information, and may even lead to a customer-facing engagement with a sales agent.

Give us suggestions. By requesting opinions, thoughts or recommendations, a lead exposes his interest level, motivation, and buying indicators. This is an enhanced lead nurturing engagement; after all, he is interested enough to take the time to share his thoughts, so this lead may be worth pursuing.

Refer a friend. If a lead is impressed enough to share a message, product or company with friends, relatives or associates then the marketing impression has been effective. Although it’s difficult to determine lead qualities such as motivation, authority or determination, a lead that refers your information may likely be a good candidate for a brand ambassador.

Like us. Through social media, customers can express their support for your company. Social media “plugs” are good indicators of a lead’s personality. For example, sharing support for your product indicates she enjoys social networking and may possibly be influential.

Get prices instantly. If prices are not listed publicly, a lead can indicate motivation, determination, and personality by requesting pricing. A website widget that collects an email address and instantly delivers a price quote may reveal that the lead needs your solution and is ready to buy or is a price-driven decision maker.

A creative way to further conversations with your prospects is by using marketing automation techniques such as those found in Lead Liaison to reactive to link clicks in an email. For example, if a prospect clicks any link or a specific link as described above then add the prospect into a different nurturing “track” or send them another piece of content that’s relevant to the message they’re responding to.

There are many ways to generate valuable information about your leads. For more ideas to create a successful lead nurturing contact a Lead Liaison representative today.

How Can B2B Lead Nurturing Help Generate Revenue?

November 22, 2012/0 Comments/in Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Marketing automation and B2B lead nurturing is a technology that streamlines and automates marketing tasks, so a company can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster than ever. The vast potential of B2B lead nurturing can quickly expand a business’s customer base by converting qualified leads into customers. This process has been proven to generate 50% more sales ready leads at a 33% reduction in cost. It also improves the rate of closing sales, since B2B lead nurturing is designed to develop a trusting relationship between a prospect and a business.

A strong pre-sales relationship is built by using lead nurturing to provide potential customers with relevant and useful information. By branding a business as an expert in their field through free articles, tutorials, guides and blogs, it trains the prospect or customer to refer back to the source when they need guidance or when they are ready to commit to a sale. A buyer for any business has their own reputation to maintain, so they are always going to choose a company that has established themselves as worthy of their business.

Successful B2B lead nurturing requires regular contact, without overwhelming the lead. Any information given to the lead should be on a set schedule and never more often than once per week. If a company sends too many lead nurturing attempts in a short period of time, it can turn the customer against the business. If a company does not send any new and exciting information for an entire month, the lead will lose interest in their information and their business. That is why balance is so crucial to B2B lead nurturing.

When it comes to B2B lead nurturing every buyer is looking for something that will make them better at their job or something that is better for their business. Lead nurturing emails need to speak to their personal goals. Position emails around showing ROI, improving their efficiencies, impressing their employers or whatever it may be that will motivate the prospect to continue reading. Keep in mind though, content should be prepared based on the readers profile. Map out your buyer profiles (IT, finance, sales, marketing, etc.) and create content tracks for each buyer profile. Content also has to be presented as real information and not something that was created to swindle them into making an uninformed purchased. Focus on what buyers need, not what you need.

B2B lead nurturing should never involve pressuring a buyer to purchase. The content that is sent to the buyer should guide them in the direction of the service without a forceful call-to-action. A business can scare a buyer away by filling their supposedly free advice with obvious sales pitches. The content is only meant to strengthen the relationship, it is not meant to be a closing tool. If it is created properly, the lead will come to their own conclusion and contact the business when they are ready to make a decision.

B2B lead nurturing has the ability to generate increased revenue, but only if the nurturing efforts are worthwhile to the lead. It can easily backfire if it is not done properly, which is why it is always best to start by contacting a professional marketing automation company such as Lead Liaison. A business has to make sure that their B2B lead nurturing campaign is relevant, informative and interesting. It also has to be done regularly enough to be effective without overwhelming the lead. If it is done right, the possibilities for growth are endless.

