The Nurturing Type - Stratford Group Ltd.

This article was published more than 1 year ago. Some information may no longer be current.

I often see energetic marketers pour their hearts into stand-alone marketing initiatives. They brag about their leads, then they restlessly move on to their next infatuation.

The difference between amateur marketers and professionals is that the professionals are in it for a long time, not just a good time. Each of their marketing initiatives incorporates a call to action. Every call to action leads to another interaction that is the next step along the path of nurturing a relationship. The amateurs are scoring one-night stands. The professionals are cultivating serious romances.

It takes time for a marketing team to develop the maturity and discipline required for effective lead nurturing. The complexity involved in setting up a multi-touch marketing program that employs a variety of materials and executes over several months is enough to give anyone cold feet! Yet that’s what it takes to progress from ad hoc (and often unreliable) lead generation to sustained demand creation.

The good news is that there are a number of ways of making multi-touch demand creation programs easier. Here are some key elements:

1. A website that can be easily modified to add content and create landing pages
   
   
2. Registration/opt-in capability (either built into the website or using a marketing automation system –see item 6)
   
   
3. A customer relationship management (CRM) system for sales people to manage leads to closure
   
   
4. Quality content (keep in mind that content can and should be frequently re-used.  Your core marketing campaigns should cycle through standard content that reflects your unique value proposition and offering – which don’t change that often)
   
   
5. Multi-channel outbound communications (email, social media, traditional media, advertising, etc.)
   
   
6. A marketing automation system (a good one will enable you to manage your contact database, send emails, establish landing pages, track and score leads, promote leads to the CRM, map out the elements of multi-touch campaigns and provide reports)

But all the sexy marketing tools in the world aren’t enough. You have to have the will to change your wanton ways. So, young marketer, now that you’ve had your fill of marketing hook-ups, it is time to settle down and commit to longer-term, multi-touch relationship-building programs. Do this and you’ll lose your reputation for fickle marketing and become widely admired as the nurturing type.

This article was published more than 1 year ago. Some information may no longer be current.