9ADVANCEDLEAD NURTURING: The Nine Essential Nurtures Every Business Should Use

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ADVANCED LEAD NURTURING: THE NINE ESSENTIAL NURTURES EVERY BUSINESS SHOULD USE

Today’s buyers are more educated than ever, and often don’t engage directly with a salesperson until late in the buying cycle, which puts more demand on marketers. However, implementing lead nurturing programs builds necessary prospect engagement through ongoing value-based dialogue with buyers. Moreover, a successful lead nurturing program can generate impressive results. In fact, nurtured leads produce on average a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities compared to non-nurtured leads.1 The catch? Bridging the concept of lead nurturing and the development of an effective, repeatable program that actually delivers ROI can be complicated. The very characteristics that make lead nurturing impactful—targeted communications, calls to action and activity-driven engagement—also make nurturing programs challenging to build.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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INTRODUCTION

Lead nurturing is all the buzz among today’s BtoB marketers and for good reason. A successful nurturing campaign can drive a serious impact on revenue. But, lead nurturing is also about helping buyers along their journey. According to SiriusDecisions, “Lead nurturing has grown in popularity as organizations look to squeeze value out of the demand waterfall.”2

Developed exclusively for BtoB marketers, this white paper will:

∙ Define the concept of lead nurturing

∙ Examine nine essential nurtures proven to deliver impactful results

∙ Outline the keys to lead nurturing success

50% 33%Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate

more sales-ready leads at

lower cost per lead.3

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LEAD NURTURING: WHAT IT IS

Lead nurturing is the process of building engagement through an ongoing, value-based dialogue with qualified suspects, leads and existing clients. This exchange of information benefits both parties, the marketer and audience. For example, an organization may offer a white paper and in return request basic profile information. Or it may offer a benchmark assessment tool and request information about the prospect’s challenges. This valuable interaction can build brand preference and provide insight—setting the stage for future engagement and success.

A successful lead nurturing program:

∙ Offers value in exchange for insight such as profile information

∙ Extends over multiple touch points across complex sales cycles

∙ Leverages calls to action to drive qualified prospects toward a clearly defined conversion goal

∙ Is sequenced in advance for each touch and stage of the funnel

∙ Is managed by a marketing automation platform

WHAT IT’S NOT

Lead nurturing is not a one-and-done single follow up. There are countless reasons as to why leads lose their way along the buyer’s journey or become stuck in non-responsive mode. A variety of approaches is needed to guide them back to their place in the demand funnel. Some marketers rely on the constant sending of emails to “nurture” leads. The infamous batch and blast technique is not a best practice and it’s not lead nurturing. THE BENEFITS OF LEAD NURTURING

The benefits of lead nurturing derive from its ability to seal “leaks” throughout the funnel and help marketing organizations automate their engagement while mining untapped sources of opportunities.

of BtoB organizations have not identified their funnel.4

68%

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Lead nurturing packs a powerful punch. And, if designed properly, can do the following:

∙ Generate mindshare and maintain contact with leads throughout the buying cycle

∙ Revitalize dormant opportunities

∙ Improve velocity and extend the life of leads

∙ Augment data captured through traditional lead scoring/qualification

∙ Improve database hygiene, segmentation and size, and provide greater integration across existing programs

∙ Deliver ROI

∙ Strengthen brand

Nine Essential Lead Nurtures

Lead nurturing as an ongoing dialogue takes a variety of forms. On a tactical level, there are nine essential lead nurtures that are relevant at different stages of the buying cycle. While they are best used in conjunction with each other, it is possible for an organization to start small with a well-defined test program, selecting an area of the funnel from which they anticipate being able to drive the most return with the least risk.

Note, each type of lead nurture refers to the objective not the vehicle. The specific

communications vehicle used to engage with prospects and customers may vary from program to program and even within programs. Some nurturing tactics include emails, webinars, seminars and teleprospecting. Marketers must select the communications that are relevant to each prospect’s needs, habits and goals.

