The Complete Guide to Lead Generation – Lead Nurturing (Part 3)

Why is Lead Nurturing important? Because nobody likes to be attacked by sales representatives! The proof is that traditional " brick & mortar " businesses that have not adapted to the market are closing one after the other. Customer experience is now at the heart of the processes of successful companies. However, before a prospect becomes a client, the experience must also be impeccable.

Personally, I use a lot of software. The prospect experience (the correct term is User Experience or UX) of my favorite software is often seamless. Since competition in the field of digital tools (SaaS – Software as a service) is fierce, they have no choice! How do these companies do it? With the Lead Nurturing method and automated marketing (Martech).

What is Lead Nurturing?

Lead Nurturing involves providing content to our prospects with the goal of eventually converting them into clients. This content should mainly serve to strengthen the trust between your prospects and your company. For example, blog articles, eBooks, webinars, and videos can be relevant content elements to share with your audience and prospects.

Lead Nurturing is an element that is part of Inbound Marketing. Lead Nurturing will begin when the " traffic " has been transformed into " prospect " during the exchange of a HVC (high-value content element) in exchange for an email.

Lead Nurturing must be automated to be effective. You need to create sales funnels that are automated, and if you have the capability, these funnels should adapt based on your prospects' engagements.

Let’s take the example of a Lead Nurturing strategy for a car dealership:

• A Facebook user downloads the eBook " How to maintain your luxury car and save money? "

• The visitor is added to the " Luxury Prospects " list in your Martech tool.

• The next day, you send an email with a comparative guide to luxury vehicles 2019. The prospect clicks on the link and visits your website.

• Immediately, your prospect is in a Facebook audience, and you retarget them with advertising based on the pages they visited on your website.

• A few days later, on social media, your prospect sees a " Test Drive " video of a model they looked at on your site.

• They watch it for over 75%: The visitor is added to the " Warm Luxury Prospects " list in your Martech tool.

• You follow up with them via email and Facebook to encourage them to download the vehicle brochure. You ask for their address in exchange for the brochure.

• Your sales advisor receives a notification. They contact the prospect and offer a test drive.

This scenario is a very simple example of a Lead Nurturing strategy that has been executed with an automated marketing tool. At Gro, our favorite Automated Marketing tool is Autopilot. There are many others (dozens)!

There are two key takeaways from Lead Nurturing. The first is the following statement: 86% of consumers prefer to be informed about a company's products and services rather than being solicited through advertising.

The second takeaway is in the following numbers:

• 3% of people are in " Buy Now "

• 17% of people are searching for information about their needs or problems

• 20% of people are not searching for information but are aware of their needs or problems

• 60% of people are not aware of their needs or problems

• 97% of people need to be educated about your product or service.

Most companies focus their marketing efforts on the 3%… seize this opportunity now!

What is the difference between a newsletter and Lead Nurturing?

It’s important to make a distinction between a newsletter and Lead Nurturing. The use of a newsletter is broad. You have a list of people who signed up to learn about your promotions, new products, events, etc. The newsletter can be sent to audience segments, just like Lead Nurturing.

However, Lead Nurturing will be much more focused on the goal of converting a prospect into a client. Additionally, a good strategy will use multiple synchronized channels (Facebook, Instagram, Google, Emails, SMS, Chatbot) to ensure that the prospect is well-informed and converted.

How to do Lead Nurturing?

You have all the elements in hand to generate quality prospects. Thanks to part 1 and part 2 of this guide, you have understood the different types of traffic and the stages of the sales funnel. Also, you understand the key points of Inbound Marketing. At this stage, your prospects are still cold, but I will show you how to do Lead Nurturing and how to warm them up with the right strategies. Again, the goal of these strategies is to increase the level of trust of these companies towards yours.

Some companies have very long sales cycles, up to 18 months. For example, software. Since implementing a CRM software can greatly affect a company’s operations, decision-makers must think long and hard before making a decision. In this case, combining a " classic " newsletter with a Lead Nurturing strategy could be a good alternative.

