Lead nurturing—in 5 simple ways

Lead nurturing is a core component of successful marketing. It involves staying in touch with prospects even when they are not ready to buy. The fact is, that approximately 80% of the leads you get are not ready to make a purchase decision immediately. The key is to always remain on their radar and help them make the decision—in your favor. This blog post provides you with 5 ways  you can "be there" for your prospects without “getting in their face…”

1.    Relevant content: You know what the prospect is looking for, but you also know they are not sales-ready. This is the perfect stage to send them relevant content that will help them in the decision-making process. For example, if someone is looking for an SUV from a multi-brand dealership, then the dealer could send comparative analyses, tech-specs, etc. of vehicles to the prospect.

2.     Don’t stick to a single medium: Who says lead nurturing happens only via e-mail? To get the right results, you need to have a right mix of marketing channels including print, videos, social media and web.

3.     Track and score: What’s the point of lead nurturing if you don’t track and score your leads. Tracking leads and scoring them is the only way to know whether they have moved higher up in the sales cycle.

4.     Don’t push it: Sometimes when you are nudging a lead towards making a decision in your favor, it’s very easy to cross the line. But resist that temptation and don't push too far, so that when it’s time to make a purchase, the prospect thinks positively of your brand.

5.  Newsletters and greetings: Newsletters and greetings are great ways to stay in touch with prospects throughout the sales cycle without creating an overbearing presence. Make sure you add all your prospects to your holiday and newsletter mailing/e-mail list.

Lead nurturing involves an all-round effort in the areas of content creation, designing, lead tracking and scoring. It also demands consistent efforts. Deploying marketing automation software can help you nurture leads effectively.