Nurture marketing is a technique for building multistage campaigns that interact with customers across multiple touch points. Nurture campaigns progressively move prospects through a process, via content, that maps to the prospects unique buying cycle. Leads mature from awareness to a sales ready stage through an automated system.
Nurture marketing is typically applied to the pre-sales process as a multi-step communication between a potential prospect and a company. By nurturing leads, companies can
Increase revenue by maintaining relationships with potential customers who are not yet ready to buy in the short-term
Increase sales rep productivity by reducing the time sales reps spend educating customer prospects
Educate and influence potential customers about products and solutions
Establish a brand reputation as a trusted advisor and valuable source of thought leadership
In the recently published Gleansight on Lead Nurturing, only 37% of Top Performers indicated securing executive buy-in for nurture marketing initiatives was a challenge. On the other hand, Everyone Else (87%) cited executive level buy-in is a top challenge. There is still a huge population of B2B business leaders who haven’t quite bought into the idea of nurture marketing. You know who you are.
Top Performers estimated lead nurturing techniques generated a 45% higher close rate within 6 months, with no incremental lift in marketing spend. While advanced techniques like lead prioritization, lead scoring, and behavioral analytics make lead nurturing more impactful, basic email marketing drip campaigns can also suffice. In fact, 60% of Top Performers indicated they utilized drip-marketing techniques (most with segmentation) to keep in touch with prospects. Chances are, 99% of organizations already have the tools to implement nurture marketing.
There are lots of companies that are generating incredible lift in revenue with nurture marketing; which will become a competitive parity for B2B marketers. Until then, Top Performers will continue to steal market share from Everyone Else through lead nurturing and other nurture marketing tactics.
Discussion: What’s stopping your organization from implementing nurture marketing?
