Content: The Key to Lead Nurturing

We've all heard the phrase, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." How about "You can lead prospects to your web site, but can you make them buy?"

We all know that the goal of  any Content Marketing strategy is to drive traffic to your site. That increased traffic needs to generate new leads which should ultimately propel converted sales.

How do you ensure that this happens?

One way is to establish a focused Lead Nurturing program.

In a white paper titled "The Importance of Lead Nurturing and Scoring," produced by The Association of Strategic Marketing, Lead Nurturing is defined as "building a relationship with eligible prospects regardless  of their timing with the aim to boost their business when they are prepared."

According to ASM, nurtured leads can increase sales by as much as 20%. Click through rates from Lead Nurturing emails are 8% compared to only 3% from general emails. Despite this increased sales potential, 69% of B2B marketers fail to use a Lead Nurturing system.

A Lead Nurturing program involves several components including Prospect Targeting, Lead Scoring and Ongoing Contact. But not surprisingly at the heart of it all is our familiar friend: content.

Here's why.

1. Content Establishes Credibility

As the ASM report points out, from the buyer's perspective, there is always fear and risk involved with any purchase. "The most important features a B2B vendor must have are trust and credibility," the paper states. "They have to build credibility and reputation by sharing relevant and valuable information."

2. Content Keeps You in Contact

According to ASM, the new generation of buyers tend not to commit to a sale until the last third of the buying process. Therefore, sales and marketing need to be involved throughout the sales process delivering "high quality content and information for prospects that is responsive, timely and relevant."

"The only way that they can maintain ongoing conversation with prospects" is with a comprehensive Content Strategy, the report asserts.

3. Content Helps Drive the Buying Decision

ASM states that 95% of prospects visit a web site for research purposes, but 70% will eventually buy from that company or from a competitor. Not using a content driven Lead Nurturing program is the #1 reason for poor lead conversion. Overall, 79% of marking leads are not converted to sales. However nurtured leads drive 47% more purchases than non-nurtured leads.

The ASM white paper concludes that Lead Nurturing is not about hard selling. Instead, the program involves establishing your credibility in the marketplace, presenting your solution as the most viable and ultimately convincing your prospect that you are the correct choice for them.

As always, the key to accomplishing that is through informative, well crafted and compelling content.

Are you nurturing your leads? Are you drawing traffic but not converting sales?

The 8 P’s of a Powerful Case Study

At a recent workshop I attended, J. T. O'Donnell (@jtodonnell) founder of Careerealism.com, noted that most customers are looking for aspirin, not vitamins. In other words, they are in pain and want relief.

The best way of showing rather than telling your prospect how you can eliminate that aching is through a well-crafted Case Study.

Here are the eight P’s to guide you in developing a Case Study that delivers.

Problem – What was the problem your client faced? The situation must be specific enough to be understood but generic enough to be relevant to your target audience.

Plan – How did you approach solving the problem? This should show the depth of thinking in your organization, the effectiveness of your product or service as well as your creative problem solving ability.

Product – What was the outcome of implementing your plan? This should clearly contrast the “before and after” of your involvement.

Profit – What was the tangible result of executing your program? This is the most important point of the Case Study. This needs to show in hard metrics the results of using your solution – increased profit, reduced costs, improved time to market, enhanced customer satisfaction. Pick the appropriate category and attach an empirical data point to it.

Plain – Use clear, concise language. Avoid industry jargon and buzzwords. Your Case Study should highlight your product or service, your process and your strategic thinking ability and should be written in a compelling and understandable style.

Pictures – Add artwork. Regardless of how you plan to use the Case Study, an appropriate photo or illustration will dramatically enhance the look of your piece.

Promote – Get an executive in the company to provide a quote. If your solution was as effective as you claim, someone senior in the organization should be willing to go on the record to corroborate its value.  This will help shift the piece from one of self-promotion to one of credible problem-solving example.

Publish – Now that you have your Case Study, you should publish it widely. You will have to rework your copy for length and style depending on the venue, but the core case – problem/plan/profit - remains intact. Plan to broadcast your Case Study in a variety of vehicles including standalone handout, blog post, brochure, power point presentation, press release or news article.

Have you used Case Studies to attract new clients? Have they been successful?