How to Nurture B2B Leads with Direct Mails

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How To Generate Quality B2B Leads For Your Business Using Direct Mail?

The B2B and retail businesses are like two identical twins with polar opposite personalities. They are both the same and different from each other. You can see this by looking at how business organizations deal with B2B leads and regular leads.

B2B businesses often depend on long-term customer relationships rather than one-time purchases. Furthermore, the order value in a B2B transaction is significantly greater than in retail transactions. Hence, nurturing B2B leads and guiding them through the conversion funnel is more complex.

Navigating through the intricate details of B2B conversion is neither easy nor quick. But with a communication channel like direct mail, things can be different for your organization. If you are looking to find a way how to generate B2B leads or how you can nurture your existing leads, direct mail could be perfect for you.

This article looks at how direct mail works for your B2B organization. More importantly, we look at how you can generate B2B leads and nurture them to form long-term relationships with them.

Direct Mail Marketing and How It Helps You Generate B2B Leads

Dan S. Kennedy, a marketing wizard in every sense of the word, quoted, “A business without a mailing list is not a business.” However, over the years, more and more companies stopped using direct mail marketing as the world slowly shifted toward digital marketing. And before you know it, everyone was using digital channels to generate B2B leads for their business.

That begs the question, was Dan S. Kennedy wrong about his statement about the mailing list? We would argue no. Because the success of digital marketing in the past does not imply that direct mail is no longer an effective tool for generating B2B leads for your company.

“Mail competition fell 30% between 2006 and 2019 with mail volume decreasing from 212 billion to 150 billion” – Statista.

On the contrary, as more people abandon direct mail marketing, it gets easier for you to grab the audience’s attention. If anything, other companies giving up on direct mail can help you generate more B2B leads for your organization.

On the other hand, more and more businesses now realize their mistake. They are learning that not using direct mail for generating B2B leads anymore is like an invitation for loss. On top of that, automated solutions like PostGrid allow you to integrate direct mail into your multi or omnichannel marketing campaigns.

Adding direct mail to your omnichannel marketing significantly increases your B2B lead generation rate. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Here are some statistics that might help you make the right decision for your B2B business.

• Omnichannel campaigns saw a 63% increase in performance when incorporating direct mail
• Response rates for prospect lists are up to 5% (an increase of 194% since 2006)
• 73% of US consumers prefer direct mail as the communication channel for brands

How To Generate B2B Leads Using Direct Mail Marketing?

Direct mail is one of the best marketing channels for generating B2B leads for your business. However, any marketing channel is only as good as its execution. You can’t put a soccer mom/dad behind the wheels of an F1 car and expect them to win a race. 

Similarly, using direct mail is like having a powerful machine like an F1 car. It has all the potential to win against any vehicle on the road if you know how to drive it. Below, we discuss how to generate B2B leads using direct mail as your F1 car by implementing it stage-by-stage.

Stage 1: Define The Goal Of Your B2B Business

The best place to start if you want to nurture B2B leads for your business is by defining your business goal. Effective lead nurturing requires you to build relationships with prospective customers and maintain them via sales and marketing automation.

Instead of bombarding marketing efforts or campaigns like clumsy ninja throwing stars, set a specific goal and follow through with it. Regarding B2B lead generation, you need to focus on quantity and quality equally. However, the quality part is non-negotiable. 

Having a clear goal for your B2B lead generation brings clarity to the quality and quantity of your marketing efforts. It enables you to create an action plan based on various factors, such as your value offering the prospect’s position in the sales funnel.

Opting for a personalized marketing approach increases your odds of converting B2B leads into customers. However, you must set relevant and practical goals for your B2B marketing efforts to do this effectively.

Stage 2: Define Your Business Lead

Defining your business lead is just as crucial as defining B2B business goals. Remember that nurturing B2B leads is dynamic because no two business leads are the same. As stated above, you need to adjust your B2B marketing approach as you move down the conversion funnel.

Our advice is that you go with a lead scoring system where you find a way to score your prospects using specific criteria. You can use the lead scoring system to assign or subtract points based on how likely they are to make a purchase. The different norms you can use to categorize your B2B leads include the following

• Age
• Income
• Location
• Behavioral analysis
• And more.

Stage 3: Create Targeted Content For Nurturing Your B2B Leads

After the second stage discussed above, you would have enough data to create an accurate buyer persona for your campaign. Of course, the benefits of creating a buyer persona are pretty self-explanatory. It enables you to understand your B2B leads and formulate more effective direct mail campaigns.

In other words, you can create personalized offers that are likely to pique the audience’s interest. Furthermore, it helps you to categorize your B2B leads depending on the chances of a successful conversion. 

At this stage, you stop being a clumsy ninja, and the likelihood of your stars hitting the target increases significantly. As a result, you enjoy higher conversion rates for your B2B leads. 

Stage 4: Choose The Communication Channel(s)

You might wonder why we are discussing communication channel(s) when we already use direct mail as the marketing channel. It is because the traditional single-channel marketing approach is slowly becoming obsolete. And you would understand why if you look at the B2B lead generation capability of omnichannel strategies.

It is no secret that direct mail performs significantly better in B2B lead generation when you use a cross-channel approach. Some of the other benefits of incorporating direct mail marketing in a cross-channel strategy include the following:

• Boost retention rates.
• Boost brand awareness.
• Enhance customer journey.
• Strengthen your relationship with the customers.

