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Lead Nurturing Beyond the Inbox

Ellie Mirman

Inbound Marketing Funnel Manager, HubSpot

Tomorrow is my 7-year HubSpot anniversary.

@ellieeille

ELLIE MIRMAN

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Lead Nurturing = marketing activities that engage leads to more effectively move them through the funnel and become customers.

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How many of the people you attract are turning into paying customers?

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Customer

Visit

Opportunity

Lead

Prospect

MQL What percentage of your contacts are moving from one funnel stage to the next?

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If your lead nurturing is effective, you’ll see more customers and revenue from the

same top of the funnel marketing efforts.

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Therefore, measure the effectiveness of your lead nurturing by the lead-to-customer percentage.

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Small differences give you great leverage.

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75% of marketers’ budgets go toward nurturing existing leads.

Bizo, 2014

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Traditionally, marketers did this through email automation.

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But email is just one of many forms of media that buyers consume.

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We’re hitting the same one note over and over again.

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Let’s see what the nurturing experience looks like today…

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Wake up and check email…

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Go to work, catch up on social…

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Visit website to review product material…

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Go to social to ask for product reviews, hear from competitor…

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Sales rep follows up wanting to schedule a demo…

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Why haven’t marketers shifted lead nurturing efforts to where buyers are?

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It’s time to expand lead nurturing beyond the inbox.

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4 Ways to Nurture Beyond the Inbox

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Paid Retargeting

Social Nurturing

Website Smart Content

Offline Activities

… and, of course, Email

Universe of Lead Nurturing

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PAID RETARGETING

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What is it?

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Retargeting, or remarketing, is a form of online targeted advertising by which you target contacts who have already engaged with you.

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Goal of retargeting: Engage your prospect with content

that educates and persuades them to

take the next step.

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Example

1 2 Visit product page See ad for reviews

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4 Steps to Use Paid Media for Lead Nurturing

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1. Create Your

Audience

How will you build your

target audience?

Pixel-Based

List-Based

Lookalike

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Which method do you choose?

PRO CON

Pixel-based Timely

Specific

Behavior-based

Low volume

Time-intensive

List-based Highly customizable

Leverage all your data

Focus on converting existing contacts

Low match rates require large lists

Static, not timely

Often requires 3rd party

Lookalike Expand the audience size

Expand your reach

Displaying same content to people at

earlier stage in the funnel

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1. Create Your

Audience

What filters will you use to

identify your audience?

Demographics:

persona, lifecycle, industry,

etc.

Behaviors:

viewed product pages,

requested demo, using

competitive products, etc.

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2. Pick the Content/

Destination

What content will educate

and persuade them to take

the next step?

Product Content

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2. Pick the Content/

Destination

What content will educate

and persuade them to take

the next step?

Third Party Reviews

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2. Pick the Content/

Destination

What content will educate

and persuade them to take

the next step?

Case Studies

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2. Pick the Content/

Destination

What content will educate

and persuade them to take

the next step?

MQL Landing Pages

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3. Choose the

Network

Where will your contacts

see your ad?

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3. Choose the

Network

What tools will you use to

launch your ads?

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4. Launch Your Ads

& Optimize

Craft the headline, image, tracking URL, budget, and any other details required for each platform.

ads.twitter.com

facebook.com/ads/create

linkedin.com/ads

other retargeting login

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4. Launch Your Ads

& Optimize

Check in daily for quick

optimization like bid and

headline copy.

x

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Paid Media Nurturing Best Practices

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Images win.

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This tweet got 7x the engagement…

…compared to its image-free version

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Test and optimize the creative.

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Test the creative: images, headlines, etc.

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Leverage stories.

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These behavior-based case study ads

got 2-3x the engagement

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SOCIAL MEDIA NURTURING

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What is it?

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Social nurturing is the act of engaging with qualified contacts in social media to respond to their product evaluation inquiries.

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Goal of social nurturing: Take advantage of 1:1 conversations

with your prospects that are actively

evaluating your product/service.

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Example

1 2 Tweet with question Response and follow up

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4 Steps to Use Social Media for Lead Nurturing

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1. Create Streams

Product Questions:

people asking for a demo or

product information

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1. Create Streams

Competitor Mentions:

people mentioning your

competitors (whether or not

they mention your company)

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1. Create Streams

Industry Conversations:

people talking about the

industry (tip: filter for MQLs

and opportunities)

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2. Identify Content

Take stock of your

product resources to use

in different scenarios.

