You’ve Got a Lead, Now What? [9 Tips For Nurturing Leads To Conversion]

Imagine you’re playing basketball. You’ve spent a good portion of the game strategizing how to get the ball in your hands, working with your team to outsmart the competition until finally, finally, you’ve got the ball. GREAT! Now what? Is it over? 

Nope! You still have to dribble up the court, not to mention dunk the ball! 

Lead nurturing is like that: Yes, you’ve landed a lead, and that’s great. But you still have to encourage and work with your prospects – i.e., dribble up the court and maneuver around the opposition – before you finally get them to convert. 

So, does your lead-nurturing game need a boost? If so, we’ve got just what you need! Here are our top 9 tips for how to nurture leads so they turn into loyal customers.

What is Lead Nurturing? 

First, let’s establish what lead nurturing is, exactly. Lead nurturing is the process of cultivating leads that are not yet ready to buy. It’s the part of the lead generation process in which you build relationships with your potential customers, educate them about your product or service, and guide them through the buying process until they (ideally) convert into customers. But how do you do that? 

9 Tips For Nurturing Leads To Conversion

The goal of lead nurturing is to establish trust and credibility with leads by providing them with relevant and valuable information that speaks to their needs and interests. This is done through a series of targeted and personalized communications, such as email campaigns, social media interactions, and content marketing. While there are plenty of lead nurturing strategies out there, we’ve rounded up our favorites to share with you here: 

1. Define Your Audience 

To effectively nurture leads, you need to have a clear understanding of who your target audience is. This includes segmenting your audience by defining their demographics, interests, pain points, and purchase behaviors. Take the time to conduct market research, analyze your customer data, and gather feedback to create a detailed audience profile. 

You can also use this information to go a step further and create one or multiple buyer personas (for example, “Party Pete” or “Jumping Jane” above 😂). Both audience segmentation and buyer personas will help you tailor your messaging and content to build trust with prospects and increase the likelihood of conversion.

2. Score Your Leads

Lead scoring is a way of assigning a value to each lead based on their engagement with your brand. By tracking the actions that leads take, such as website visits, email opens, or content downloads, you can assign a score that indicates their level of interest and intent to purchase. This allows you to prioritize your efforts and focus on leads that are most likely to convert into customers, improving your lead nurturing efficiency and ROI.

3. Follow Up 

Following up is a crucial element to lead nurturing strategy. It shows potential customers that you care about their business, and are committed to providing them with the information and support they need. Following up can take many forms, including phone calls, personalized emails, and targeted content. It is important to follow up in a timely manner and with relevant information that addresses the needs and concerns of your leads.

4. Leverage a Marketing Automation Platform

A marketing automation platform can help you streamline your lead nurturing efforts by automating tasks such as lead scoring, segmentation, and email marketing. By using automation, you can deliver personalized content and offers to leads at the right time, without having to manually complete and track every action. This allows you to scale your lead nurturing efforts while maintaining a high level of personalization with your leads.

5. Prioritize Email Marketing

According to HubSpot, 53% of marketers say email has been the most effective channel for early-stage lead generation. And they’re not wrong – email marketing is a powerful tool for nurturing leads, as it allows businesses to educate their leads about products/services, provide value, and build trust. Furthermore, with automated email campaigns, you can “set it and forget it,” delivering a series of targeted messages to leads at specific intervals based on their actions or behavior. This will save time and resources while still delivering a high-quality customer experience to your leads.

6. Target Your Content

Content marketing is an essential part of lead nurturing, and targeting your content to each segmented lead group is critical for success. By creating content that speaks to each group's specific needs and interests, you can provide value and build trust with your leads. This targeted content could include blog posts, ebooks, webinars, or other types of content that educate, inform, or entertain your audience. By providing value with your content, you can increase the likelihood of conversion and create loyal customers over time.

7. Use Multi-Channel Marketing

Customers have more choices than ever in terms of getting information on products. To effectively nurture leads, you need to reach them where they are. This means using multiple channels such as social media, blogs, websites, email, and even direct mail. By diversifying your marketing channels, you can increase the reach of your messaging and content, and increase the likelihood of conversion.

8. Engage With Your Leads

One of the most critical aspects of lead nurturing is engaging with your leads. Failing to keep them engaged with you is like letting your basketball bounce to a standstill. You need to keep that ball dribbling if you’re going to make it down the court! 

This means asking questions, responding to comments, and providing personalized recommendations. The goal is to keep your products and services top of mind. By engaging with your leads, you can keep them interested and invested in your business, building trust so that when they’re ready to buy, they choose your business. 

9. Create Multiple Touch Points

Multiple touch points are various ways in which businesses can interact with potential customers. The more touch points there are, the more opportunities businesses have to nurture leads and guide them down the sales funnel. By tracking the interactions leads have with a brand, businesses can gain insights into their interests and behavior, which can help them tailor their messaging and content. This can also help businesses identify areas where leads may be losing interest, allowing them to adjust their strategy and improve their lead nurturing efforts.

Need Help Generating Leads? 

Nurturing leads is an essential part of any successful marketing strategy. By implementing these 9 tips, you can create a solid foundation for turning potential customers into loyal brand advocates. At Wild Fig Marketing, we understand the importance of effective lead nurturing, and we're committed to helping our clients achieve their conversion goals. Our team of experts is ready to help you develop a customized plan for lead generation and lead nurturing. Don't wait any longer, schedule an exploratory call with our VP of Opportunities today and see how Wild Fig Marketing can help your business grow! 👇