65%of BtoB organizations have not established lead nurturing.5

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PERPETUAL NURTURE

Ongoing marketing communications designed to position a brand as top-of-mind with prospects. Examples include marketing calendars, event marketing, channel communications and weekly, monthly and time-triggered newsletters developed with thought leadership content and engagement opportunities. Perpetual nurturing often fulfills a role of earning permission to communicate with prospects by offering an opt-in with a request for minimal profile information. A newsletter, for example may ask only for name, company and email.

Perpetual nurturing goes hand in hand with building and growing a house database. It creates a steady stream of communications that can be customized as the organization has time and data to drive. For example, a newsletter nurture program can be segmented into communications for new members (recent additions) that contains a welcome message different from the newsletter received by existing members. A newsletter can also be segmented by industry or title, depending on business rules for the organization.

ADVANCED NURTURING

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PRE-MQL NURTURE

Early-mid buying cycle activities designed to welcome new prospects and generate interest. Examples include specific product marketing via webinars, white papers and rich media offerings, and activities meant to tease out a lead’s BANT qualification. Here, the driver of success is not the collateral but rather the message with which it is delivered, and the following call to action that moves a lead a step further in their buying journey.

Prior to launching a pre-MQL nurture, Marketing and Sales should determine how to qualify the leads in order to ensure they are placed in the appropriate tracks in the future. Leads are typically pulled into a pre-MQL nurture via inbound activity such as an invitation to take a specific buyer insight assessment. The nurture flow is then designed based on the needs and multi-touch efforts associated with a theme that is relevant to the audience. Leads coming out of a pre-MQL nurture are typically sent to teleprospecting, inside sales or channel partners.

Conversion ContentOne of the most effective uses

of content that generates lead

conversions are buyer insight

assessments. An infographic

is a creative and effective way

to invite leads to take such an

assessment, and to show off

creative chops.

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OPPORTUNITY ACCELERATION NURTURE

Mid-buying cycle activities designed to accelerate responsive leads. Upon taking a buyer insight assessment, business needs are defined and translated into economic impact and need. Here, marketers provide high-value content that is relevant to buyers’ needs. The content is often designed to show prospects how their organization compares to industry benchmarks and explains best practice solutions to solve their business needs.

These assessments are not only informative for leads, but for Marketing and Sales as well. The results of each assessment provide key insight into each prospect, which can later help Sales inform their approach and messaging.

DEX ONE’S “HOW FINDABLE ARE YOU?” BUYER INSIGHT ASSESSMENT

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Display Advertising as NurturingDigital display advertising is breaking

ground these days, especially when

used within nurture programs and

executed from within your marketing

automation platform. By tying a

nurture program into targeted display

advertising, such as banner ads,

marketers can engage with interested

prospects by delivering personalized

content. Moreover, using banner

ads within a nurture creates a multi-

channel experience, thus not relying

solely on the use of traditional

email—allowing marketers to

increase their touch points and

contact conversion.

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SALES CONVERSION NURTURE

Mid-late buying cycle activities designed to drive prospects toward sales engagement. Here, Marketing and Sales collaborate to “close the gap” and implement the best practices needed to deliver prospects the highest value. To fuel these efforts, Marketing arms Sales with the insight and tools they need to drive engagements and conversions. As mentioned in the previous nurture, this insight can be gained through interactive buyer assessments.

PASSIVE RECYCLE NURTURE

Designed to reengage non-responsive leads such as those that have been timed out or have reached call max. These leads are stalled within a Sales stage and as a result are placed in a passive recycle nurture. Here, leads are either resubmitted to a Sales representative or telesales, or are disqualified and placed into a longer nurture track.

One of the best ways to engage with non-responsive leads is to drive messages that are relevant to their last known stage in the buying cycle. Not only does this enable Marketing and Sales to understand why the lead stopped engaging, but it helps fuel their strategy to reinvigorate the opportunity.