Product Content

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Third Party Reviews

2. Identify Content

Third party reviews let

you respond without

being as self-promotional.

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2. Identify Content

Case Studies

In addition to product

questions, contacts may

ask about customers who

are like them.

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2. Identify Content

Leverage Your Customer Base

Let your best customers

share their stories

directly with interested

prospects.

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2. Identify Content

Direct 1on1 Response

Prepare your responses

for 1on1 interactions.

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3. Establish Handoff

Determine how to route

qualified leads to sales and

how they should follow up.

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4. Monitor & Respond

Monitor Twitter Social Inbox streams and direct messages. Monitor relevant LinkedIn groups and Quora threads.

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Social Nurturing Best Practices

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Start with top priority streams and expand from there.

Industry Conversations

Competitor Mentions

Product Questions

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Nurturing can include likes, favorites, and retweets.

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Be helpful, not promotional.

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Let others promote you instead.

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WEBSITE SMART CONTENT

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What is it?

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Website smart content is content on your website that adapts to show your most qualified visitors the content to move them through the funnel.

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Goal of smart content: Adapt your website to show the

content your prospects need to take

the next step in their evaluation.

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Example

1 2 Contact receives a demo Website CTA shows case study

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4 Steps to Use Website Smart Content for Lead Nurturing

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1. Identify Real Estate

Start by identifying where

on your website, blog, or

other assets you can use

smart content.

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2. Create Segments

Segment by persona and

lifecycle and any other

details to customize your

content.

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3. Adapt the Content

Go big (change the call-to-

action) or go for the details

(change a word to speak to

the segment).

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4. Launch & Measure

Measure conversion rates

of high priority segments

and conversion rates

overall.

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0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Opportunity Close Rate

Pesona A Persona B Overall

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Website Smart Content Best Practices

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Keep your content flexible with the website’s theme.

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Reuse smart content for quick updating.

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Adapt both image CTAs and website text.

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Use direct user testing feedback to see non-quantitative impact.

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OFFLINE ACTIVITIES

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What is it?

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Offline activities such as events, networking, and mail can support your lead nurturing efforts offline.

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Goal of offline nurturing: Build relationships with your

prospects face-to-face to strengthen

your personal connection.

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Example: Events

1 2 Contact receives a demo Contact meets exec at event

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Example: Networking

1 2 Contact considering

purchase

Contact meets existing

customers at local event

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Example: Mail

1 2 Contact watches

webinar

Contact receives book on

related content in the mail

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4 Steps to Use Offline Activities for Lead Nurturing

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1. Start Small

Start with a small, manual

test to determine the ROI.

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Example: Events

Register >>

CEO Roundtable:

Building an Inbound

Marketing Machine

September 1, 2020

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Example: Networking

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Example: Mail

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2. Do the Legwork

Figure out budget and requirements, collect data (addresses) and people (to send to events), set appointments, etc.

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Book travel

Book meeting room

Work with sales to identify high priority active deals with CEOs at event

Set appointments with chosen executives

Prepare talking points and share background information

Identify desired outcome for meetings

Track completed meetings and impact on deals

Etc.

Example

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3. Provide Value Upfront

Give in order to get –

provide value the prospect

can take no matter the

result of the interaction.

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Example

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4. Get Feedback

Collect qualitative feedback

and make it quantitative.

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• 6/8 meetings completed

• 5/6 followed up with positive feedback

• 4/6 purchased within 30 days

Example

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Example

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Offline Nurturing Best Practices

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Go targeted, not blanket blast.

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Coordinate with other marketing and sales activities.

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Leverage selling tools.

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Pulling It Together

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Photo Credit: Ilya Mirman

EMAIL

SOCIAL

RETARGETING WEBSITE

OFFLINE

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Let’s see what the holistic nurturing experience looks like…

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Wake up and check email…

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Go to work, catch up on social, see ad…

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Click on retargeting ad to smart website…

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Go back to social to ask for product reviews, hear back from real customer…

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Sales rep follows up with invite to attend local event to meet with VP…

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The right content, the right place, the right time.

Every place, every time.

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THANK YOU

Join the discussion:

inbound.org/ellie