Connecting with potential customers takes patience and care, particularly when it comes to B2B sales cycles. By developing ongoing relationships with an effective lead nurturing strategy, you can increase conversion rates, shorten sales cycles, and maximize ROI from your marketing efforts. And that’s not just speculation – companies that excel at nurturing leads generate 50% more sales-qualified leads at 33% lower costs.1
So, how do you build out a lead nurturing campaign that keeps your brand top-of-mind? In this blog, we'll share the most impactful B2B lead nurturing best practices to help boost your conversion rates.
What Is B2B Lead Nurturing?
Lead nurturing involves developing relationships with potential clients by providing them with valuable, relevant information and content. The aim is to build trust and connection with your brand so that when prospects are ready to make a purchase decision, they think of your company first.
For B2B businesses, lead nurturing often requires multiple touches across email, social media, advertising, and other channels. Messaging is tailored to where leads are in the buyer's journey, gradually moving them closer to a sale over time.
Why Do You Need a Good Lead Nurturing Strategy?
Since the B2B sales cycle is typically longer and more complex than B2C sales, lead nurturing is essential to converting more customers. By nurturing leads effectively, your teams can:
- Improve conversion rates. By staying top of mind throughout the buyer's journey, you can convert more leads at the right time.
- Shorten sales cycles. Nurtured leads tend to move through sales processes faster because they already have a relationship with your brand.
- Increase ROI. Lead nurturing helps maximize the value of each lead by building lasting relationships.
- Retain more customers. Customers who were nurtured before purchasing are more likely to renew contracts, make additional purchases, and refer others.
9 Best Practices for B2B Lead Nurturing
Ready to convert more leads into loyal customers? Here are our top tips for doing B2B lead nurturing right:
1. Categorize Your Leads
Delivering relevant content is key to effective nurturing, so understanding your audience is an essential first step. Categorize and segment your leads based on criteria like their stage in the sales funnel, lead source, demographics, interests, and past interactions. Common lead nurturing categories include:
- Sales-qualified leads (SQLs). SQLs are leads that have been vetted by the sales team and are ready for proposals.
- Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs). MQLs have shown interest but need lead nurturing to move them further down the funnel.
- Unqualified leads. These are contacts who have shown some interest but don't meet the criteria to become an MQL or SQL.
Taking the time to organize leads can help your teams better nurture each category with relevant content.
2. Develop a Lead Scoring System
A lead scoring system can help you methodically evaluate the quality of each lead. Assign scores based on actions like:
- Product demo requests
- Significant time spent browsing your site
- Following your social media accounts
- Engagement with your content
Use this system to identify which leads your sales team should prioritize, and keep tweaking your criteria and point values to perfect your scoring.
3. Automate Your Campaigns
Keeping up with each lead manually takes a lot of time and energy – which is why marketing automation is your best friend in lead nurturing.
Platforms like HubSpot can automate email sequences, social posts, and ads based on lead score, interests, and past behaviors, so you can deliver timely, personalized messages without much effort. Create workflows that nurture your contacts until they’re ripe for sales, and automate lead hand-offs when they hit the scoring threshold.
4. Send Personalized Emails
Generic "one-size-fits-all" email blasts don't cut it anymore. Today’s leads expect messages that speak directly to them, so use dynamic content, segmentation, and merge fields to create emails that feel like they were written just for the recipient. Address leads by first name, tailor content to their interests and past interactions, follow up quickly on trigger events, and watch your engagement rates rise.
5. Generate Targeted Content
Tailor your marketing content to your personas to give leads the information they need based on pain points, goals, and interests throughout their journey.
Targeted content optimized for your ideal personas gives leads information customized to their needs, challenges, and interests throughout their buyer's journey. Map your content to funnel stages, such as blogs and ebooks for building awareness and case studies for the decision stage. Here’s a quick guide:
Awareness
- Blogs
- Ebooks
- Videos
Consideration
- White papers
- Webinars
- Product guides
Decision
- Case studies
- Demos
- Battle cards
Keep your content fresh, engaging, and valuable, and distribute it strategically to draw leads further into your funnel.
6. Strengthen Your CTAs
Every piece of content, every email, and every interaction should gently nudge your leads closer to conversion. For colder leads, focus on awareness-driving actions like content downloads. As they warm up, shift to promoting trials, demos, and consultations.
Craft messages that clearly articulate your solution's benefits, and include straightforward CTAs so your leads know the next step you want them to take. But don't be too pushy with your lead nurturing campaigns, either – nothing turns off a potential sale like making leads feel pressured into making a purchase before they're ready.
7. Offer Free Trials
Free trials remove barriers to purchase by allowing leads to experience your product or service before committing long-term. Make the trial process as frictionless as possible, and support your prospects throughout their trial period. Free trials are your chance to convert hesitant prospects into enthusiastic customers, so use this opportunity to demonstrate how your solution can truly help their business.
8. Leverage Social Media
Social platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn enable more informal, authentic touchpoints with leads. Use these platforms to share industry insights, connect with key contacts, and showcase your brand’s personality – but remember to be helpful and authentic, not salesy.
Try engaging leads on social media by:
- Asking questions
- Sharing relevant content
- Joining and participating in relevant groups
- Responding to comments and messages
- Showcasing your company’s culture
As a bonus, the connections and insights gained on social media can help accelerate your sales cycles.
9. Align Marketing and Sales Teams
Your marketing and sales teams each play essential roles in lead nurturing, making close collaboration a must. Regular catch-ups, shared metrics, and clear communication ensure both teams are in sync, providing a smooth transition for leads as they move through the funnel.
Build a Better B2B Lead Nurturing Campaign With Mojenta
Lead nurturing doesn’t happen overnight – it takes continuous care and attention. But by tailoring messaging to where leads are in their journey, B2B businesses can earn more trust and make sales when the time is right.
At Mojenta, our marketing experts create tailored marketing strategies that help B2B telecom, IT, and cloud service providers attract and convert high-quality prospects. We take a holistic, data-driven approach to help you get found by right-fit customers – and nurture them with highly personalized drip campaigns and marketing automation software.
If you’re struggling to build a B2B lead nurturing campaign that works for your business, Mojenta can help. Book a consult today to get started.
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