If you’re reading this, you may underestimate the importance of nurturing leads. And you probably don’t know exactly how to turn them into sales. Luckily we’ll cover both of those components in this blog post.
What Is Lead Nurturing?
Before we dive in, let’s talk about what lead nurturing actually means. When you build relationships with potential customers to get them to buy what you’re selling, you’re nurturing leads.
The goal here is to keep them engaged and interested in your company until they’re ready to spend money with you. There are tons of ways you can do this by providing value before they become paying customers, but I’ll get into more detail on developing a lead nurturing strategy later on.
What’s The Point Of Lead Nurturing?
You have an awesome service, and you’re great at what you do, but that’s not enough to have customers banging down your door to purchase it. The reality is that at any one time, only about 3% of your list wants to buy your service. So you must nurture those names, stay in front of them, and be visible to get the results you want.
When you give your potential customers the valuable information they’re searching for, they’ll look to you as the expert in your field. As a result, they’ll consider you when they’re ready to make a purchase.
When you’re constantly pushing valuable and helpful information out to your potential clients, you’ll stay top of mind. Now, I’m not saying everyone is going to make a purchase right away. In reality, nurturing is a long-term investment of your time and resources. But when those customers are waving their money around, that consistency and hard work will pay off when they come to you first.
Use My Sales Process To Double Your Close Rate
Nurturing Leads 101: My Top Tips
So, now you know how important lead nurturing is, and you’re ready to get started. But how do you do it? I’ve put together my top tips below for anyone who’s serious about building an effective lead nurturing strategy that sticks.
Host In-Person Events
When it comes to nurturing leads, I can’t stress the importance of in-person events enough. There are so many things you can do, from educational seminars to collaboration opportunities, to keep yourself at the forefront of your target customer’s minds.
For example, you could join forces with an insurance company where you each bring your own audiences to a public event. You can even get creative and do something fun like ax throwing or a wine and cheese tasting. Really, the main goal here is to get in the same room with your ideal clients and prove your value so they’ll remember you when they need your services.
I like to reference Michael Port’s book “Book Yourself Solid,” where he talks about the concept of always having something to invite people to. Trust me and try it out yourself; it works!
Create Helpful Content
Create valuable content that helps your target audience solve their problems. Write blog posts, white papers, case studies, and anything you can think of that will be helpful to your future customers. Email sequences and freebie resources can go a long way – you never know who’s reading about your services and making a mental note for later!
My advice for creating content is to tone down the selling. Don’t be overly promotional. Instead, focus on providing value. What concepts are they confused about and looking for guidance on? Build your trust and credibility by answering those questions and proving to your audience that you can help them when they need it.
Use Email Marketing
I briefly mentioned email sequences above, but email marketing deserves its own section. Sending regular updates directly to your target audience’s inboxes is paramount to an effective lead nurturing strategy. What better way is there to stay top of mind than popping up on their phone and computer screens?
Most people spend a lot of time on their devices, so it’s the perfect opportunity to send information about your company, new products, upcoming events, and industry news that will spark conversation. Collect email addresses from your potential customers and add them to your list. Then you can stay in their faces to (eventually) capture that 3%.
Stay Consistent
Like I said before, consistency is key when it comes to lead nurturing. It will take patience, but when you finally secure those paying clients, you’ll be happy you followed through. Regularly give helpful information to your audience to keep them engaged and interested.
My best tip for staying consistent is to create a content schedule. This might include sending out an email newsletter every month or posting on social media a couple of times a week. You can also publish blog posts to bring traffic to your website and service pages. Whatever you decide to do, just stick to it, and you’ll see the fruits of your labor sooner or later.
Be Everywhere
When you’re pushing out helpful content to your audience, use more than one channel. I’m talking about social media, email marketing, phone calls, and more. Reach your future clients in different ways and make sure you’re getting your message across to as many people as possible. Anything you can do to stay in contact with your ideal customers and keep them engaged should be part of your lead nurturing strategy – just keep your messages and branding consistent everywhere so your audience recognizes your company.
I Have My Lead Nurturing Strategy. What’s Next?
As with any marketing strategy, you’ll need to monitor your results over time. This will help you understand what’s working and what has to go. I can’t tell you exactly when you’ll reach your goals, but I promise you’ll start off in the right direction by employing some of the strategies I explained earlier.
When monitoring your results, look for open rates, click-throughs, and conversions to get an idea of where you stand and how you can improve. Then use that data to make the adjustments you need to accelerate your business.
What Are You Waiting For? Nurture Those Leads!
If I haven’t already said it enough, nurturing leads is a critical part of your marketing strategy, and you’ll need to start doing it if you want to build a solid customer base. Consider the tips I mentioned and decide which ones are the best fit for you. Remember, the key is to provide helpful content to your audience and stay consistent. You can do it!