A multi-modal approach to lead nurturing
To be successful at lead nurturing marketers can’t rely on one specific channel but rather they need to leverage a multi-modal portfolio of channels especially when you have a complex sale.
Why? The goal of lead nurturing is to maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable future customers – regardless of their timing to buy. In short, it’s about relationships.
To help illustrate, I created a mind map of what multi-modal lead nurturing looks like (click image to enlarge).
Are there any lead nurturing channels/modalities that I’m missing?
Download Multi-Modal_Lead_Nurturing
If you keep the idea about that nurturing is about building relationships top of mind, the way you nurture leads will naturally go beyond a single channel like e-mail. You’ll start thinking about how you and your sales people can be a relevant resource. When you do that, you don’t have to sell to people. They will come to you first when they are ready.
Related posts:
What IS and ISN’T Lead Nurturing
How lead nurturing improves lead generation ROI
5 Lead nurturing tips to create relevant and engaging emails
Email Marketing, Event Marketing, Human Touch, Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, Sales Leads, Social Media, Thought Leadership, Web/Tech, Webcasts/Webinars, Weblogs
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I like that you have included landing pages, a point often missed. Mind mapping is a great way to illustrate this as well. For example “Blog Posts” are in multiple thought trees.
Very nice illustration clearly showing the various channels. However, wouldn’t “microsites” be more appropriate as a sub item of “content” rather than its own channel completely? I would think that “content > video” and “content > blog posts” are every bit as deserving of their own channel as microsites.
On the microsites, that’s a good point. I didn’t think of it in that way… yes, they could be moved there.
nice illustration, but you missed direct mail.
Good mind map. It covers most of the lead generators.
Now you just need to build a model that will determine efficient resource use within each category. I see this as the biggest problem as more and more communication channels emerges.
Following on Claus’s comment, the mind map seems to include everything, but it seems more B2C than B2B. Lead nurturing is definitely about relationships, but there’s a basic difference between B2C and B2B relationships: B2B relationships have a stewardship component that B2C relationships usually don’t.
In B2B, individuals act on behalf of their organizations, and they’re expected to act for the good of their organizations with only secondary regard for themselves. This adds a purposefulness to relationships with B2B leads, and that, in turn, imposes a structure on how B2B relationships need to be developed and managed.
Adding this dimension to the mind map will organize how and when each communication channel should be used. This gets into buying-cycle mapping, and that seems to be the real value of the map, and lead nurturing as well.
That’s a good point. I agree with you 100%. I mainly was focusing on the channels but the spirit behind the channels should include that.
Your illustration clearly captures all possible channels of lead nurturing. Taking it forward, prioritization of the channels based on their effectiveness is something that needs to be looked at. The measurement of the effectiveness of these channels is also something that needs to happen.
Abhijit Gangoli
http://blog.qedbaton.com/
Nurturing relationships is definitely a key component of sale generation, but also a component of sale retention. Great point and great diagram!