• by Alexander Kesler , October 16, 2017

Marketing automation makes it easy for companies to streamline certain repetitive marketing tasks like emails and social media. However, many traditional marketing automation models only allow for email nurturing, which ends up shortchanging your customers by not allowing for the type of nurturing they need to really connect with your business and make a purchasing decision. 

Below, I share why traditional marketing automation email campaigns are just not working when it comes to lead nurturing and what you can do to make sure your company is employing purposeful marketing automation to effectively move leads further down the marketing funnel.

Email Nurturing Is Not Enough

Traditionally, marketing automation has been used to nurture leads through email marketing. This typically involves creating an email drip campaign that automatically sends out generalized emails to prospects after they have taken a certain action, such as signing up for your company’s email list, downloading an e-book or another piece of gated content, or filling out a form to get more information.

However, this old model doesn’t effectively engage modern consumers. In fact, according to a survey from Oracle, about four out of five marketers report that their email open rates don’t exceed 20%. In addition, 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, which is most likely due to a lack of effective lead nurturing.

These alarming statistics suggest that the traditional models of lead nurturing through email marketing automation campaigns are no longer enough to help move leads further down the marketing funnel. If marketers want to reach and nurture more leads, more effectively, they will need to think beyond the inbox. There is a need for deep media nurturing through other channels that can better reach and engage a company’s target audience. By using marketing automation more purposefully, marketers can improve their lead nurturing and help convert more leads into sales.

Multi-Channel Lead Nurturing

Though the buyer journey looks different for each company, depending on their product or service offering, most modern buyers need to receive more than one marketing touch to help bring them from the top of the marketing funnel to the stage where they are ready to convert to customers. The most successful lead nurturing campaigns deliver relevant and valuable content to prospects and guide them to the next stage in the buyer’s journey. With the help of a powerful marketing automation platform that offers multi-channel lead nurturing capabilities, marketers can now nurture leads through multiple digital touchpoints, instead of just email.

Marketers need to use a marketing automation platform that allows them to take advantage of all the digital marketing tactics that promote effective lead nurturing. This includes social media marketing campaigns, which allow brands to regularly engage their target audience by starting a conversation with followers and promoting relevant and useful content. Companies can also utilize mobile targeted marketing campaigns to help them reach more mobile consumers who are looking for the products and services they provide. In addition, retargeting campaigns help companies reach customers who have already shown interest in their brand, allowing them nurture these relationships and stay top of mind for these consumers.

There are so many tactics involved with effective multi-channel lead nurturing that it becomes essential for a company’s sales and marketing teams to be aligned and working cohesively. That’s where a customer relationship management system, or CRM, comes into play. To ensure that your marketing and sales teams are on the same page and working together, you need a marketing automation platform that allows for easy CRM integration.