Why Do Modern Businesses Need Lead Nurturing?

November 21, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Every business needs a systematic lead nurturing plan if they hope to stay competitive in today’s marketplace. Times are changing and every company’s marketing efforts have to change along with it. Thanks to online capabilities the world is now an open market and no customer is out of reach. By having a reputable, high ranking online profile, the possibilities for growth are exponential. Below are three examples of why modern businesses need lead nurturing.

To qualify, find & segment leads first!

Leading nurturing starts with a proven marketing automation program that is designed to find and qualify potential leads. There are countless potential leads surfing the web every day, but searching for leads manually is too time consuming (and costly) for anyone to do it with any real success. Automated systems like Lead Liaison helps businesses track and qualify leads and then segment them into definable groups. By grouping leads based on demographics, personal interests, similar browser history and any other criteria important to your business nurturing can be personalized without having the daunting task of targeting each prospect specifically. Lead nurturing can then be geared towards a pre-determined set of leads that share common goals and backgrounds.

To provide quality information!

Every lead nurturing email, article, free report or tutorial needs to be created with the lead’s interests and desires in mind. It has to grab their attention and provide real value, so they are inspired to continue reading. By understanding a leads interests, the information that is sent can be catered specifically to topics that they want to learn more about. Modern businesses need to send out quality information regularly to build trust and establish themselves as experts in their specific field. A lead is more likely to convert when they feel confident in their choice.

To stay competitive!

The global marketplace not only creates more opportunities to find leads, it also creates more choices for the lead. A customer today can choose any supplier in the world. A smart shopper will comparison-shop to make sure they are getting the best product or service, at the best price from the best supplier. That is why every modern business needs lead nurturing to convert leads. They need to do something to make their business stand out as the leader in the field. If they neglect to nurture every potential lead, another business will do it.

If a company neglects opportunities created by marketing automation and lead nurturing, they will lose out to businesses who have already contacted the lead and leverage marketing automation technology. That is why it is crucial that every company has a strategic plan for generating, qualifying, segmenting and converting leads into sales through quality lead nurturing. A modern business won’t be able to stay competitive if they are not practicing lead nurturing. Don’t fall behind the times and let your competitors take away your business!

10 Winning Email Drip Campaigns – Part 2

November 20, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Email Marketing, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Email drip campaigns can be an effective lead nurturing tool if used appropriately. Email provides a convenient way to establish trust among leads that take time to cultivate, and allows you to build a relationship without offending prospects. There is a variety of useful ways you can inform, assist, and entertain your leads while they go through their buying decision cycles.

In 10 Winning Email Drip Campaigns – Part 1, we covered five effective options that can be used for lead nurturing purposes. Here are five more that experts agree will boost your lead nurturing effectiveness:

Free Resources – Providing a link to a tool or resource that your prospects can use is a great way to show that you are interested in being helpful, that you wish to be an ally. For example, if your market includes companies that provide financial investment advice, provide links to popular trading software products. Online financial calculators, website keyword analyzers, and energy conversion charts are commonly used examples of helpful tools.
Industry Surveys – Send relevant data that gives your prospects a view into what peers are thinking. Information about trends or opinions can provide valuable insight to your email recipients. One strategy might be to conduct your own survey and furnish the results as part of a drip campaign.
Industry News – Creating awareness about important news can be an effective method of building trust. Many business professionals like to be informed about their industry, so sending a brief message that includes a link to a recent news article provides a reason to make contact – and a way to remain relevant in your prospects’ eyes.
Blogs – Why not provide a link to your blog in an email message? Using this technique combines the marketing power of email and blog posts in your lead nurturing strategy. One good way to promote your company and nurture leads is to share recent posts, but be sure to remain sensitive to the frequency with which you are contacting prospects.
Videos and Images – Visual content can help to achieve TOMA in your prospects’ minds. Sending a useful how-to video or a funny (but tasteful) cartoon can provide a nice break in their routine and build a relationship over time. It’s most effective when you use content that is relevant to your B2B prospect or your offering.

