Marketing smarts with Ryan Caligiuri

Happy Friday everyone! Thanks for joining the discussion today, I'm looking forward to a lot of questions about lead nurturing and how to make it work in your small business!

by RyanCaligiuri edited by Katherine Scarrow 8/17/2012 3:55:12 PM
Welcome back Ryan - are you ready to get started? The questions are flooding in...

by Katherine Scarrow 8/17/2012 3:59:11 PM
Absolutely! Let's get into it!

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 3:59:35 PM
There’s a stat by Forrester that says 25% of leads are legitimate and should go to sales but 50% are not ready to buy yet. It’s a pretty brief stat and I was wondering if you can shine some light on this and perhaps explain what they mean in more detail?

by KDR 8/17/2012 4:00:22 PM
Hi KDR, thanks for participating in the discussion today! Yes, from what I see and experience in the marketplace, that stat sounds about right...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:01:32 PM
Nearly half of your leads will definitely not be sales ready. So they won't be ready for you to call on them quite yet. Why? Because they are still in research mode...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:02:10 PM
This doesn't mean you you should ignore them and throw them away. This is your opportunity to educate them using lead nurturing as your weapon of choice...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:02:41 PM
If you are in the B2B space, often what happens is people encounter your company and feel you may be able to help them but it will take time for them to get confidence in your ability to deliver...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:03:55 PM
However, there is another segment of people who know about you, are ready to buy and those folks are where the 25% stem from. Hope that makes sense.

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:04:40 PM
Just a quick question on targeting lead nurturing campaigns. How do you effectively target the prospects that get entered into a lead nurturing cycle?

by Sean Faux 8/17/2012 4:05:07 PM
Thanks for your question Sean. Your messages should be appropriately designed to fit the reason you have the person's email address in the first place...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:06:35 PM
Why did they provide you with their email? What were they searching for? Did they download a white paper? If they did they are researching and learning about you. Did they enter their information in a contact form? If they did they're further along in the buying cycle...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:07:47 PM
Use this information to tailor subsequent nurturing emails to their interests. So if they downloaded that white paper on building efficiencies in process be sure to give them more information about performance management...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:08:52 PM
If someone connected with you through the contact us page, provide them with case studies and customer testimonials. The purpose of targeting is to help the buyer make an informed decision. Understand where their head is at and offer the content to help them make that decision.

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:10:29 PM
I am wondering why you included the latter bit in your article today. I thought lead nurturing was about marketing automation not what you described in the latter bit of your article.

by POBoxer 8/17/2012 4:11:41 PM
Ryan: I believe POBoxer is referring to 'consistent follow-up,' where you write: "It is absolutely essential to develop a comprehensive database that includes enough information about your prospect to keep the nurturing process going"

by Katherine Scarrow 8/17/2012 4:11:59 PM
Thanks for the clarification Katherine!

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:12:44 PM
Hi POBoxer, thanks for your question today. The reason I included that in the article today was because not every organization has the money to invest in marketing automation. So the next best thing is to keep a very detailed list of facts about your prospects...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:14:32 PM
Marketing automation will have you send out pre-canned emails to people who download a piece of content but again, if you don't have the money, keep track of information that you can use to generate a reason for contacting the prospect. In a few business circles is called a VBR (Valid Business Reason)...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:16:11 PM
For example, I work with a client and found that he enjoys fine wines through a coffee meeting we had a while back. As I was reading the local news one day I saw that there was a wine festival occurring in his city...

by RyanCaligiuri 8/17/2012 4:17:44 PM

Marketing smarts with Ryan Caligiuri

From setting up an automated marketing program to tips on keeping on top of your database of clients, The Globe's Ryan Caligiuri will be here on Friday, August 17 at 12:00 p.m. (ET) to answer any questions you may have