Squeeze More Value Out of Your Sales Funnel
Lead nurturing is the BtoB marketing "buzzword" of the decade, and with good reason: A successful nurturing campaign generates impressive returns and is particularly appealing when budgets are under pressure. Research firm SiriusDecisions notes, "Lead nurturing has grown in popularity as organizations look to squeeze value out of the demand waterfall." The overall impact on return on marketing investment is a positive development for marketers, providing ammunition for discussions with the C-Suite.
But the bridge between the concept of lead nurturing and the development of an effective, repeatable program can be complicated. The very characteristics that make lead nurturing impactful—targeted communications and calls to action, and time- or activity-driven engagement—also make nurturing programs a challenge to build.
In this article we’ll define six types of lead nurturing that can be part of an integrated program. For a comprehensive discussion of the benefits of lead nurturing and to see examples of each type, download the complete white paper, “Using Lead Nurturing to Build an Ongoing Dialog that Drives Prospect Conversion.”
1. Perpetual Nurturing: Ongoing marketing communications designed to position a brand as top-of-mind with prospects. Examples include weekly, monthly or time-triggered newsletters with thought leadership content and engagement opportunities.
Perpetual nurturing often fulfills a role of earning “permission” to communicate with prospects by offering an opt-in with a minimum request for profile information. A newsletter, for example, may ask only for name, company and e-mail. Perpetual nurturing goes hand in hand with building and growing a house database. It creates a regular communications stream that can be as customized as the organization has time and data to drive.
2. Acquisition Nurturing: Outreach activities focused on capturing registration and securing permission to communicate with a prospect. The value exchange is stepped up here compared to perpetual nurturing: Marketers may ask for a little more information but give a little more in return. Examples include content syndication (offering white papers or briefing documents behind a gated registration page) and a content center or content library. Paid and organic search also fall into this category if they are designed to drive to a conversion.
The house database mentioned in the section above can be a focus for acquisition nurturing. So can external sources, including co-marketing with partners and working with third parties.
3. Engagement Nurturing: Early-mid buying cycle activities designed to welcome new prospects and generate interest. Examples include specific product line marketing via Webinars, white papers and rich media offerings, and activities meant to tease out BANT qualification (do they have the budget, authority, timeline and need to be good prospects?).
Many of the vehicles used for acquisition nurturing can also be used for engagement nurturing. The driver of success isn’t the Webinar or white paper per se, but the message with which it is delivered, and the following call to action that moves prospects a step further in their buying journey.
4. Conversion Nurturing: Mid-late buying cycle activities designed to drive prospects towards a sales engagement. Examples include an Executive Benchmark Assessment or Executive Readiness Assessment, which are tools that give prospects an assessment of how they are performing compared to peers and/or recommended best practices. ROI tools also fall into this category.
5. Post-sale Nurturing: There are two types of post-sale nurturing: Tracks designed to capitalize on closed won opportunities and those designed to capitalize on closed lost opportunities. Examples of the former include cross-sell/up-sell nurturing, loyalty programs and, of course, customer service and support, including customer feedback mechanisms and responses. Examples of the latter include re-engagement and dormant lead recycling. These deals are not on the table now, but they could be in the future as people change jobs and priorities.
6. Peripheral Nurturing: Specific activities designed to generate prospect responses outside of the marketing and sales functions. Examples include community membership, contests and giveaways, even training. Intel Health, for example, created just such a program with its HealthCareGoesMobile.com community. Members received information about mobile health care, read success stories and joined discussions. Intel Health captured a small amount of information from subscribers, but primarily allowed the community to develop under its moderator. The community provided Intel Health with insight into pain points, questions, problems and successes in their industry.
Conclusion
Understanding how each type of nurturing fits into a comprehensive program can help you determine where to focus efforts for maximum impact. For a comprehensive discussion of the benefits of lead nurturing and to see examples of each type, download the complete white paper, “Using Lead Nurturing to Build an Ongoing Dialog that Drives Prospect Conversion"