There are a few things to keep in mind when you design your drip campaign. First and foremost, touch points should not be stale rehashes of previous messages. Secondly, every message should be designed to provide value to your prospects. Third, it’s best to integrate a variety of content within a linear campaign; provide content that builds engagement as the number of contacts increases.

While you nurture leads through a drip campaign you should avoid overexposure. On average a schedule of blasts every 2 to 4 weeks is appropriate. And don’t forget to include opt-out links within your email messages to avoid being labeled as spam.

To find out how we design effective email campaigns for lead nurturing, contact a Lead Liaison representative today!

10 Winning Email Drip Campaigns – Part 1

November 19, 2012/1 Comment/in Best Practices, Email Marketing, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Lead nurturing can be accomplished through several channels: phone, direct mail, social media, and email. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, nearly 60% of Internet users check email daily, so a winning email drip campaign is a logical choice for lead nurturing.

Studies show it takes an average of 3 to 30 impressions to become successful at creating interest through an email marketing campaign. So how can you be effective at lead nurturing through a drip campaign without filling your prospects’ mailboxes with useless marketing fluff? The short answer: provide value. Although the purpose of a drip campaign is to create top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) for your offering, each message should be valuable to your audience while earning trust in your company.

In this two-part series, we’ll discuss 10 ways to provide useful information that makes an email drip campaign effective and engaging. The ideas in this series are not presented according to any specific metric, but each should be used within a comprehensive engagement strategy in order to be effective at nurturing leads.

Newsletter – Invite prospects to subscribe to your newsletter. Avoid simply asking for a subscription; provide a sample of the content to whet a prospect’s appetite for more information. By giving readers a sample of stories it will allow them to determine if a subscription would be beneficial. One effective technique is to provide the actual headline and a portion of the article with a Read More link to a signup form.
Best Practices – Business professionals are constantly seeking ways to improve. By providing information that assists your prospects in their business activities, your company gains trust and value. For B2B consulting or B2B service vendors, providing free information can be effective in persuading prospects to purchase premium offerings, such as research studies or software development contracts.
White Papers – Thought leadership is a highly coveted position among B2B marketers. Producing white papers filled with relevant statistics and hard-to-find data has been shown to be a productive means of lead nurturing. Introduce prospects to your white paper through email messages. Use a lead-in within your message to generate interest. You can create several drip messages by highlighting different findings within the paper.
Info-graphics – Create a visually appealing email filled with statistics and other data for quick consumption. USA Today is a major media outlet, due in part to its focus on easily digestible graphs, charts, and lists. This strategy works for B2B email campaigns because readers are often sifting through multiple emails at a time. An info-graphic gives prospects a quick dose of relevant information and provides a valuable reason to reach out to your prospects.
Webinar – Sending an invitation to a free webinar you are hosting or participating in can provide value to your leads. One effective technique is to introduce event topics and presenters in the email message. It helps to provide an easy registration process and a follow up message with simple connection steps to make attendance easy for your prospects.

It’s important to schedule email blasts with a frequency that isn’t too pushy but allows you to achieve TOMA as soon as possible. In Winning Email Drip Campaigns – Part 2 we’ll discuss five more ways to nurture leads by providing value to your prospects through effective email messages.

For more ideas on drip campaigns and other lead nurturing strategies that boost your marketing effectiveness, contact us today!

Lead Nurturing for B2B Marketing

November 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Have you ever wondered what lead nurturing for B2B marketing is? A successful company expects to have hundreds, even thousands, of visitors on their website each day. If companies setup effective promotional offers, catchy call to actions and dynamic landing pages then there are opportunities to convert approximately 3% of these visitors into known leads (person is identified). The trick becomes converting these leads into revenue. One critical strategy companies should use to increase their lead conversion rate is a well-executed lead nurturing campaign.

