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But obviously this is not enough, as well as generating only leads (Lead Generation). It is important, in fact, that the contacts acquired are qualified and valuable, so how to do it? And here we come to the topic of this post, namely Lead Nurturing.
“Nurturing leads” means starting to cultivate and nurture your relationship estonia whatsapp number data 5 million with them, so as to guide them and move them along the next stages of the Buyer's Journey.
Very often, however, the concepts of Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing are misunderstood and used as synonyms; in reality, they have different meanings and correspond to two distinct moments within the sales funnel.
Lead Generation vs Lead Nurturing: What's the Difference?
To fully understand what Lead Nurturing is and why you should integrate it into your digital marketing strategy, we need to start with the definition of Lead Generation.
In short, it is the set of techniques and tools aimed at generating and acquiring leads and has the purpose, on the one hand, of attracting and converting, through targeted and personalized content, only the people who are really interested and, on the other, of optimizing time and resources.
But as mentioned, leads are not all the same and are not at the same stage of the purchasing decision-making process. In fact, there are those who need more time to deepen their knowledge of your reality and your products or services; there are those who are already ready to proceed with the actual purchase. For this reason, it is necessary to segment them further and pamper them, trying to obtain more information about them.
Thus we arrive at the definition of Lead Nurturing, or the set of techniques and tools aimed at nurturing the relationship with potential customers, with the aim of establishing a stable and lasting relationship of trust , to convert them and accompany them in the various phases of the Buyer's Journey, pre and post purchase.
Lead Nurturing comes after Lead Generation and offers even more targeted and personalized communication and content (very different from this) that are able to stimulate and strengthen the trust and authority of the brand towards them.
Lead Nurturing: the steps to knowing the potential customer
However, in order to offer the right content at the right time and to the right person, you need to be sure you know your contacts and especially their level of awareness . For this, you can rely on the knowledge model currently used in digital marketing, divided into six phases:
The first step of knowledge is made up of the simple visitor, any user who has visited your website or has come into contact with your products/services at least once, without interacting. We then move on to more advanced users who have shown real interest in you by sharing one of your social posts or one of your blog posts.
The third step includes those users who, intrigued by your reality, are willing to delve deeper and learn more about the topic to the point of providing you with some of their personal data . Practical examples of this phase? Subscribing to the newsletter, downloading the catalog or other extra content, creating their own profile on your website. And this is the moment when you need to activate your Lead Nurturing strategy so as not to miss the opportunity to convert people who are truly interested and have placed their trust in you.
We thus move on to the fourth stage where the acquired, qualified and cultivated contact is ready to make its purchase. Obviously the relationship with this, once it has become a customer, does not end here, but must be constantly nourished to keep it loyal over time .
In the fifth step, in fact, we find active customers, those who interact with your brand, but do not make new purchases. In the sixth step, finally, they become ambassadors of your brand and your products or services. However, the important thing is to try to keep them involved and active also in the future with promotions and personalized solutions.
Tools for effective Lead Nurturing
We have just seen how essential it is to nurture your contacts at different moments of the Buyer's Journey, even after the sale, precisely to keep communication alive and consolidate the relationship of trust established.
In this regard, there are several tools and channels through which you can launch your nurturing actions; here are the main ones:
Choose the tool that best suits your specific needs and the strategy you want to implement, taking into account your Buyer Personas. Obviously, you don't necessarily have to use all of them, but remember that you can use more than one in different stages of the sales funnel.
