So you’ve been doing killing it on the marketing front. You’ve created amazing branded content and gone to create an incredible brand presence on your social media channels. Your Facebook ads are on point and not only that, you’re even starting to see your Google ranking move up the almighty SEO scale.
I’ve got a ton of leads! Now what?
Most importantly, your list of truly viable leads is increasing. In fact, you’ve got a pretty impressive list… well, at least it’s impressive because your spreadsheet looks huge and your cost per lead looks beautiful. Then all of a sudden you’ve come to a realization and you’re starting to sweat as you think to yourself, “Good leads. Exciting leads. I have a chance to prove what this marketing thing is all about… I have a realistic opportunity to grow the business and I don’t want to blow it! How do I best communicate with them to increase my chances of conversion?” Your time to shine has come to communicate with these leads.
The basics
There are endless ways you can communicate with your new list of potential customers. Let’s be honest. You yourself have been the victim of poor digital communication yourself. So you definitely know how not to do it. The key is – wait for it – effective communication. And that naturally, is where we want to focus. So how do you go effectively go about communicating? What is the right next step? Actually, that answer is based on a number of important factors that include: Who they are. This should be obvious, right? But you’d be surprised by how many businesses don’t know even the basics of their customers. Develop as many accurate buyer personas as suits your customers and potential customers. Make specific sales scripts that your sales agents can use on the fly for each specific kind of client. The same goes for what specific service or product they want. Hopefully, you’ve done your due diligence when getting these leads in the first place so this should be something you can quickly identify. 
Provide value immediately and be quick, but don’t sell
Even if they didn’t actually ask a specific question, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure this out with some basic detective work. If they downloaded a content offer, converted on a specific website page, or found you through a targeted ad, then you know the kind of information that they’re interested in. Keep giving them relevant content, or ask more questions to find out what else they want to learn about. Also, don’t sell! Many internet leads may be in the buying phase, but the last thing they want is someone calling them after they download a lead magnet. We suggest using a marketing automation tool like LeadDragon to send them an acknowledgment text, email, and then another personalized text the next day if they don’t respond to the first touches (email & text). That way it takes the time out of the equation of following up with them and it removes the pressure out of the sales cycle. How much communication have they’ve had with you so far? Let’s face it, we all need a little space from time to time and you don’t want them searching for the unfollow button or unsubscribe link. Nurture them gently, provide value, set yourself as a trusted authority, and go for the conversion! This isn’t Walmart, these are online marketing campaigns and every industry has different length sales cycles. Consider the following tips below!
Lead nurturing evaluation ✔️
Is a lead qualified as being “sales-ready”? Make sure they’re “ripe” before your sales team goes to pick this choice fruit. This may seem obvious, but you don’t want to ruin a ripening fruit by picking it too soon. Plus, you should make sure that your team is spending their time on those leads who are actually ready and willing to take the next step, whether it be with a service or product, bringing them with care through the buyer’s journey.
Timing is everything. ✔️
Even though a customer may seem ready for action, you still have to make sure it’s truly the right time for you as well. Make sure your lead nurturing is in line with your sales cycle while being careful not to bombard them with so many emails that they unsubscribe from all email communication. If your sales cycle is a few months long, make sure to time it so they get an email every few weeks and, if applicable to your business, at least one direct point of contact with a salesperson.
Tell them what they want to hear! ✔️
Consistently refine your messaging. Be sure to keep giving them relevant content. If you need to, don’t be afraid to ask more questions to find out what else they want to learn about. Finding the right new costumers to continually grow your business is often difficult, and it’s worth spending the time to nurture those relationships so that you are building a dedicated customer base.
Provide valuable resources. ✔️
Any time spent researching and generating quality resources is well spent time. You are learning what customers need and how you can provide the information that they are looking for. It would do you well to create resources that are unique to each of the personas (kind of buyers) you’ve created. You can include your blog posts in relevant emails, encouraging your contacts to travel a little further in the buyer’s journey. This not only provides them with more information, but it gets them back to your website where they can interact with your business a little more. When you have a clear understanding of your marketing strategy and how your new leads fit into it, you will be well on your way to successful, continual growth. Add some speed and remove some pressure from this sales cycle using a marketing and nurture automation tool like LeadDragon and you’ll be on your way to maximizing your ad spend and lead acquisition dollars.
