Guidelines For Your Basic International Lead Nurturing Plan

Getting international sales through online lead generation is not easy. But you can get sales-ready leads with a solid lead nurturing program.

Lead nurturing is about creating relationships with your prospects. International lead nurturing is also about creating relationships. You need to avoid automatic internet communication for everyone. Try to create one-on-one relationships through each contact instead.

This article is part of the Guide To International Lead Generation, which is just one of the marketing strategies in the Business Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy essential for effective international business development. Be sure to check them both out.

Here are some basic guidelines for your basic lead nurturing plan. Your marketing touches should:

• Be at least once a month
• Vary the format
• Not all be sales pitches
• Not bore them
• Vary the content
• Prepare for the long haul

Let us look at these guidelines a little closer.

Once A Month

Keep in touch with your leads at least once a month. This is really the minimum. You need to remain in your prospects mind until he decides to buy. It also takes a minimum amount of contact to say it is a relationship.

Vary The Format

Use different communication formats:

• Call
• Letter
• Email
• Teleconference
• Live event

This variety of format adds interest. It is much more appealing to your prospects. It also feels like a real relationship.

It’s Not All Sales

Do not sell or make a sales inquiry each time.

The lead nurturing process is not about short hard selling. It is about creating a real relationship with your lead that you can easily sustain throughout the length of time needed.

Don’t Bore Them

Share information your prospects want to know about. You should share various types of information:

• Case studies
• White papers
• Reports
• Articles
• Third party reports or articles

Vary The Content

Vary the touches to make it interesting for your leads. It is important to keep your prospects interest up. This is all part of creating relationships. Vary what you say. It should still be targeted to what interests them.

Persevere

Keep up with it. Some marketers say you need a minimum of 10 touches, some say you need twice or three times that number in today’s world.

Target Your Touches To Your Market

Use these guidelines to help you come up with your own lead generation plan.

Marketing is about learning about your market. You need to learn as much as you can about your international markets. For best results, plan to document, measure and refine your international marketing plan right from the start.

Use this information to adapt your touches to your foreign prospects interests. The best way to touch them might be different than you expect.

Once you have a basic outline for your marketing touches, remember to keep refining it. You should aim to target all of your marketing touches to fit with the different cultures of each of your international markets.

Your lead generation plan will be stronger and get more sales-ready leads for your sales team.