Marketing Automation And Lead Nurturing – Not Only For The Big Guys

The common perception among marketing managers at relatively smaller companies is- we are too small to think about marketing automation or implementing a lead nurturing program. Many a times, it is difficult to break this perception although there are solutions available which suit the needs of smaller companies. It is very common to hear thoughts like ” we are interested in setting up lead nurturing program but we just have about 100 inbound leads in a year” or ” we don’t have the budget to invest in marketing automation technology so we will stick to email for the time being. If you believe in the same thought – I differ to this idea of lead nurturing being exclusively for the big guys.

It is true that a large company with thousands of leads from different sources needs some form of marketing automation to find which ones are ready to be engaged. The lead nurturing program is capable to deal with individual lead level. The question which pops up- can lead nurturing help to a one man marketing sales team armed with a list of 150 target accounts and 300 decision makers, the answer to this question is a big YES. Let us understand it with the help of an example- If email are sent to all the 150 target accounts, it is still very much possible to keep a track on the response and study their level of interest. Personalized emails can be send and according to the interest levels we can get in touch with the prospect or even not connect them till they are ready. It’s an effective way to keep in touch with your prospects who are not yet at the buying stage of the cycle.

So why does many believe that it’s out of reach or they are not big enough to make use of something like this? Is it the budget? Many of us read about how global giants managed to drive millions by nurturing their large databases, it doesn’t mean it is out of reach or expensive. It should be accessible and coast effective to both big and small companies.