When we get one of our visitors to become a new Lead through a form or by downloading content offers on our website, the path to becoming a future client has only just begun. With this article we want to show you what Lead Nurturing is and what its advantages are in an industrial marketing strategy.
Inbound Marketing has radically changed the way of capturing leads, basing the investment strategy on a conversion funnel that goes through the 4 phases of Inbound : attraction, conversion, closing and loyalty . In the B2B sector, this process takes even longer, so each phase must serve to work with our leads in a different way, offering our contacts what they need at each moment. The common mistake is that many companies do not have the resources or simply do not know how to act with the leads that they add to their database to make them advance in the sales funnel.
To overcome this obstacle and get more clients, we find the Lead Nurturing technique , oman email list an automated process aimed at creating valuable relationships with users in each of the stages of the funnel in which we accompany the journey of a user from the first contact with us until conversion , with the aim that this client subsequently becomes a prescriber of our brand or our products for other potential clients.
According to the analysis firm Forrester, companies that carry out lead nurturing strategies generate 50% more sales opportunities at a 33% lower cost.
The main objective of this lead nurturing technique is to generate enough confidence for the user to decide when is the ideal time to buy . However, there are different factors that influence this decision-making process and that determine what the Lead Nurturing process is..
Lead Scoring
When the database of potential clients is growing, it is necessary to monitor the status of the Leads and check their level of commitment, activity or suitability with us to try to determine what stage of the sales funnel our contacts are in . It is a recurring task that will help us create lists according to the different criteria that we can select from among which are:
Lead Fit : Is the contact really our ideal buyer? We will take into account demographic data such as geographic location, type of company they work for, company size, position they hold, etc.
Lead Engagement : We determine the degree of interest that the contact has in us through the actions they perform on our website: number of page visits, content downloads, time spent on the website, etc.
Buyer Persona : The key to knowing if the user's profile is the ideal one to become our client. If, for example, we know the position they hold in their company or the problems they have, we will be better able to offer them content that is appropriate to their needs in each of the phases of the sales funnel.
Streamline the Lead Nurturing Process through Marketing Automation
Having a Marketing Automation tool will allow you to get the most out of Lead Nurturing . Keep in mind that to segment your contacts, determine their lead score or fit, there are countless recurring actions that would not be possible to do manually. By using tools like HubSpot you can have total control over your contacts so that you can analyze their behavior on your website (pages they visit, forms they fill out, etc.), create lists based on different criteria or determine which are your MQL's ( Marketing Qualified Leads ) or SQLs ( Sales Qualified Leads ), that is, those contacts that are ready to be worked on at a commercial level without it being uncomfortable for either party.
In addition, you can use different workflows that will help you work with leads in the conversion funnel through content and actions aimed at closing an opportunity. Not only will they allow you to increase conversion, but you can use them internally so that the sales team takes into account when there is a new sales opportunity.
Strategic actions for B2B lead maturation
At this point and with all the tools and processes on the table, it's time to identify the best marketing strategies you can use in your B2B business to nurture your leads and increase sales. Take note!
Segmentation
Treat different profiles differently. If you detect different types of users in your database, you must determine what strategy you are going to follow for each one of them. Don't spare any effort when trying to identify them because this differentiation will allow you to generate trust in each one of them and adapt the content you offer them to what they are really looking for on the Internet. Focus on your Buyer Persona!
Custom content
In relation to the previous point, we find another key factor in the success of your marketing strategy: personalization . It has undoubtedly become a priority in any industrial marketing strategy. If you are clear about who your Buyer Persona is , it is time to approach them and define a content strategy that is adapted to what they really need at any given time.
Factors such as information consumption, objectives, professional challenges or problems will be different for each profile, so you will not be able to communicate with them in a generalized way if you want your strategy to be optimized. Personalization is currently taken to the extreme with the emergence of complementary strategies to Inbound Marketing such as those applied by Account-Based Marketing or ABM , where marketing and sales teams are completely aligned and very specific objectives and content are attacked through reverse IP technology , specific roles, 1:1 content or hyper-personalized display ads among others to improve conversions by up to 63%, according to a recent report by Researchscape International .