10 Lead Nurturing Fundamentals

#AOWEB

Today’s Presenters

Janelle JohnsonDirector, Demand Gen

@janelle_johnson

Jeff LintonProduct Marketing Manager

@jeffreylinton

Lead Nurturing Defined

A sustained relationship with influencers and decision-makers in a potential customer, through which relevant and valuable insight is delivered through integrated channels in a coordinated process, in exchange for increasing intimacy and influence.”

- Forrester Research

Why You Can’t Ignore Lead Nurturing

70% of the qualified leads that make it to sales get disqualified

or discarded

often because they just aren’t ready to buy now

But 80% of those “bad” leads will ultimately go on to buy

from you – or from a competitor – within 24 months

Nurture them until they’re ready to buy.

What to do?

10 Tips for Lead Nurturing

Tip #1

Build a simple framework and launch quickly

• You'll see ROI more quickly

For a more complicated plan, launch it in steps

• Analyze the results of each step before executing the nextDon’t make it more complex than it needs to be; the theory is that

80% of the benefit of lead nurturing is achieved by the first 20% of effort

Start simply.

Tip #2

Agree on what a qualified lead looks like for your company

Establish criteria to determine the difference between an inquiry, prospect, marketing-qualified lead, sales-qualified lead, etc.

Understand what signals buyers give as they progress through the pipeline from stage to stage.

Align with sales so you understand buyers' profiles and specific needs.

Tip #3

Begin to develop a lead scoring model, and assign numerical values to each characteristic.

Determine which contacts need more education before taking the next step toward conversion.

Review your established criteria with your sales team and start with something well-considered...but simple.

Keep score.

Tip #4

Develop content that addresses the needs of buyers.

61% of technology buyers want content that directly addresses the issues they face at each point in the decision process• Knowledge Storm/Marketing Sherpa

Create different types of content

• Product comparisons, ROI Calculators, Videos, and Case Studies

Address each phase of the education process separately, and fold those content pieces into your nurturing campaigns

Tip #5

Sending one-off individual emails without considering the prospect’s recent behavior could get you labeled as irrelevant

Develop coordinated campaigns with a series of scheduled offers

Then track, evaluate and respond to opens, clicks, registrants, etc.

Avoid on-off messaging that serves your own short-term interests.

Tip #6

Goal is to educate your prospects and, in turn, accelerating their buying cycle

Develop the right frequency and messaging to place in front of prospects is critical

85% of tech buyers said they need to encounter at least three pieces of content before engaging with a solution provider• Knowledge Storm/Marketing Sherpa

Remember that cadence counts.

Tip #7

Build forms and landing pages that allow prospects to fill in their contact information just once—usually the first time they download a piece of content

Adopting progressive profiling practices which allow you to collect a little more information about prospects each time they engage.

Plan for progression.

Tip #8

Plan and establish a speedy, seamless process for passing nurtured leads to sales

Once a genuine, proven buying signal has been given, it's critical to pass the lead as soon as possible

Develop a process to send “delayed” leads back to marketing to be nurtured until they are ready and able to buy

Establish rules for the handoff, and make it two-way.

Tip #9

Don't ignore contacts in your CRM system or marketing database that you wrote off when they stalled in the pipeline

Find ways to re-engage those contacts with new content.

Wake the “dead.”

Tip #10

Track measurable indicators

• How often you get certain data to further qualify or segment leads• Click-through rates• Conversions through each stage• Time to conversion• Etc.

Track the conversion rate at each stage of the funnel to improve overall performance & quantify marketing’s contribution

Set up metrics to track progress.

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• Drip/Nurturing, Web Analytics, Landing Pages, Forms, Scoring, CRM Integration, Social Media, Reporting and More

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