5 Rules for Engaging Your Marketing Leads
You’ve run a successful email campaign that’s yielded some decent quality business leads. Some say they’re looking to buy now. Spot on target. Excellent job.
But others aren’t ready because the time isn’t right (see our post on Why Timing Matters in B2B Marketing).
So, if you’ve got some leads, but they’re not ready to buy just yet, what are you going to do with them?
01. Be Patient
The prospects that have responded but who are not ready to buy now have done so because they believe you may be able to help them solve their problem – when the time comes. Your challenge is to keep them engaged. Do this by showing you are the expert that understands the problem. Don’t just dive in with the solution.
02. Engage, don’t preach
The process of engaging leads is a complex, multi-stage activity that may require several different marketing channels. Little helpful ‘nurturing’ emails that are interesting, useful and relevant, and that don’t make your prospects work too hard, will keep you on the radar. That way, they’ll know you’re there and can turn to you when they are ready to buy.
03. Personalise
If people feel you are making the effort to tailor your communications specifically to them, they will feel individual and special. Try and understand what attracted your leads to respond to your original campaign, and then build on it by tailoring your further communications to those individual customer interests. The investment of time will be worth it in the long run.
04. Give
Don’t be afraid to give stuff away. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, except that these days it doesn’t always have to be a free sample. On the web, helpful ‘How To’ guides that address specific problems or demonstrate knowledge can be important ways of ensuring that your prospects don’t opt out of your emails. That way they will perceive you as an expert and allow you to continue reaching out to them until they are ready to buy.
05. Evolve
If your engagement campaign isn’t working (because you’re getting high levels of unsubscribes, or low conversion rates), there is no shame in changing it or even stopping it. The key is to evolve, using what works, and ditching what doesn’t. That means measuring response in different ways and in different timescales.
Lots of other factors come into play such as the frequency of your communications, the ‘closing’ of your opportunities, and, not least, the constant feeding of the pipeline with new leads. The golden rule is simple: keep at it, find out what works.
