Lead nurturing is the process of reaching out to your potential customers on a consistent basis across multiple channels to build a conversation with them, engage them and build trust that makes them think about your company and offering when they are ready to buy. Once it is conceptually understood, the next big challenge is how to create lead nurturing campaigns and messages that truly feel like a conversation and not just another keyword-filled marketing message or a press release-like hyperbole.

Its easier said than done, I know, but here are a set of ideas that can help you to ensure your messages feel conversational:

• Use a language that is more like an email conversation rather than like a press release
• Write about relevant industry news and updates that helps make the message feel like a discuss of that recent news update
• Use a personal tone and touch in the language you use
• Using a lead nurturing application, construct messages that relate to the potential customers’ previous activity with your messages or website so it feels personalized
• Structure your email, direct mail and telemarketing follow-ups so they center around a particular topic area to create a multi-channel conversation
• Structure successive lead nurturing messages to be related and building on previous messages to create a conversation that engages potential customers

These are just a few ideas that we have experimented at Nurture and I will update this message with more as we find newer ones that work. In the meantime, I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts and ideas on what has worked for you so all our readers can benefit from it.

Most businesses has thousands of leads in their CRM database but majority of those leads are not sales-ready. They are not in the buying cycle right now, but may be in the future. In such cases, its futile for the sales team to call on all leads without knowing which ones may be the best prospects to consider their offering. Lead nurturing is the apt marketing technique that can help businesses to identity and focus on potential customers who are sales ready.

Lead nurturing is the process of reaching out to your potential customers on a consistent basis across multiple channels to build a conversation with them, engage them and build trust that makes them think about your company and offering when they are ready to buy. Lead nurturing helps you to cultivate relationships with potential customers and to be right there when they are ready to buy. It allows you to create a stronger and more predictable channel for customer acquisition. The trust created by innovative lead nurturing campaigns helps you to not only be one of the shortlisted vendors every time a need arises but that trust also creates positive word of mouth where potential customer engaged with your campaigns, recommends you and your offering to other potential customers.

The most common channel used for lead nurturing has been email, but it is highly recommended to consider lead nurturing across all channels including email, direct mail and telemarketing, as every channel further strengthens the conversation and trust. Infact, the role of human touch in lead nurturing is getting increased attention and endorsement as it helps sales teams connect with potential customers and makes the follow-on email and direct mail feel more personal as potential customers are able to connect and relate to the messages based on their actual conversation with a sales person.

Are you explore lead nurturing as a way for cultivating relationships with your prospects?