We talk a lot about business-to-business lead nurturing at Gorilla. Lead nurturing is the idea of demonstrating expertise, building trust and remaining top of mind among prospects that have already discovered you. When a company can do all of these things by making themselves a valuable resource throughout their prospect’s (sometimes very long) buying cycle, they often become candidates to win the job when the time is right.
A majority of the marketing work we do for our clients comes in the form of online content – targeted blog posts, white papers and web-based tools designed for niche audiences. These content pieces are designed to be valuable, lead nurturing resources for their prospects. And considering the importance of repeat business and customer retention for most businesses, this content is also developed for the purpose of nurturing existing customers.
Although we don’t play much in the business-to-consumer world, I came across a pretty interesting B2C nurturing piece the other day at my local grocery store (Schnucks) and it inspired me. I do 90% of my grocery shopping at this store already. It’s close, they have everything I need and it’s a nice store. But they also do little things that add extra value to my shopping experience, like this:
At the butcher counter there’s a stack of these envelopes for the taking. I can bring one home and next week come back and drop off a knife for sharpening. I’ve always been a little paranoid about ruining a pretty nice set of knives by sharpening them myself. Schnucks recognized that a lot of people probably share that sentiment, so they provided a smart, simple solution to address that pain for their customers.
We think the best lead nurturing content in the business-to-business world is born the same way:
- Consider the challenges and pains that your prospects and current customers experience in their workday
- Tap the expertise in your brain
- Nurture prospects and customers with solutions to those challenges
Related stuff
How a B2B blog will win you new business