A lead nurturing campaign is the bridge that transitions leads from one stage in the buying process to the next. Companies can bridge this gap by sending a series of automated emails to leads intending to educate them and give them a “call to action” which progresses a lead to the next stage. As the lead is directed through the planned stages there should only be subtle suggestions to convert, with the content aimed mainly at building a solid and trusted relationship.

Lead nurturing for B2B marketing is a discipline focused on qualified sales leads that are not currently looking to make a purchase. Consequentially, a successful B2B lead nurturing campaign involves delivering content that has noticeable value and is compelling enough to engage a lead. If it is done well, lead nurturing can build a strong brand and make a company the preferred provider long before the prospect has even begun the buying process. Lead nurturing software allows for qualified sales leads to be tracked, while relevant content is automatically delivered through a variety of proven B2B marketing channels.

One objective of lead nurturing for B2B marketing is to maintain a visitor’s permission to stay in contact with them. This is the most crucial objective of lead nurturing and without it a company will lose the lead completely. Content has to be catchy and informative to keep the prospect interested. If the lead does not see sufficient value, they will disengage by unsubscribing or by filtering lead nurturing efforts as spam. Recipients can also just ignore or immediately delete the message, which defeats the entire purpose.

Another key of lead nurturing for B2B marketing is providing ideas, information, or points of comparison through strategic education. A potential buyer may not be interested in making a purchase for a while, which means a company has the opportunity to gently persuade them over a longer period of time. During critical lead nurturing periods, content should be used to educate prospects and guide their thinking in the right direction. Content should incorporate specific requirements and ways of viewing the market which will convey thought leadership. This way, once they are ready to buy, they will be convinced that choosing the source behind the useful information they received is the only way to go.

Lead nurturing for B2B marketing is a powerful and effective way to automatically stay engaged with qualified leads. By doing this right, a company can establish buyer preference, recommend solutions related to a specific product and successfully convert leads into sales. This is only possible if the lead nurturing program delivers relevant content that also offers value to the lead and keeps them interested enough to preserve their permission to stay in contact.

Lead Nurturing Best Practices and Stages

November 14, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

There are several lead nurturing best practices and stages to be aware of. Absence of effective lead nurturing practices results in the loss of 79% of generated sales leads according to a research by MarketingSherpa. Lead nurturing has emerged as a key concern for organizations as today’s B2B buyers prefer to educate themselves about a product before committing to buy it. They spend more time on research and studying info about product features, usability and customer services before engaging with the seller’s representative. Again not all prospects are interested in buying your products. But you can attract and drive their interest through constant engagements and by conveying time-appropriate messages.

All these present before us challenges of a sales funnel with a widening top and a complex sales cycle that require an organization to nurture leads with efficient process and targeted content while preventing any leakage of leads. An ill-equipped and inappropriate lead nurturing process may lead to a leaky sales funnel and high customer acquisition cost, blunting effective utilization of marketing automation strategy. The following are some important steps to streamline your lead nurturing practices for better results.

Start With An Impression

Start on an influential note. Identify and analyze the interests, exact needs, and behavior of prospected customers and help them build awareness accordingly. Create a pool of sources to enable yourself to draw and share explicit and implicit information as industry trends and customer behavior. Present yourself in an attractive way to generate their interest and influence their choice. Make sure the information you provide exactly matches what they look for. A deeper relationship and sense of trust thus created over a period of time is certain to influence the purchase decision.

Reinforce Impression

Send timely and personalized messages to reinforce your impressive start. You must have meaningful communication with focus on educating customers. Wherever possible, share whitepapers, podcasts, blogs, videos, which will reinforce your brand identity and product value proposition. Also, share your success story and demonstrate your value over competitors.

Sustain Prospect’s Interest

At this stage, keep your focus on maintaining the level of interest you have created in prospective customers and steer their choice to your advantage. Share feedbacks, show third-party information, and organize webinars to sustain communication. It is important to plan and control the process so that the relationship does not face any bottlenecks and create trust deficit.

