It is the inbound marketing technique based on the creation of valuable relationships with our users with the aim of accompanying them during their buying process. It is also the link between marketing and sales to achieve conversion. During the lead nurturing process, we seek to build relationships with users regardless of the stage of the buying process in which they are. The key to the success of lead nurturing is the personalisation and contextualisation of the content that we send to our users.
It is important not only to know the user's name, but also to know at what stage of the buying process they are at in order to offer them content that will keep them interested in us and, finally, to make a final purchase decision. Lead nurturing is one of the most important tools in inbound marketing. Thanks to lead nurturing you can nurture the relationship with your leads, generate conversion and make them loyal to your brand.
Thanks to this technique, leads are ready to be passed on to the sales team of your business. Even if they are not ready to buy, they are ready to start a conversation, and this is where lead nurturing can give you an important advantage. It is also a good opportunity to develop your brand, as each campaign is a new and valuable opportunity to learn more about your customers and develop a more authentic brand for them. Knowing more about your customers will help you to improve your business.
This process consists of accompanying the leads from the moment they leave their data for the first time until we achieve their loyalty. In order to achieve conversion, there are a series of steps to follow, which we will explain below:
It is important that you have your SMART objectives well defined, i.e. the objectives you define must be specific, measurable, applicable, relevant and temporary. Be as realistic as possible when defining them, so that you get results that contribute to your business.
Lead nurturing is based on offering value to the user and to achieve this, you must know who you are targeting and what they need. It is key that you define your buyer persona so that you know everything about this particular customer. Although demographic information helps, the most important thing here is to know their needs and problems ("pain points").
This process should be automated, and to achieve this, there are tools such as MailChimp, an email marketing tool that will take care of sending mass mailings to a specific list of contacts.
Your ally will be the content of value. This process should be supported by a content strategy, in which you have a resource base to send them in successive messages. These communications will help create a relationship with the user as they perceive that we are able to understand their needs and that we can meet them.
The customer journey has different stages from when they recognise they have a need, to when they become a customer. At the beginning the user is not sure what they want, so they will be looking for more general content. As they progress along their journey, you can present the brand in a more concrete way through content such as testimonials or interviews. Finally, when they are ready to buy, you can provide offers or free trials.
Don't overload the user with messages or leave too much time between one communication and another because the lead can either get bored or get cold. We recommend that your messages include all the necessary information in a concise and to the point.
If you have carried out a good lead nurturing process, the time will come when the lead is ready to talk to your sales team and pay attention to the offers you have for them. For this, it is important that both the marketing and sales teams work hand in hand and agree on how and when to pass the lead from one department to the other.
When your lead has become a customer, another process begins. Communication should not end once you have closed the sale. On the contrary, after the conversion the customer enters an automated communication flow where you offer them after-sales services, reinforce your brand values and attract them with offers to get them to buy again.
Now that you know what lead nurturing is, the benefits it brings to your company and the process to apply it, are you going to use it in your marketing and customer acquisition strategy?