To do proper lead nurturing, you’ll need some type of marketing automation. But not having that automation right now is no excuse for failing to nurture your leads. Get at it if you’re not doing it.
Why? Here’s why:
- Businesses who use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.
- Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads.
- 76% of CMO’s’s list high quality lead generation as their greatest challenge. Marketing Automation addresses this.
- In the US, 54% of Marketing Managers have either begun or completed their implementation of Marketing Automation.
- The combination of process with marketing automation yields a 417% increase in revenue from those surveyed
(This data comes from an informative site: http://www.mcraeandcompany.co.uk.)
You have to start with a lead–one that is at least partially qualified. As you know, leads have to be graded, and marketing automation can’t always do it for you. But once over that hill, you’re ready to start.
The key is regular communication. A lead may come from a white paper download from your website, or from advertising. Typically, a piece of collateral has been given away to get the opt-in (contact information).
It’s easiest if you have several pieces of collateral–several different types of collateral as well. For example, a white paper, a case study, a datasheet, and perhaps a technical document (this won’t give away the farm, but might go into greater detail than your white paper, and may contain data from one or more case studies). The rest of this collateral will be given away as part of the lead nurturing process.