Seal The Deal

If you have sufficient indication to think that a prospective lead is “purchase ready,” then propose a deal to them. The sales team should take over and send them a proposal based on your awareness of their purchase need and references. Follow up with a personalized message seeking their response. If possible, offer a free trial.

For sustained communication leading to a high percentage of lead conversion, keep a few additional things in mind.

Keep the communication language simple and comprehensible with a considerate view of the real world
Focus on prospective customer’s interest, likes, and dislikes while following leads or nurturing campaigns
Ensure that your interaction with prospective customers is not highly pitched or of low mettle
Send right message at prospect‘s time of preference
Keep the communication meaningful and responsive
Messages must include personalized and customer-specific message
Avoid generic contents to the extent possible

Why BANT is Important for Lead Nurturing

November 13, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Do you know why BANT is important for lead nurturing? In order to have success at lead nurturing, companies sometimes include a BANT score within their lead scoring system. Those companies that do not include a BANT score are missing a critical component to having a successful lead nurturing system. Throughout the history of sales, leads have been lost for various reasons: they get ignored, discarded or lost. Or they miss the mark because the audience doesn’t fulfill four key components of a quality lead:

Budget – It’s important that a lead has the capacity to pay for your offering. This doesn’t necessarily mean they should be able to pay immediately; however, there has to be a reasonable expectation that the cost of your offering can be included a lead’s budget within an adequate timeframe.
Authority – Who is the intended audience for marketing messages and sales contacts? If it doesn’t include decision-makers or subordinates, then money is likely being wasted. Touchpoints should be directed at the most effective buying authority possible. Although primary decision-makers are often the best targets, subordinates who can obtain authority directly from decision-makers can be effective lead nurturing targets as well. At times, buying influencers can be an appropriate audience, but you can expect a longer sales cycle for the prospective buyer.
Need – Leads must acknowledge that there is a need for what you offer before they will buy. There are two types of need: current and anticipated. While lead nurturing, it’s important to determine the timing of a prospect’s need for your offering; therefore, “uncovering” the need for your solution is critical. Keep in mind, a need is not always recognized by your prospects, so your lead nurturing system should include ways to prompt need recognition. For example, within industries such as emerging technologies leads often have to be convinced there is a need to improve current operations and be educated about a solution before a decision-maker will consider a purchase.
Timing – If a lead is not ready to buy, sales attempts will probably not be successful; therefore, it’s important to connect your sales department with a lead at the most appropriate time (usually after Budget, Authority, and Need have been addressed). Contacts throughout the lead nurturing process should be scheduled in order to advance the lead through each stage of the sales cycle. For example a direct response offer is often not appropriate for a lead entering your nurturing pipeline.

So the impact of addressing BANT during the lead nurturing process cannot be overestimated. Using lead scoring is one way to qualify leads against your criteria such as BANT. If you would like to learn about more ideas to bolster your lead nurturing or lead qualification process, contact Lead Liaison for a free consultation.

B2B Lead Closure Through Linear Drip Campaigns

November 5, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Businesses who’ve mastered the artistic approach of growing their B2B sales bases know that conventional outbound marketing campaigns are perhaps growing cold, stagnant and simply worn down. Many leads which are collected from conventional drip campaigns aren’t actively buying since the individual lead either was collected amiss, or wasn’t thoroughly nurtured as it should’ve been. The new innovation which could increase B2B lead closings comes in the form of linear drip campaigns, the inventive approach of taking your regular drip campaigns and spreading automated emails, sequentially created prior to commencement, so that leads are being continually engaged.

The Linear Principle

Since many B2B lead lists will automatically be segmented in varied categories, marketing professionals can simultaneously run regular drip campaigns and linear drips which regularly email inspirational stories related to products being offered. Along with regularly sent articles or stories, coupons and other cost-benefit analyses can be sent to potential business leads to cultivate more sales closures rather than experiencing lead stagnancy. Letting potential business customers eek through the door cracks into someone else’s database is rather heartbreaking and takes away that potential lead closing.

