Lead nurturing and inbound marketing: an inseparable duo?
Marketing science that encompasses numerous techniques designed to understand consumer needs, offer products that meet those needs, and subsequently build customer loyalty. The road to building a relationship of trust with your customers is therefore a long one. Lead nurturing and inbound marketing are two tools to use together to achieve your objectives.
In order to understand the need to combine these two techniques, we will have to analyze them separately.
Lead nurturing, or how to build loyalty with a potential customer
To fully understand what lead nurturing is, let's look at the roots of each term that makes it up. First and foremost, it's important to distinguish between suspect, lead, prospect, and client.
Each of these actors is classified into the different phases of the purchasing process of Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (1968) :
- The suspect is in the need recognition . This is an individual who presents criteria that match your targeting, but who has not taken any steps so far;
- The lead is in the information-gathering . He wants to satisfy the feeling of lack he is experiencing;
- The prospect is already focused on evaluating alternatives . Therefore, it's quite possible they contacted you to get details about your product. This will allow them to compare the available solutions.
- The customer is someone who has already made a purchase . Subsequently, they will go through a post-purchase evaluation to determine if the product actually met their expectations. Based on any discrepancies, they will decide whether to use your services again.
The line between a lead and a prospect is so thin that some books no longer distinguish between them. Thus, we can also talk about " prospect culture B2B commerce where the client is a seasoned professional whose purchasing decision can have enormous repercussions on the future of their company. Unsurprisingly, the buying process is extremely long.
Inbound marketing: the internet at the service of your business
As the title suggests, inbound marketing is the approach of using digital channels to manage relationships with prospects and customers. Indeed! It's currently unthinkable to ignore the internet if you want to remain competitive in today's fierce market.
Therefore, the inbound marketing is responsible for creating content (text, images, and videos) to best showcase your company's offerings. Several tools are available to achieve this, such as:
- SEO , or " search engine optimization ," also known as organic search engine optimization , simply means producing content that highlights the right keywords (those related to your field of activity). Choosing the right keywords and naturally integrating them into your articles will help you appear at the top of search engine results.
- SEA , or " search engine advertising ," also known as sponsored search engine marketing , involves your company paying for your brand to appear prominently in the news feeds of web platforms and in advertising spaces .
In addition to traditional websites, social media is the ideal platform for optimizing your company's visibility. Emails , especially in B2B .
Two tools to use simultaneously for optimal results
Ultimately, inbound marketing lead nurturing techniques . The goal remains the same: to build customer loyalty. However, in addition to classic marketing tools, the internet has emerged.
Earlier, we mentioned that lead nurturing is primarily used in B2B , since professionals are challenging prospects. They have in-depth knowledge of their needs and carefully examine the alternatives available to them, unlike more impulsive end customers. Therefore, it will be necessary to use specialized channels to present your products to them.
Social media platforms, such as Facebook, are not suitable for this purpose. They are mass-market platforms with already congested news feeds. Emails . For the past few years, we've often been talking about email campaigns and newsletters . Simply put, to stand out from your competitors , you need to create original and engaging content. That's why long texts are no longer enough. It's essential to highlight visuals related to your offer to make it easier to grab attention. Including a link to your website in your email can also be beneficial, as it will increase your traffic.
Email marketing is aimed at prospects who are still undecided . Therefore, the content is more detailed and adopts a sales tone . Newsletters , on the other hand, focus on existing customers content will be more concise and informative . A newsletter is used solely to announce new product launches or promotions.
But the reach of digital marketing doesn't stop there. You also have the option of analyzing the performance of your marketing efforts through dedicated programs. To determine if you've chosen the right strategies, look at the number of visitors to your website, the number of emails opened out of those you've sent, the reactions to your posts, and so on. The idea is to quantify your actions.
Based on these statistics , you can make adjustments to your marketing strategy. Even in the event of failure, inbound marketing innovations , can always be improved. Once corrective actions are implemented, you can win back disappointed prospects or strengthen the relationship you've already established with them.
Sources
https://www.1min30.com/inbound-marketing/inbound-marketing-quest-ce-que-le-lead-nurturing-2078
https://www.inboundvalue.com/blog/lead-nurturing-definition
