Automated Marketing Definitions and Concepts
Lead Nurturing is a relationship driven sales and marketing process designed so leads, clients and customers connect to your business at the optimal points in time.
Additional Definitions:
"Lead nurturing is not just sending a monthly email newsletter to your entire database, or calling prospects every few weeks to see if they are ready to buy yet. It is your opportunity to build a relationship with a real person and progressively understand more about his needs". - Jon Miller
"Lead nurturing is all about having consistent and meaningful communication with viable prospects regardless of their timing to buy." - Brian Carroll"Think of lead nurturing as a process of micro-conversions based on the multiple conversations you're having"- Brian Carroll
Why Now?
The days of sporadic, one-time marketing and sales campaigns are over. Finding the difference between making "touches" or overwhelming your prospects with information becomes a real issue. More resources are available to people than ever before, and making contact when they are ready becomes a key component. This is where Lead Nurturing comes in.
How is Lead Nurturing helpful?
1) Creates value by building credibility and initiating the trust necessary for a sale.
2) Allows you to keep up with both warm and cold leads consistently and effectively.
3) Integrates online and offline sales and marketing efforts.
4) Removes repetitive manual tasks.
5) Produces a consistent system from which you can improve and analyze from.
6) Allows you to adapt to what prospects have done by seeing their actions and delivering an appropriate message as a result.
By delivering your leads and current customers a consistent, relevant and highly targeted message, you can create an ongoing conversation with them to gaining loyalty and trust for your business. While freeing up your sales and marketing time to focus on converting the people who are truly interested in your business and leaving the automation system to warm the rest.
Articles and Resources:
Lead Nurturing
Search Engine Land: Lead Management: When Conversion Is Not Enough
Sales x Marketing: Lead Nurturing and Niche Marketing - More Cost Effective?
B2B Sales and Marketing Blog: The Art and Science of Lead Nurturing
Rain Today: Sustaining Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing Efforts
Modern B2b Marketing Blog: Lead Nurturing 101
Marketing Profs: Five Key Steps to Measuring Your Lead-Nurturing Initiative (registration required)
B2B Lead Generation Blog: Lead Nurturing as trusted advisors with the Human Touch
INtouch: How Lead Nurturing Drives Better ROI
Click z: Best Practices in Integrated Lead Management
Marketing Profs: Lead Nurturing: Ripening the Right Bananas (registration required)
IMedia Connection: Make Lead Nurturing Effective in 2007
Sales 2.0: Lead Nurturing is about Relationships, not e-mails
B2B Online: Marketing for the long haul
Marketing Sherpa: Lead Nurturing Best Practices (registration required)
Sales Lead Experts: Are you dropping out of the lead nurturing race too soon?
Industry Insights: Do You Have an Automated Response and Lead Nurturing Program in Place?
Emarketing Blog: Lead Nurturing: Converting Leads into Purchasing Customers
Drip Marketing
About.com: Drip Marketing: Is It Effective?
New York Enterprise Report: Drip. Drip. Drip Marketing
Real Estate Tomato: 4 Steps to Drip Marketing Success
Lead 360: Lead Nurturing
Swiftpage emarketing: Automation - Your Business Time Saver
SearchEngineLand: B2B Marketing: Blind Date To White Wedding
Marketing Blogs Discussing this topic
Marketing Profs
Start with a lead
MarketingAutomationNow
Smart Marketers
FutureLab
Funnelholic
Swiftpage emarketing
