Lead nurturing and inbound marketing: an inseparable duo?
Marketing to retain them later. The road is therefore long in order to build a relationship of trust with your customers. Lead Nurturing and Inbound Marketing are two tools to use in concert to achieve your goals.
In order to understand the need to combine these two techniques, we will have to dissect them separately.
Lead nurturing or how to retain a potential customer
To fully understand what lead nurturing is, let's see the roots of each expression that composes it. First of all, you have to make a difference between suspect, lead, prospect and customer.
Each of these actors is classified in the different phases of the Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (1968) purchasing process :
- The suspect is in the need for recognition . It is an individual who presents criteria in accordance with your targeting, but which has not taken any approach until then;
- The lead is in the information search . He wants to satisfy the feeling of lack he feels;
- The prospect is already focusing on the evaluation of alternatives . Thus, it is very possible that he approached you to have details on your product. This will allow him to compare the solutions that arise for him;
- The customer is a person who has already gone to the act of purchase . Subsequently, he will go through the post-purchase evaluation to determine the product actually met his expectations. Depending on possible differences, he will decide if he will still call on your services.
The line between lead and prospect is so thin that some publications no longer distinguish between them. Thus, we can also talk about " prospect cultivation ." This approach consists of maintaining, or even strengthening, a relationship with a still-hesitant prospect. It is primarily used in B2B , where the customer is a seasoned professional whose purchasing decision can have colossal repercussions on the future of their company. Unsurprisingly, the purchasing process is extremely long.
Inbound Marketing: Internet at the service of your business
As announced in the title, inbound marketing is the approach of using digital channels to manage the relationship with prospects/customers. Eh, yes! It is currently unthinkable to do without the Internet if you remain competitive on a fierce market.
As a result, the team assigned to inbound marketing is responsible for creating (texts, images and videos) content in order to best present your company's offers. To do this, there are several instruments, such as:
- SEO or " Search Engine Optimization ", also called natural referencing . In simple terms, content must be produced where the right keywords (those related to your field of activity) are highlighted. An adequate choice of keywords and natural insertion in your articles will allow you to appear at the top of the list on the results of search engines;
- The SEA or " Search Engine Advertsing ", also called sponsored SEO . As its name suggests, your business will have to pay for your brand to appear primarily on the news feed for web platforms and on advertising spaces .
In addition to classic websites, social networks are the ideal target to optimize the visibility of your business. We must not forget the e-mails , essential especially in B to B.
Two tools to use simultaneously for optimal results
In the end, it should be noted that inbound marketing leading techniques . Indeed, the objective remains the same: retain prospects. Only, in addition to the classic marketing instruments, the Internet has appeared.
Earlier, we mentioned that the lead nurturing was mainly used in B to B , since professionals are difficult prospects. They have in -depth knowledge of their needs and carefully examine the alternatives that appear before them, unlike more impulsive end customers. It will then be necessary to use specialized channels to present your products to them.
Social networks, such as Facebook, are not suitable in this context. These are consumer platforms, with already congestioned news wires. Here, we will prefer emails . In recent years, we have often talked about e-mailings and newsletters . Very simply, in order to stand out from your competitors, you will have to create original and attractive content. This is why long texts are no longer enough. It is essential to highlight visuals in connection with your offer to "type a look" more easily. Including a link to your website in your email can also be interesting, as it will increase your traffic.
E -mailing is intended for still hesitant prospects . As a result, the content is more detailed and adopts a commercial tone . The newsletter focuses on effective customers (those who have already bought at least once). This time, it will be more synthetic and informative content . A newsletter is only used to inform about the arrival of new products or about promotions.
But the scope of the digital does not stop there. You also have the possibility of analyzing the performance of your commercial actions thanks to dedicated programs. To find out if you have opted for the right strategies, refer to the number of visitors to your website, the number of emails open among those you have sent, to reactions to your publications, etc. The idea is to put concrete figures on your actions.
Depending on these statistics , you can make changes to your marketing strategy. Even in the event of failure, the lead nurturing, associated with inbound inbound marketing , remains continuously perfectible. Once the corrective actions have been put in place, you can recover your disappointed prospects or strengthen the relationship you have already established with them.
Sources
https://www.1min.com/inbound-marketing/inbound-marketing-quest-ce-que-led-nurturing-2078
https://www.inboundvalue.com/blog/lead-nurturing-definition
