While generating leads is super important, it is even more important to hang onto them, convince them what a huge difference you’ll make in their lives, and convert them into clients. Nurturing them can, unfortunately, take a while. Ever hear of the “Law of 29”? It states that a prospect won’t turn into a client until they have viewed your marketing message 29 times. Twenty. Nine. Times.
It’s worth the effort, though: Companies that use lead nurturing have closing rates 300 percent higher than competitors who don’t nurture qualified and qualifiable leads (thanks to HubSpot for that statistic).
There are five ways to effectively nurture those prospects: drip marketing, blogs, newsletters, LinkedIn Answers and social media. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that you always need to include a call to action.
1. Drip Marketing
Funny name, but a great description that refers to sending, or dripping, messages to prospects over time. Use a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to help you automate drip marketing, and be sure to send your prospects information based on how they contacted you. So, if it’s through your website’s contact us form, email them. If they contact you via Twitter, respond with a tweet.
Early in the buying cycle, send white papers, your newsletter, and/or eBooks. By the middle of the buying cycle, send special invitations, datasheets, and/or demos. At the end of the buying cycle, when you are ready for them to decide already, send pricing, feature comparisons, and/or testimonials.
2. Blogs
Invite prospects to subscribe to your blog, where, of course, they will receive useful, interesting, and relevant information on a regular basis. Engage with your readers by asking questions: do they agree or disagree and why; what has their experience been; should you write more on this topic? By starting discussions with your readers, you are also connecting to prospective clients and hopefully pushing them along the sales funnel.
3. Newsletters
A great way to keep your name in front of prospective clients! Just remember to only write a little bit about your company and a lot about your industry’s best practices, mistakes to avoid, easy ways to do x, etc. Feel free to repurpose blog posts, but always keep it short and include information your reader can use.
4. LinkedIn Answers
If you meet a prospective customer at a networking event, send them an invitation to join your network on LinkedIn (just personalize that invite!). Once you are connected, they will see your activity in their weekly LinkedIn update, including the fact that you are answering questions others have posed (and they can read those answers, too).
5. Social Media
Think of social media as a lead nurturing tool. You might not even know someone is a lead until they’ve been following you on Twitter or Facebook for so long they’ve gotten 29 messages (chances are high that they don’t read everything you post). This is why it’s so important to consistently send out useful, interesting, and engaging information, including outright calls to action.
What other tools or methods do you use to convert prospects into clients? I’d love to hear about them!
Image by Flickr user Rosalxxi (Creative Commons)
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