Circumstances this year have made it difficult, if not impossible, for B2B sales to meet prospects face-to-face. As a result, companies have increasingly relied on marketers to reach and influence potential buyers.
Many marketers are struggling with their new responsibilities, though, as it can be difficult to gauge a prospect's needs through digital touchpoints that are not set up for interactivity.
Fortunately, there is a marketing tech solution that can help them - lead nurturing.
Lead nurturing is a marketing programme that uses digital technology to help companies build relationships with prospects over time, across multiple channels, and throughout the buying journey. It does this by providing the right content for potential buyers at the right time and notifying sales when a prospect is ready for a call.
While it sounds like the ideal solution for the current work climate, many questions remain about its adoption in Southeast Asia. Are companies in the region using lead nurturing? And if so, how?
To find out the answers to these and many other questions, ClickInsights, in association with Marketo Engage, surveyed more than 800 B2B professionals in Southeast Asia in September 2020. Respondents represented companies from nearly every sector and size. Several of our findings are summarized below, but for the full report, please visit the report download page: Lead Nurturing: The Southeast Asia Perspective.
1) Lead nurturing is well-established at Southeast Asian (SEA) companies
First, respondents were asked to describe how well-established lead nurturing was at their company.
More than 7 in 10 (72%) said that their programme had been running for at least 2 years and 1 in 5 (20%) stated that their programme was more than five years old. Many companies in the region, therefore, have found it worthwhile to keep their lead nurturing programmes once they have started.
This most likely means that companies with lead nurturing programmes are achieving a positive return on investment (ROI) from them as unprofitable programmes are unlikely to last for many years.
Marketers who are exploring lead nurturing, therefore, be confident that many other companies have found the programmes worthwhile and a contributor to the bottom line.
2) Lead nurturing is popular in the SEA region
Next, we asked our survey respondents, all of whom already use lead nurturing, whether their competition was using lead nurturing as well.
Nearly 2 in 5 (38%) estimated that at least 1/3 of their competition is currently running lead nurturing programmes. This result indicates that lead nurturing is no longer a niche marketing approach but has gained wide acceptance in the region across many industries and company sizes.
Marketers who are new to the idea of lead nurturing should download the full report and explore Lead Nurturing: The Basics section as it offers background information on the approach as well as steps toward getting started.
3) Marketing are most likely to be responsible for lead nurturing at their company
Respondents were then asked about which department leads the lead nurturing programme. Does it belong to marketing - or are there other departments involved?
More than 2 in 5 (43%) stating that their lead nurturing programme is 'marketing led and managed' meaning that at companies based in Southeast Asia, marketing is most likely to be driving the adoption of lead nurturing.
This makes sense. Lead nurturing requires the coordination of many marketing channels including the company website, CRM-based email, and even social media. Marketers are usually the best people to ensure this process runs smoothly.
Marketers, however, aren't the only department involved in lead nurturing. Salespeople often play a role in the programme as well. As one of the main goals of lead nurturing is to qualify leads for sales, marketers often rely on input from sales to determine what a lead must do before they are ready to be handed over.
Reflecting this requirement, nearly one in three (31%) of our respondents indicate that their programme is 'sponsored by sales' and has 'significant input from sales staff'.
So, marketers in the SEA region who are familiar with lead nurturing indicate that their programmes are well-established in their own firm, popular with their competition, and are most often run by marketers.
While these quick facts provide an overview to lead nurturing, our report covers a lot more including how to get started with lead nurturing and some of the industry's best practices.
And you can download it here: Lead Nurturing: The Southeast Asia Perspective.