ACTIVE RECYCLE NURTURE

Designed to reactivate disqualified or lost-opportunity leads immediately after loss or disqualification. Here, leads are disqualified based on pre-determined reasons. With marketing automation in place, active recycle nurturing goes hand in hand with Marketing’s demand creation efforts.

According to SiriusDecisions, active recycle nurtures should be designed with flows that are relevant to the reason(s) leads are considered “lost.” When designing this type of nurture, one of the main objectives is to deliver value by providing educational content such as white papers and/or webinars. This type of nurture provides the perfect opportunity for Marketing and Sales to drive the highly relevant marketing touches that ensure demand creation doesn’t go to waste.

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POST-SALE NURTURE

Designed to accelerate the use of existing solutions and products. Though many marketing organizations stop nurturing post sale, best practice research shows that nurturing existing clients at this stage is one of the most important efforts a marketing organization can make. By nurturing post sale and accelerating the use of products and solutions, marketing organizations avoid shelf wear of their offerings, while providing customer value.

There are four main “flavors” of post-sale nurtures. The first is often known as a “Welcome” nurture and is designed to ensure that new customers immediately receive the most valuable experience. This is a great place to provide access to additional resources, which can encourage early adoption.

Another effective post-sale nurture includes the cross-sell and upsell of products such as training, accessories, etc. This enables customers to maximize their investment by complementing their existing solutions. Providing case studies and use cases that demonstrate the real value of the purchased solutions is an excellent way to tie in high-value content.

Loyalty programs such as newsletters are also an important element in a post-sale nurture, and allow marketers to drive a direct, valuable conversation with customers. Though it’s not necessarily the final straw of a post-sale nurture, a renewal program is an effective way to conveniently “remind” customers when annual contracts are nearing expiration. Here, marketers provide reasons why customers should renew and how they can go about the process. A renewable program is often automated, which is convenient and efficient.

PERIPHERAL NURTURE

Designed to generate prospect responses outside of the Marketing and Sales functions. Examples include training, speaking engagements, case study opportunities, focus groups, panels and other peer events. Here, organizations can create peripheral nurture programs that are connected to a prospect’s community. The content delivered during a peripheral nurture often includes information about a prospect’s industry, including case studies and invites to

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participate in peer discussions. In return, information is obtained from subscribers—providing insight into pain points, questions and successes in a prospect’s industry.

RECONSTITUTED/REENGAGE NURTURING Designed to reengage non-responsive leads in a database. Though it’s not the only use case, a reconstituted/reengage nurture is often used as a last-ditch approach to reconnect with leads that have not responded to a perpetual nurture before removing them from a database. Though reconstituted/reengage nurturing may sound similar to passive recycle nurturing, there are several key differences. If a lead remains unresponsive following a reconstituted/reengage nurture, it is removed from the database rather than being placed in a longer nurture. Moreover, field marketers or teleprospectors become responsible for these leads rather than Sales.

When designing a reconstituted nurture, the “age” of a lead is one the first things that must be considered. If a lead has become nonresponsive beyond a predetermined length of time, it might be safe to say that they have chosen a solution to the problem they originally had. Therefore, messages created to target these leads should be tailored to complement the solution that is assumed to be in place.

THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL NURTURING At this point, it’s likely obvious that lead nurturing is mutually beneficial and necessary in today’s increasingly complex buying cycle. But, beyond bridging the concept of it and the actual development of a nurture program, there are still some key elements marketers must have in place.

STRATEGY

Marketing and Sales must determine and agree upon the purpose of any nurture program (i.e., reengage, accelerate, etc.). Furthermore, both teams need to establish what needs to be accomplished, who the audiences will be and what they will be interested in. This vital information helps organizations build nurture programs by informing everything from the initial plan to the messaging that is to be used in the communications.

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CONTENT

Every nurture needs a call to action incorporated within the program—and at very specific intervals. The content may include downloading a white paper, registering for a webinar or taking a

buyer insight assessment—all of which should be aligned with the buyers’ journey. Take emails for example.

