In the world of inbound marketing, more often than not lead nurturing gets associated with focusing your content marketing strategies only on transforming leads into customers within the sales cycle. However, lead nurturing doesn’t necessarily have to stop with a one-time purchase. Adapting campaigns to nurture the relationship with your existing customer base plays an equally important role, just as with any other conversion targeted inbound marketing activity. In a B2B environment, refusing to face the challenge of inventing lead nurturing techniques focused on your existing clientele can be detrimental to your business, if not fatal.
Why should you invest in nurturing your existing customers?
1. Cut costs.
Acquiring a new customer is usually 6-7 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. In Econsultancy’s recently released Cross-Channel Marketing Report, 70% of respondents agreed that it’s cheaper to retain than acquire a customer.
2. Increase profit.
Repeat customers spend, on average, 33% more than new customers. Additionally, according to Marketing Metrics, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, compared to a 5-20% chance of selling to a new prospect.
3. Your customers are your best promoters.
Happy customers who get their issue resolved (or needs satisfied) tell about 4-6 people each about their experience – concludes the White House Office of Consumer Affair. Imagine the outcome for your business if you manage to obtain – let’s say – 1000 loyal customers. Investment in retaining your customers is undoubtedly essential but also a demanding task. Your ultimate objective of transforming them into promoters should be backed up with your inbound marketing strategy aiming to maximise the value they derive from your solutions and from their relationship with your company.
4. Marketing automation solutions can help you turn your customers into promoters.
Marketing automation plays an essential part in every aspect of your strategy and efforts when trying to turn your customers into promoters of your business. As an integral component of customer relationship management, choosing the right software to automate your marketing processes can lead to much more efficient customer segmentation, data integration and campaign management for lead nurturing. Choosing the right software to fulfill your needs should, however, be equally important to you. The ultimate list of content marketing tools can give you a good overview on some of the options you can choose from. There are, of course, some marketing automation mistakes worth avoiding too.
Lead nurturing your existing clientele: Tips & Techniques
1. Make friends with your customers.
Personalized emails, targeted social media posts, exclusive content, even company insights – there are different ways to demonstrate your appreciation in return for their loyalty.
2. Talk to your most loyal fans.
Listen and discover their needs. Use lead nurturing campaigns to show your customers how they can better utilize your product, become better because of the purchase they made from you and, potentially, upgrade to a premium version of your product.
3. Adjust your content and strategies according to their needs.
Direct your efforts into maximizing the value your customers derive from your solutions/products.
4. Content + context approach.
Make sure you map the right content, to the right people, at the right time.
5. Use social media to ensure great customer service.
Use marketing automation software to detect enquiries as they come and make sure you optimise the time to respond to them.
6. Demonstrate where you stand among your competitors.
Share marketing and competitive intelligence insights with your customers; incentivise their decision to choose you over your competitors.
7. Be adaptive.
Lead nurturing is a variable discipline. Be ready to constantly adjust your marketing automation processes to ensure the right content gets delivered to the right people at the right time.
Lead nurturing plays a vital role in developing, synchronising and executing all of your inbound marketing efforts. Each stage of the customer journey within the sales cycle, however, involves different techniques for achieving conversion. Striving to retain a meaningful relationship with your existing clientele and turning them into promoters of your business is crucial for your business' survival. A successful content marketing strategy, aligned with adjusted marketing automation technologies, is all you need to fulfill that goal.
