Marketing professionals may have a mile-long list of enticing leads, but what truly matters is the nurture skills required to turn those leads into customers.
According to HubSpot’s 2021 State of Marketing Report, 74 percent of companies say that converting leads into customers is their top priority, yet 61 percent report that generating traffic and leads is their biggest marketing challenge. In an attempt to leap over this hurdle, the lead nurturing process is becoming increasingly automated. For instance, 76 percent of companies are currently using automation to reach potential customers, and 26 percent of those who don’t plan to adopt it in the next year.
This could imply that the human touch in traditional lead nurturing is becoming less important, but that isn’t the case — knowing which platforms to target, how to interact with clients and personalizing the overall approach takes skill that automation can’t replace.
“Part of empathizing with the customer includes treating them like a person, despite them representing their business,” explained Palmer Mitchell, growth marketing specialist at Leyton.
The numbers back Mitchell up: Salesforce’s 2020 State of the Connected Customer Report found that 84 percent of consumers believe being treated like a person, not a number — as well as having their business goals understood — is very important when making a purchase. Automation does not mean that marketers can take a “click-and-go” approach to lead nurturing.
So how should marketing professionals develop these crucial skills to get ahead? Built In San Francisco caught up further with Mitchell to discuss his approach to successful lead nurturing — and how he keeps up to date with the ever-changing nature of digital marketing.
From your experience, what’s the secret to a successful lead nurturing campaign and why?
Good marketing looks to exchange value with their customer. In return for their attention and hopefully their purchase of your product or service, marketers should feel obligated to provide value. This might include additional education around your product, service, incentives or just the care and attention required for a more personalized connection. As soon as you start nurturing a lead, the goal should be to provide value to them.
As a B2B marketer, I like to approach adding value with customer empathy at the core of any nurture strategy. Give them enough information to make a good decision, and make them look good to their boss if they are not the primary decision maker. Be respectful if you’ve lost their attention. Recognize that different people have different needs and try to draw out what makes a lead unique. Finally, make sure your sales team is set up for success.
How has this strategy improved the success or efficacy of your lead nurturing campaigns?
By utilizing a strategy of customer empathy, I’ve seen success in conversion and engagement rate, attitudes of prospects when they get to the point of a sales call, and confirmation that a customer feels confident in their purchase decision. Part of empathizing with the customer includes treating them like a person, despite them representing their business.
In developing a lead campaign that took place at an industry convention, I wanted to personalize the materials that were being sent to the event and included in the follow-up afterwards. As the product I was marketing at the time had wide usability across various sectors, it was important that the conversations taking place were increasingly relevant to the prospect and built upon in the lead nurture journey. These personalized assets and customized campaigns, mixed with the incredible skill of our sales team, created one of the most successful events our business had seen up to that point.
Every test, even a failure, can be turned into a success if you focus on creating an environment of constant learning.”
With digital marketing evolving so rapidly, what steps have you taken to continue evolving and optimizing your approach?
Trying to stay on top of the latest trends is important to every marketing person’s job. Whether it be through publications like Adweek or on social media like Twitter or LinkedIn, there’s a plethora of knowledge and thought leaders out there to provide advice and generate new ideas. I like to spend my commute reading the news or listening to a podcast to immerse myself in these new ideas. However, I think marketers should incorporate a healthy dose of experimenting, testing and analysis into their workflows. Starting with small, measurable changes or optimizations to marketing activities can provide new insights and keep the job fresh. Every test, even a failure, can be turned into a success if you focus on creating an environment of constant learning. I am fortunate to work at a company that allows me to embrace this ideology.