TECHNOLOGY

In order to ensure a nurture is working, marketers must be able to “watch” and optimize elements such as subject lines, messaging and content. This also shows which assets are the best performing. Marketing automation drives all of the pre-set triggers for communications, as well as the termination.

Moreover, CRM integration enables the follow-up steps that lead to conversion

activities. Marketing automation improves efficiency and effectiveness of nurtures.

18Xmore revenue than broadcast emails.6

Relevant emails can drive

of marketers have a full feathered marketing automation solution in place.75%Only

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DATA

Data quality is vital. Organizations should be able to segment a database in order to understand buyer behaviors. Being able to execute persona development will help identify key things like pain points and motivators, which will inform messages and content. Information about a lead’s profile information and behavior (implicit and explicit) will help marketers deliver relevant messages throughout the course of a nurture.

By implementing these key elements into any nurture campaign, organizations are sure to drive highly successful programs.

Nurture Audience/Stage Funnel Stage Most Effective TacticsEnterprise

Priority Messaging

Action

Perpetual Unknown or known not active Ongoing Monthly newsletters,

channel communications 4 Press

Pre-MQLUnaware

(known + activity), aware

Top of funnel Events, CPL programs, CTA downloads 3 Press

Opportunity Acceleration Active, responding Mid-funnel

Awareness nurture emails and buyer’s journey

CTAs, BIAs2 Pull

Sales Conversion

Validating, comparing, researching, deciding

Bottom of funnel

ROI calculators, business case modelers, feature

builder tools, sales intercept messaging

1 Pull

Passive Recycle

Did not buy (time), did not buy (competition) Mid-funnel Email, banner ad

retargeting, microsites 7 Follow

Active Recycle

Did not buy (unknown), did not buy (DQ in sales

process), did not buy (lost in process)

Mid-funnel Email, banner ad retargeting, microsites 8 Press

Post-SaleBought, welcome,

how to use, getting started, resources

Bottom of funnel

Email, videos, success stories, FAQ hypersites,

check-ins5 Pull

Peripheral Using, excelling, expiring

Frequent/ ongoing

Case studies, loyalty programs 6 Press

Reconstituted/ Reengage Non responders Mid-funnel Email, teleservices,

social ad retargeting 9 Follow

THE DIMENSIONS OF LEAD NURTURING

1DemandGen Report, 2SiriusDecisions, “The Care and Feeding of Leads,” May 2009, 3Forrester Research, 4MarketingSherpa, 5MarketingSherpa, 6Jupiter Research, 7Forrester Research

©2014 Bulldog Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT BULLDOG SOLUTIONS

Bulldog Solutions is an innovative, technology-fueled marketing agency for global BtoB companies. We partner with marketing automation experts like Eloqua and Marketo to enable marketing organizations to get the most out of their technology and we develop programs that drive results by providing the right mix of marketing strategy, technology

and multi-channel programs. Put simply, we specialize in increasing and proving marketing’s business impact. While our program execution may delight your directors and managers, it’s our relentless focus on bottom-line results that makes us the agency CMOs love. For more information, visit bulldogsolutions.com or call 877.402.9199.

PRESS, PULL AND FOLLOW DEFINED

When using the “press” messaging action within a nurture, marketers are meeting the pace of the prospect with more consistent contacts (perhaps even scheduled calendar sends). The “pull” action refers to trying to reel in a contact through the buyer’s journey with content, actions and offers that match the prospect’s consumption and maturity; however, it’s at the pace of the marketer.

When the messaging action is “follow,” marketers keenly watch lead scoring. Lead scoring programs that show decay show scores decreasing as time goes by without prospect activity. Here, marketers should be looking for upticks by prospects that have been relegated to follow type nurture programs. Using banner ads to retarget prospects that have been sent and have opened emails is another follow approach. And, it’s an excellent way to remind an audience of one’s brand and/or to announce special offers.

Connect with Bulldog Solutions:

@BDSolutions

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