However, implementing a cross, multi, or omnichannel approach with direct mail for B2B lead generation is not easy. At least, not without an advanced automated solution like PostGrid. Without automation, it is virtually impossible to personalize your direct mail in an omnichannel approach.

A survey among 600 businesses implementing omnichannel marketing saw that direct mail boosted omnichannel performance by 63%. These statistics should be enough for you to incorporate direct mail in your B2B lead generation campaigns.

You can integrate an automated solution like PostGrid directly into your CRM solution. It allows you to quickly personalize your direct mail with a single click of a button. It is the most convenient way to combine your offline and online marketing efforts for B2B lead generation campaigns.

Furthermore, it ensures a steady streamlined flow of data regardless of the channels you use. In other words, you can choose different channels for your marketing campaigns if you have a system like PostGrid to back your direct mail efforts. Only with an advanced automation solution like PostGrid can you ensure quality B2B lead generation and lead nurturing.

Stage 5: Search For Multiple Touchpoints

The various stages within a sales funnel are crucial factors you must consider before approaching your B2B leads with your offer. The lead nurturing strategy for the business leads varies depending on their position in the conversion funnel. 

For instance, consider two customers; one is just checking out your brand, and the other is all set to make a buying decision. You can’t pitch the same marketing message or offer to these B2B leads at different ends of the conversion funnel.

Hence, it would be best if you found different touchpoints. You must also determine when it is okay to reach out to your B2B leads and how. Direct mail may be an effective marketing channel, but to get the best results, you must use both online and offline channels.

Consider using convenient and effective methods like QR codes or PURLs to take your B2B leads from one medium to another. We can give you a pro tip: personalized QR codes on a postcard can work wonders for your campaigns. And if you use PostGrid’s automated system, you can also boost your ROI significantly.

Once the target reaches your landing page, you can pitch them with personalized offers or content. As a result, you can create a superior experience where the show’s star is the audience. It is much like your B2B leads walking into the store and finding everything they need or want according to their preference inside the store.

Remember that your online and offline communication channels are not mutually exclusive or independent. For your B2B lead generation campaign to succeed, you need them to work together flawlessly. It is pointless if your email tries to sell apples and your direct mail tries to sell them mangos. Hence, maintaining consistency at the top of your priority list when using multiple touchpoints.

Stage 6: Nurture Your B2B Leads With Follow-Ups

Focus on timing your B2B lead generation via direct mail at this stage. This part of the postal mail process is the primary concern for most business organizations. It is probably why most businesses hesitate to include direct mail in their marketing or communication efforts. 

Fortunately for you, timing your direct mail is significantly more accessible than it was in the past. Advanced automation solutions like PostGrid enable you to manage the timing of your direct mail better. You can schedule the follow-up postal mail you send to your B2B leads and business partners.

Pro Tip: Use personalized postcards to nurture your B2B leads and ensure that you stay engaged with them. It is one of the best ways to reach out to your audience without looking like you are trying too much for their attention. 

Stage 7: Personalize Your Marketing Content/Message

Personalization is crucial to your business’s successful B2B lead generation campaign. Three pillars help you build customer relationships for your brand, and they are 

• Recognition
• Appreciation
• Personalization

Direct mail can accomplish all three of the above. The best example of it is personalized birthday postcards. 

• It shows your customers that you care about them
• It can have attractive branding on them
• You can personalize them using automation

You can also send personalized direct mail materials to your B2B leads using PostGrid. Brochures, postcards, product catalogs, etc., are just some of the few personalized marketing materials you can send via PostGrid. Additionally, you can print brochures, product catalogs, and postcards of different sizes using PostGrid.

Stage 8: Use An Automated Solution

Automation is a must for direct mail practices today because it is the most efficient and accurate way to send them. Sending your direct mail to your B2B leads is much more convenient with an automated tool like PostGrid.  

It ensures break-free communication with your B2B leads during various stages of the conversion process. You can use it to deliver relevant information at the right time leading to a consistent customer experience. 

And that’s just the beginning. With automated direct mail solutions like PostGrid, you get additional capabilities to enhance your B2B lead generation campaigns. For instance, you get superior analytics and tracking features with automated solutions like PostGrid. 

Besides all this, PostGrid’s direct mail automation tool provides you with a dashboard. It lets you control, manage, and track your mailings from a centralized system. Some of the additional capabilities you get with PostGrid’s automated solution include

• Access To Mailing History.
• Standard And Intelligent Mail Tracking.
• An Editor For Customizing Templates.
• Bulk Mailing Capability.
• Custom Mailing Options.
• HIPAA, SOC-2-Type-2, GDPR Compliances.

Conclusion

Nurturing your B2B leads is never an easy task. However, it becomes much easier using a marketing channel like direct mail. If you can execute it correctly, direct mail can give you the best results for your B2B marketing campaigns.

You can further enhance the effectiveness of your direct mail efforts by using an automated solution like PostGrid. Besides improving your direct mail capabilities, PostGrid allows you to run cross, multi, or omnichannel approaches to attract B2B leads to your business. 

Additional capabilities such as bulk and scheduled mailing make PostGrid ideal for B2B lead generation campaigns. PostGrid’s direct mail automation software helps organizations optimize their mailing capabilities in every industry.

Only recently, we helped a leading healthcare provider conveniently send over 10,000 mailings every month. With advanced personalization capability, you can also use PostGrid’s tool to streamline communication with your B2B leads and business partners.

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