Lead Nurturing: The Fourth of 5 Essential Inbound Elements

This is the fourth blog in our inbound marketing series. As a reminder, inbound marketing is a combination of online marketing tactics working to interact and develop relationships with potential customers PLUS engaging in a continual flow of information between sales and marketing. It works to complement the way buyers make purchasing decisions by offering information and engaging throughout that buying process.

There are five essential elements for successful inbound marketing:

1. Goal Setting
2. Traffic Generation 
3. Conversion 
4. Lead Nurturing 
5. Analytics

This blog discusses lead nurturing – what it is and why it is vital for success.

WHAT IS LEAD NURTURING?

Lead nurturing is a communication progression functioning to develop relationships with interested prospective buyers (a.k.a. leads) while guiding and motivating them through the buying cycle.

Now what the heck is a ‘communication progression’? It can be any combination or variety of interactions you put in place to have with your leads. It usually consists of 2 or more arranged messages that work to foster a relationship and give your leads an incentive, motive or provocation to buy something from you.

Please do not confuse lead nurturing with the never ending flow of email discounts or weekly coupons in the mailbox. These types of incentives do not support relationship development. This would be like little Jimmy on the playground during recess giving candy to everyone so they play with him. Sure, everyone will be his friend today – but what if he doesn’t have candy tomorrow at recess?

Your initial content and offers should be informative and educational and as your leads move through the buying process and lead nurturing workflow you can begin to focus on your specific products and services. Leads are less likely to develop a relationship with you if you are too “sales-y” or if you always talk about your company. Providing helpful content for your lead’s use promotes trust and places you as a valuable resource in your leads’ minds.

Let’s imagine you have downloaded, “A Quick Guide to Healthy Living” from your local health club’s website. They may nurture you as follows:

1. 3 days after you download the guide they send you an email offering another guide, “7 Daily Workout Routines to Fill Your Week.”
2. 2 days after the first email you receive another email with a success story attached: “See How Julie Went From a Size 10 to a Size 4 in 6 months”
3. 5 days later there is an offer for a Free One Month Membership waiting in your email inbox.
4. Later that month you get a phone call from a fitness club representative asking if you are enjoying your free trial.
5. A week before your free trial ends you receive an email thanking you for using the free trial and asking if you would like to join the health club and continue on your road to healthy living.

This appears to be a very hands-on, time-consuming course of action because it is very personal and specific to each lead. If you have the right tools, however, this lead nurturing practice can be a fairly automated process.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

• 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
• Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost. (Source: Forrester Research)
• Companies with mature lead generation and management practices have a 9.3% higher sales quota achievement rate. (Source: CSO Insights)
• Lead nurturing emails get 4-10 times the response rate compared to standalone email blasts. (Source: SilverPop/DemandGen Report)
• Nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. (Source: DemandGen Report)

So, there is clear value in lead nurturing and many companies have experienced success. In addition to boosting sales and marketing effectiveness, lead nurturing creates an image of you or your company in the minds of your prospective buyers.

You have the opportunity to become trustworthy and educational. Through sharing valuable content that targets your leads' needs and goals, you can become an industry thought-leader and source for information.

You could also become a forerunner in the list of companies your leads are contemplating purchasing from. Through your offers and one-on-one interaction you can portray your advantages and share commonalities between their needs and your products or services.

There are numerous advantages and beneficial outcomes for those that engage in lead nurturing.

Inbound marketing relies on the success of all elements involved because they build upon and support one another. Our last blog, What is Inbound Marketing: The Final Essential Element, will discuss analytics. This element is essential for ensuring success across all inbound marketing elements and, in the end, achieving your goals.