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Lead Nurturing is NOT About Campaigns

Ardath Albee, Marketing Interactions

Content marketing is being used in all types of formats. There's the big bang eBook launch, the white paper promotion, the 3 touch plus sales offer approach, the quarterly webinar and other "standalone" configurations based on a short-term time frame. Unfortunately, none of these is actually lead nurturing for a complex sale. These are campaigns.

A campaign is generally a short-term focus with a defined goal like: Generate 100 new leads or add $X to the pipeline forecast. Your buyers could care less because the very structure of a campaign is all about what your company wants to achieve, not what your buyers need.

A solid lead nurturing program extends at a minimum across your average buying cycle and even beyond. Lead nurturing is about providing useful content your buyers find valuable because it helps them think about, evaluate and solve their problems to create desirable business outcomes.

I know what you're thinking. "Heck, I'll just stream all my campaigns together and it'll be a lead nurturing program."

Nope. That's not it.

Why?

Because it's highly unlikely that you'll end up with a consistent and useful storyline that builds engagement with your buyers. This is because campaigns tend to hop around. Campaigns are the equivalent of ADD for marketing. They lack commitment so it's easy to flip your focus to some other trendy topic and head off down another path with each new campaign you create.

What's the result for your buyers?

• Disappointment that content they were interested in has reached a conclusion without providing them all the insight they needed to make an informed decision;

• Confusion about the actual value your company provides;

• Diminishing relevance that results in their attention moving elsewhere to get what they need

Put yourself in your buyers' shoes and imagine you're trying to solve a specific problem:

• You find an article that speaks to that problem and follow the link to the Web site;

• You register for and download a related white paper while you're there;

• Over the course of several months you receive related information that helps you learn more about what you need to know—but you still have questions and have to convince the other members of the buying committee that this company can help;

• Next month you get an e-mail promoting the value of a different product

Yep. One campaign ended and another one began.

From the buyers' perspective, how interested are you now?

If your sales cycle is averaging 9 months, how effective is a strategy that dictates the launch of a new campaign focus every quarter? (Product A in Q1, Product B in Q2, Product C in Q3, etc.)

Instead, consider creating a nurturing program that educates your buyers step-by-step across the entirety of their buying cycle.

To do this you must know your buyers very well. You need to think in terms of problem-to-solution scenarios, not product lines when you create your content strategy and editorial calendar. Roll that eBook, white paper and video into your nurturing storyline. When you have an editorial calendar that extends across the buying process you can weave in your various content formats to both generate new leads and increase the engagement you're building with your leads over time.

The gist is that short-term campaigns are created for your benefit and nurturing programs are created to benefit buyers.

Which is going to get you farther in the long run?

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eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale

A comprehensive guide to help marketers drive decisions to buy in their favor. Power your eMarketing results by mastering how to: • Build a foundation for eMarketing strategies based on buyer perspectives; • Use a buyer synopsis to develop personalized content; • Transform prospect engagement with natural nurturing; • Create a contagious content structure for competitive differentiation; • Generate increased pipeline with attraction marketing; • Facilitate faster prospect progression to sales readiness; • Perfect the transition of sales-ready leads to your sales force; • Measure the impact of eMarketing programs against business objectives To visit this book's Web site, click here . . .

Ardath Albee (Ardath@marketinginteractions.com) is an expert at creating contagious content and e-marketing strategies that engage prospects-from initial attention until they're sales ready. She has a unique ability to develop content strategies that work hand-in-glove with overall corporate and product positioning to deliver hard hitting e-marketing programs and tools that compel customers to buy. Ardath helps her clients generate more opportunities by optimizing how they leverage marketing automation and CRM technology investments. Her clients include Covad Communications, LANDesk and Silicon Graphics. Visit her website and industry-leading blog to learn more: www.marketinginteractions.com.