Lead Nurturing Down the Sales Funnel

Does Inbound Marketing feel like you’re taking a trip down a Rabbit Hole into the unknown?
Going down the rabbit hole in physics might mean, “how far are you willing to discover your true nature?” Examples could be, “Why are we here? what is the meaning of life? How did we get here? Is this even real?”

However, if we’re to accept the rabbit as a metaphor for a new idea or concept, it presents a whole new opportunity to what “chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole” represents: following through on a new opportunity that has been presented, not only for the excitement of discovery and adventure, but also for where it will lead.

Most people can relate to the notion. When we’re presented with an adventure or new route to explore, such as a Inbound Marketing, we might feel as though we’re ‘chasing’ this new idea down a rabbit-hole, so to speak.

In truth, this path has been laid out with great precision and accuracy! So much so, that the results you achieve can be so rewarding that you will be compelled to move further down the ‘rabbit hole’, er, I mean, sales funnel.

Ready, Set, Let’s Go!

The sales funnel is not a new concept by any means. For Inbound Marketing however, the sales funnel is the most important route to follow in order to achieve the results you desire.

Attract:

The sales funnel begins by capturing the attention of prospects,  or visitors to your website. Your visitors likely are at various stages and various needs in their buying process so capturing them where they’re at is key. And, how do you know? There are smart strategies you can implement to find out just that.

Qualify:

In most cases, qualification occurs when a person opts-in to receive something from you. Segmenting your prospects then, is crucial because it’s important to understand the needs, goals, and preferences of each of your buyer personas and develop your content and offers accordingly. For example, if someone opts-in to “win FREE stuff” you would tailor your lead-nurturing campaign differently from those that would “Request a Quote.” The beauty here is this simple act of tailoring your offers allow yous to identify where your prospects are in the buying process. The buying cycle, therefore, will be dictated by the various marketing persona’s visiting your site.

Nurture:

Once (and because) you’ve identified your persona’s and tailored your calls-to-action, free content offers and lead nurturing campaigns towards them, you automatically know where they’re at in the conversion process. This allows you to continue to meet them where they’re at and build a relationship of trust and authority with them.

Convert:

Conversion is where the magic occurs. Because you’ve set yourself up as the answer to your prospects needs, they decide to give you their contact info and, ultimately, business. Of course, it doesn’t stop there. You’ll want to continue to nurture your relationship with follow-up emails and/or phone calls to deliver excellent customer service as well as turn those customers into repeat higher margin customers.

Analyze:

Clarity brings focus. The ability to analyze your efforts thus far will give you a clear vision of what’s been working or not. By gaining this invaluable insight, it’s only a matter of time before you sales funnel is a predictable path by which you meet your customers face to face.