Lead Nurturing is a targeted automation process that is always directed at a precisely defined group of (potential) customers. Here, they (optimally) receive relevant information in every phase of the customer journey, which advances them in the buying process and builds a relationship with the respective brand/company. In most cases, this is useful, i.e. unique and value-added content. The purpose of such content marketing measures is to convince interested parties, whom a company has already been able to generate as leads, of the services offered in such a way that they recognize them as the best choice for solving their problems. However, lead nurturing can not only be useful in inbound marketing for acquiring new customers, but also for maintaining relationships with existing customers.
What are the types of lead nurturing campaigns?
As expected, there is no silver bullet when it comes to lead nurturing. Corresponding marketing campaigns must always be aligned not only with the respective target group, but of course also with the B2B services or products offered and the goals generally set for lead generation. The latter can be the provision of simple information or, in the case of advanced lead management, more complex cross-selling or up-selling. The most widespread variants as well as intentions of lead nurturing can be read in the following.
Promotional emails are a real nuisance for many desktop workers today. They flood inboxes, cause really important messages to be lost and ultimately often only cost valuable time. That's why advertising should always be done with the utmost care when it comes to lead nurturing. If you immediately contact a prospect you have just generated as a lead with advertising, they will certainly not be happy about it. This in turn will have a negative impact on your overall brand/company. However, you can send qualified leads advertising every now and then, as they are usually convinced of your services and tend to be interested in further, similar offers.
Even before purchasing B2B goods or services, you can provide some form of support to your customers with a lead nurturing campaign. Such marketing measures are similar to the simple provision of information, but they are more differentiated. For instance, here you should not just convey product details or benefits and similar content to build a base, but rather address specific scenarios where your services could be of use. Give advice on how your leads will use your products for optimal results in specific cases, or what your services will do in appropriate contexts.
Interacting with leads, providing them with content that relates to the exact challenges they asked about during the lead generation process, is a very effective way to encourage closures. At best, prospects feel understood, thus fostering a personal relationship with your brand and, if extended (after qualification), even increasing the likelihood of long-term retention.
Often, after lead generation, it is not yet clear whether there is a concrete need for your products or services. In order to obtain such information, i.e. to crystallize qualified leads, you can provide more comprehensive tutorials, demo versions or whitepapers and draw corresponding insights from their actual use.
Qualified leads often need a final push to actually become customers. This is where it can pay off to increasingly engage in personal lead nurturing. This usually means the transmission of individual content by a real sales employee. This shows the prospect that they are not one of many, but that their challenges are being personally addressed. With such interaction, the likelihood of a deal and a long-term relationship is naturally particularly high.
The first step in building a specific lead management is usually the automatic sending of simple but targeted informational emails. Such content marketing automation should never be intrusive and should, at best, pick up the prospects at the exact point where the lead generator's services are potentially most needed. The key to success is content with real added value! This is not only true for information transfer, but also in all other contexts of lead generation and lead management.
What an effective lead nurturing campaign always requires
Maximally effective lead nurturing always requires individually targeted marketing measures. However, there are some aspects that no marketing campaign should ignore. You will find an overview of these key points below.
The first question of any lead nurturing campaign is the specific goal? As explained in the previous section, such marketing measures can be based on very different intentions. They only bring real benefits in certain contexts. For example, interested parties are usually not ready to actually make use of your services and become new customers immediately after lead generation. Often, the disclosure of personal data is initially based on the simple desire for information. Already qualified leads, on the other hand, may well be attributed with an intention to buy. Setting specific goals for each lead type is therefore highly relevant.
For economical lead nurturing, it is very important to clearly define which potential customers you want to help solve which challenges. This is the only way to create the most effective content for your marketing campaign. Determining a target audience is one option. However, this only covers important information superficially. By creating a buyer persona, you create a much more detailed picture of your prospects, which allows you to switch your automated lead nurturing campaigns much more accurately. For more information, read the post"The Benefits of Buyer Persona in B2B Marketing - Put a Face to Your Target Audience".
The most important factor of any successful lead nurturing campaign is unique content with real added value. Only if the latter is really given, you are able to leave a lasting impression. With the help of this content, you guide your prospects through the sales process after lead generation in a level-headed and targeted manner until they become qualified leads and sales can take them over. By the way, value-added content starts with the subject line! Which type of content is particularly useful must be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Lead nurturing is generally not a prompt sales booster. Only with patience and experimentation regarding content, sequence, etc. can you get the most out of your content marketing campaigns. So it is hardly possible to predict exactly when successes must occur, but it is possible to determine at what intervals you should carry out corresponding marketing measures. To do this, it's best to first take your company's sales cycle as a basis and structure the campaign sequence evenly. Over time, you will learn which intervals are most beneficial for your lead management. Of course, this fact can also be applied to the production of optimal content.
Basically, a lead nurturing campaign is never finished! There is always something to optimize - be it in terms of content, organization or on a technical level. For example, your marketing measures should always be as personalized as possible in order to signal to the lead that he or she is perceived as an individual. Furthermore, it is useful to present the company in a more tangible, human way and thus reduce inhibitions. Despite all the personality, it is still appropriate to be as brief as possible, because your leads will probably have little time to engage with your content.
The controlling of lead nurturing campaigns
If you take the aforementioned aspects into account in your B2B lead management, but do not measure your lead nurturing, you can hardly benefit from it in the long term. Since such marketing campaigns require continuous optimization for maximum success, continuous controlling is essential. You can see what works and what doesn't by looking at the corresponding key figures. From this you can draw conclusions regarding necessary adjustments. You should keep an eye on the following factors in particular.
As already described in the first part and also clarified with regard to the integration of social media in B2B, lead nurturing sometimes has the potential of renewed lead generation. So take a close look at the shares of your content on Facebook and the like, which originally came from corresponding marketing campaigns. You will not only learn with which type of content you can potentially generate new leads, but also gain important insights into the general target group-specific strength of this content.
The click-through rate describes the percentage of your leads that clicked at least one of the provided links or call-to-actions of your lead nurturing. There are different marketing methods to determine this metric on a case-by-case basis. With the help of the click rate, you can draw precise conclusions about which content is best suited for which leads.
The conversion rate is similar to the click rate. However, it refers not only to a click, but also specifically to the conversion of a user's status into a new status. So if you can turn a lead into a qualified lead through certain content, you should definitely record this for possible transfer to further campaigns or other target groups.
The unsubscribe rate refers to the percentage of those who opt out of a previously requested newsletter. If this is particularly high, for example, you know that your lead nurturing needs optimization. Since many leads don't bother to actually unsubscribe if they're dissatisfied, this metric generally proves to be less meaningful than the previously mentioned ones.
Our support around the topic of lead management:
The generation of high-quality leads forms a significant key factor for long-term business success in B2B and B2C marketing.
- We develop and implement successful lead generation concepts to make the most of your potential and create the right conditions for efficient and personalised marketing measures.
- We support you in first defining and analysing your optimal target groups and then using relevant content to reach them exactly where they are digitally.
- Together with you, we develop a practicalnurturing process to generate qualitative leads along the entire customer journey.
If desired, we will be happy to implement amarketing automation solution that complies with data protection regulations - support in both the selection of the right software and the implementation and monitoring of your campaigns.
Oliver Parrizas will be happy to answer any questions you may have on the subject. 
+49-800-911-91-91
