SMB Marketing Blog

Most marketers face the challenge of generating qualified leads. According to the report published by Marketing Sherpa, 66% of B2B marketers face those challenges.

To some businesses, generating leads is still a primitive concept where they still use traditional marketing techniques and tools. Trade shows, mailing lists are some of the few ways to generate those leads. Obviously, these leads are nowhere near being qualified.

With the advent of Web 2.0 there has been a surge in the availability of web tools and techniques to generate leads. Having a presentable and message oriented website is good for any business, but what is more important for that business is the ability to find out the users coming to their website and what services or products they are interested in. Google Analytics has definitely paved its way to marketers who can measure online visitors, and track against certain pre-determined stats. And for sure, you can make changes to your website based on the stats and trends captured, but that’s not enough for the marketing ROI.

Importance of lead nurturing to marketers:

For marketers, it is more important to know who these visitors are, and if they will become customer some day? Now the question comes, after you see who is visiting your site, are they ready to be passed on to your sales reps? Definitely not, but at most organizations this is a still common practice in B2B Marketing. Strategic lead nurturing is a process where we can identify which prospect is ready to be a client.

Principles of lead nurturing:

We at Active Conversion have developed a three-step principle for lead nurturing,

1. Develop trust through credibility – be a valued advisor and gain trust
2. Target each of your market segments – use relevant content
3. Nurture your prospects according to the stage they are in the cycle – create a need for your product or services

Download our eHow to Guide to learn more about Lead nurturing and how B2B marketers can reap the benefits of marketing automation.