What is Lead Nurturing?
Lead nurturing is a term that has been around for quite some time. The idea is that once a lead converts on a top, middle, or bottom of the funnel offer, they might not be ready to speak with a sales person or purchase the product and/or service immediately. In that case, you will nurture the lead.
The key to nurturing a lead is to provide ongoing communication with them. This keeps you on top of their mind so once they are ready, they will purchase from you.
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The channels that are primarily used for lead nurturing are email and content.
Typical goals for lead nurturing will vary. You may want to stay top of mind, or maybe you need to move people down the funnel (depending on where they started in the funnel). Another lead nurturing goal could be to collect additional data for future marketing.
Traditional Lead Nurturing Is Being Replaced by Marketing Funnels
In recent years, lead nurturing has been replaced by advanced companies that put funnels in place called email funnels or follow-up funnels. These are sequences of emails, content, messages, and videos designed to bring people down the funnel. If they did not convert when they joined your database, the intent is to build a relationship, build a rapport, and educate them to bring them down the funnel.
How to Avoid the Biggest Lead Nurturing Mistake
Obviously, the worst mistake you can make as a marketer is to not nurture leads at all. Once you begin to nurture your leads, the tricky part becomes deciding how and what to communicate. As marketers, we are trained to make our marketing messages about the lead.
- You have this challenge
- You can achieve more
- We have a way for making this process easier for you
Often times, we write messages to people who we barely have relationships with, as if they should trust us that we know them. Think about it. Wouldn’t you be suspicious of someone off the street claiming to know all about what you are going through the minute they met you?
The Secret to Better Lead Nurturing
Instead of starting your relationship with lead-centric messages - saying “you, you, you,” you need to flip the script and make it about yourself. Tell your story, tell them you have information, secrets, processes, and tools that they want to know about.
Use those touches as an opportunity to hook them by telling your origin story. The origin story should consist of the scenario or the situation that helped you realize the way you were doing things was broken. Tell them how you (or your company) figured out that that there was a better way to do things and how you developed a better way to accomplish your goals.
How to Draw Leads in With Your Brand’s Story
When you develop your origin story, do not start with the highlights of your career. Start with your lowest points or your darkest moments.
Create a “Hero’s Journey” and show them how you overcame a challenge. By sharing your hardships, you're providing them with a map and directions so they can more easily navigate their current struggles. Let them know they do not have to go through the same trials and tribulations that you went through. You are here to help them and save them from that.
Talk about your struggles and how you wouldn’t give up. Let them know exactly how you felt during your journey. Tell them exactly what kept you going when things got rough, maybe it was your family or your own sheer will. Explain how you overcame your struggle and then wrap up with the big payoff and the end results.
The “Hero’s Journey” will draw your reader in to trust you, and they'll want to know more about how you persevered to reach your goals.
At this point, you are the expert and you have the secrets that they need revealed. Avoid giving away every detail in your 1st email. You will lay out your story over several emails and this will have your reader wanting more. They will contact you for more insight into how they can accomplish what you achieved, or convert on the next opportunity that they lay out for you.
Most importantly, your emails will stand out from the rest. You will have a stronger relationship with your prospective customers that you can leverage to bring people down your sales funnel.