Step 1: Choose Your Digital Tools

Since Lead Nurturing is part of your Inbound Marketing strategy, you will also need to use tools to automate your marketing, send emails, and " score " your prospects. Depending on your organization, you will need to choose the right tool. We have written articles on the subject on our blog. At Gro, we use Autopilot software to automate our marketing and Pipedrive as our CRM.

As you will need to create content, I suggest using Notion.so for writing your blogs and preparing your content. Notion is an incredible digital tool (SaaS) for documentation. You can also create an editorial calendar to properly prepare your strategy. Notion also allows for team collaboration on shared documents.

If you decide to implement a complex Inbound Marketing and Lead Nurturing strategy, I highly recommend using Monday project management software.

You should be able to be well-organized and operational with these 4 digital tools:

1. Pipedrive (CRM)

2. Autopilot (Automated Marketing)

3. Notion (Writing and Documentation)

4. Monday (Planning and Management)

Step 2: Planning Content

As in Inbound Marketing, you can use the tool Lucid Chart to create flowcharts…but I will give you a very good tip. If you are serious about your approach, start by blogging. Blog, blog, blog! Set aside blocks of 8 hours to write. Why? With this approach, I created a ton of content in relatively little time (20 days): 23 blog articles, 36,000 words, edited + integrated into my website.

Then, I took certain parts of my blog to create emails and social media posts. Afterwards, I created videos related to the subjects of my blogs. Finally, I compiled my articles to create 2 eBooks… I also have an online training course in production! I achieved all this in 20 days and about 100 hours of work. As I mentioned in part 1 of this guide, the ROI of this time has been monstrous.

Writing allows us to think about all aspects of our business. One topic often leads to another. I currently have 40 blog article topics that I would like to write and then distribute them in my Lead Nurturing. Blog articles will give you ideas for visuals, videos, webinars, etc.

Planning + Organization = Performance.

Step 3: Create Your Conversion Track

You can focus on 2 objectives in your Lead Nurturing strategy (track):

• Sell a product or service

• Book an appointment or consultation (paid or free)

In my case, my goal is to sell training or a paid consultation. I will then create my track with that goal in mind. My purpose is not to sell my CRM implementation, Martech, or LeadGen services. My goal is for my prospects to register for a consultation at $225 per hour to help my client define their needs.

My Lead Nurturing track begins when the prospect downloads my eBook. At that precise moment, they will be added to my newsletter. After 2 emails from my newsletter, all those who did not open the emails will be contacted by phone, simply to find out if they enjoyed my eBook and learn more about them. No sales or soliciting!

Then, the prospects fall into another track…that of conversion. My prospects receive 4 emails. 1 each day. Here are the subjects of the 4 emails:

• 3 minutes to understand the benefits of a CRM (Video)

• Measuring the ROI of a CRM and automation (Video)

• The magic equation of efficiency (Text Only)

• Consultation at 80% off ($49 instead of $225)

When my prospect books a consultation at $49 instead of $225. My goal will obviously be to meet the expectations of my new client, but I will also try to " upsell " with other services or an additional hour of consultation. Always without pressure and solely with the aim of adding value.

Is the time invested in Lead Nurturing worth it?

Absolutely! Especially if the work is done internally. Personally, my return on investment was instant. Furthermore, my Lead Nurturing strategy has had a major impact on my brand in the medium term and I am beginning to see very interesting results in my organic search results.

I now save a lot of time on one-on-one education with my clients and I am able to solicit more prospects than with Cold Calling. Also, if you use methods like " Email Outreach " that are synchronized with your Lead Nurturing… you could see your sales explode in a very short time!

If you want to improve your knowledge in lead generation, we offer training at our offices that we tailor to your reality! Click here to learn more or message me!

The next part of the guide will teach you how to classify your prospects through Lead Scoring, which will allow you to focus on the right prospects!