Benefits Of Linear Drip Campaigns

Aside from the obvious sales connotations, many long-term benefits reside within successful drip campaigns, perhaps many of them going unnoticed. When considering marketing agendas for your new or existing businesses, examine some exponentially lionized benefits of using linear drips:

You’ll have the opportunity to make your prospects sales-prepped
Potential outflows in sales funnels are minimal
Increased chances your leads will order products via internet
Motivational for end user when your initial goals are receiving product evaluations
Reduction in time spend educating potential leads on your product or service
Gain targeted business customers through word of mouth or forwarded emails

Since authentic linear drip campaigns trump your conventional ‘one and done’ email blasts, the potential for developing B2B ties and sales grows when your concentration is on slower campaigning since shots in the dark tend to reap little benefits or plausible leads.

Specific Cases Of Effective Drip Campaigns

B2B leads are much more sensitive to erratic marketing tactics since the potential spend is much higher than most customers. When you’ve already established marketing practices and have obtained business customers, drip campaigns become ‘customer nurturing’ since now retention becomes your primary objective with current business buyers. Here are several instances when drip marketing campaigns are appropriate for current business clients provided the message is concise:

Renewal of Services – When you’ve encountered clients who are due for renewal, explaining the benefits of remaining your loyal customer and introducing new innovations which better their current service should come in drips; perhaps roll out your new changes prior to sending the renewal emails for more effective closing ratios.
Upcoming training – When your company will offer seminars relevant to products they’ve purchased, sending several drip campaigns including different parts of your seminar and reminder to be present will help the busy business owner to remember to sign up.

Conclusion

Quality linear drip campaigns bring B2B lead generation to greater heights while bettering the marketing efficacy of emails sent. While not every basic marketing plan will include dripping content or offers into emails within owned databases, campaigns of this magnitude should always be considered as an alternative to aging or completely eradicating leads which you’ve held onto for several years without effectively closing sales to.

The Wrong Way to Nurture Leads

November 2, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Lead nurturing is only effective if it is done with a leads best interests in mind. A company cannot persuade a potential lead if they do not understand the prospect’s interests and their specific needs. They also cannot secure leads if they fall through the crack or leak out of the sales funnel. A lost lead means a lost sale and no business can afford to give away revenue. Companies cannot take the chance of turning off a lead due to poor lead nurturing. That is why it is necessary to examine the wrong way to nurture a lead.

The most obvious wrong way to nurture a lead is to ignore them all together.

If a potential customer crosses your company’s path and there is no automated response generated to entice them, then it is a missed opportunity. A company cannot effectively nurture a lead if they do nothing to promote their expertise. A stagnant website, no matter how intriguing or creative, is not an effective sales tool by itself without interactive processes like automated responses driving it. Leads need to have a compelling reason to pay attention to what is being offered.

Another common mistake made is not sending relevant content.

If information a company sends out is not interesting or appealing to the reader, then it will be completely ineffective. Content has to educate and inform a lead in a way that will increase credibility. Too often companies end up offending a lead because the information they send is viewed as useless or an insult to their intelligence.

Over-nurturing is also an ineffective approach to nurturing.

Content also needs to be sent in a timely manner without overwhelming a prospect. If content is sent too often then it can quickly become a nuisance. Sellers could end up smothering buyers instead of inspiring them to make a purchase. As a rule of thumb, content should never be sent more than twice per week unless someone has specifically requested additional information.

Quality leads are a company’s greatest asset if they have the means to use them to generate future revenue. If a lead is ignored, insulted or overwhelmed by a company’s nurturing efforts then it will weaken relationships. By understanding the wrong way to nurture leads, a business can create a strategic plan to avoid mistakes that could possibly turn away a lead for good.