A quick tip of the hat to the Sugarhill Gang…
The experts have drip marketing down to a science. Give the right guru a lead database full of hot, cool and luke-warm leads and soon you’ll have a revenue stream that doesn’t quit. That’s because the experts know that you must drip-drip-drip your communications to your leads slowly but surely, which will keep your organization on your prospects’ minds until they’re ready to buy. But how do you drip market your messages to individuals who are merely browsing or information seeking without annoying those leads or pushing them away? The fact is, drip marketing must be handled delicately. If you follow these five expert drip marketing tips, you’ll not only experience greater prospect loyalty but your conversion rates will double, triple or quadruple as a result.
Tip 1: Solve Your Prospects’ Problems
The very best way to ensure that your messages are read and responded to is if those messages actually do something for the prospect. If you truly understand your prospects and what problems they are facing, you’ll be able to connect with those individuals on a much deeper level. While your competitors are hawking their products and offering news, you’re actually helping your prospective customers live better lives, make more money, dress better or whatever else your business does.
Tip 2: Educate Your Prospects
When your prospects are considering your company, but they’re not yet ready to buy, they usually take to the internet to find out more about what your product does. They may also head on over to their social networking profiles, like Facebook and Twitter, to find out what they’re friends and peers think about the product in question. But what if, instead of your prospects doing all leg work on their own, you brought the product reviews, the social networking comments and the product sales page to them in a nice, well-organized lead nurturing campaign?
By educating your prospects, you will effectively limit the time they spend searching for that same product information elsewhere. After all, that’s when your prospects are most likely to learn about your competitors and their products. Keep your prospects where you want them and you’ll reduce the chances of your competitors stealing your leads away from you.
Tip 3: Help Your Prospects Compare
After finding out what your product does, the prospect is going to want to know if your product is the best on the market. This is when the prospect will usually seek out other products to compare it to. Again, instead of risking your prospects landing on competitor product sales pages, bring the comparisons to your prospects.
You can create side-by-side comparisons of your product along with competitor products, with your product coming out the winner. Your prospects’ concerns will be alleviated, they’ll be more educated and have a better chance of staying put – everything you want in a drip marketing campaign.
Tip 4: Maintain Authority With a Personal Touch
Your prospects must see you as the expert on your subject matter and product. You probably know this already. But why not prove your worth and authority to your prospects? Give them a chance to ‘Ask the Expert a Question’ or invite your prospects to your social networking profiles to debate a hot topic within your niche. This is the best way to establish authority and connect with your prospects on a deeper level, and you’ll create much more loyalty in your prospective customers when they see you as an actual person and not some electronic embodiment of your business or company.
Tip 5: Control Your Prospects’ Exposure
While this has already been touched on, it should actually become the entire theme of your drip marketing campaign. Remember, the more time your prospects spend surfing the web in search of information about your products, services and industry, the higher the chances that your competitors will snatch those leads away from you. Instead, bring the education, the information and the comparison shopping experience to your prospects. If you always give your leads what they want, when they want it and you try your best to connect with each lead on a deeper level than just as a product or service provider, you’ll see much greater prospect loyalty and much higher conversion rates than you’ve ever experienced before.
