Congratulations, you've got leads! Now what do you do with them? That is an excellent question, and one that we'll discuss today.

First, let's define a lead as someone who may be interested in your services, products, or content, but is not yet "sales-ready." More and more, leads are spending a significant amount of time doing independent research and discovery before they're every ready to talk to a sales person. Your goal is to help nudge them in that direction by nurturing them.

Basically, you want to get your lead funnel from looking like this:

To looking like this:

A nurture program is a way to touch those leads who could possibly be a customer in the future, but aren't ready yet, and get them closer to that sales-ready point.

So how do you create a good nurture campaign for those leads? It comes down to creating quality content, a steady "drip" of emails, and a system for automating the whole process. Let's dig a little deeper into each of these areas.

Create compelling content that is emotional, informative, or entertaining.

Content is still king in so many ways, and in a nurture campaign good content can help push those leads down the funnel and get them closer to sale. Remember, the whole goal is to get them closer to sales-ready.

Here are some content tips to keep in mind.

• The subject line is the most critical piece of copy in your content arsenal. Think of this as your headline. You need to find that sweet spot of grabbing the reader's interest and giving enough away that they want to open the email and read the contents. This is not the place for formality—don't be afraid to be creative!
• Provide different types of media to consume throughout your email campaign. What may appeal to one type of reader may not be engaging for another, so be sure to mix up the types of content you use in your nurture campaign. You could drive your readers to an infographic, checklist, eBook, video, or webinar, or survey.
  
• Write content for a different levels of expertise. If you can't be sure if your lead is an old pro or more of a beginner, it's good to have a mix of content to engage your leads on all ends of the spectrum. Some of your emails should be very high-level and conceptual, some should be somewhat more in-depth, and some could be very detailed or advanced.
• Always include a clear call to action. The ultimate goal is to help your leads move down the funnel, closer to sale. You can coax them to that point by giving them specific calls to action. Maybe you want them to sign up for an event, or watch a how-to video, or download a PDF.
  

Think about the timing and frequency of your nurture emails.

Part of the concept of nurture is that you create multiple touchpoints over a period of time, and those touchpoints have a cumulative effect on your leads to move them down the funnel. You'll have to figure out the frequency of emails that makes the most sense for your organization, your products/services, and your audience.

• Let your audience choose the frequency of emails if you can. Preference centers allow your leads the option to change the frequency of mailings. Giving them control over their email preferences means they'll be less likely to opt out completely—a win-win for everyone.
• Don't wait too long to start your nurture campaign. It's ideal to start the campaign shortly after they've become a lead (whether that's through filling out a web form, signing up for a webinar, or any other way that works for your organization.) This way their initial experience with you will still be readily accessible in their memories.
• Queue your first email content off the action that made them a lead. For instance, if they are a lead because they signed up for a webinar on your website, you could kick off your nurture campaign with a thank-you, and pointing them to other events they might be interested in such as in-person trainings.

Find an efficient way to automate your nurture program.

As an organization totally focused on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, our approach naturally uses the capabilities of CRM to create nurture campaigns. When you combine CRM with our PowerPack add-ons for marketing automation, you have powerful tools at your fingertips to nurture leads effectively and efficiently.

For instance, we can use PowerEmail or PowerMailChimp as a means of creating the campaign content and sending out emails. We can build the nurture campaign flow with PowerNurture. And we can also tie in additional add-ons such as PowerWebForm (to generate the leads initially), PowerSurveyPlus (to take information-gathering surveys), or PowerWebTraffic (to see what your leads are most interested in on your website).

So there you go—a primer on how to start thinking about setting up an email nurture campaign to get those leads ripe for the pickin'. Feeling inspired? Give PowerNurture a try for yourself and see how easy it is to create drip campaigns in Dynamics CRM!

Have fun, be creative, and happy CRM'ing!