When you purchase content syndication leads, you get access to folks who are just forming their opinions on their next technology solution.
While you could just pop these leads into your normal TOFU nurture process, that’s not best practice. In an ideal world, you would build nurture cadences that address the direct needs of the content syndication lead. This personalization will clarify the purchase intent of your leads, identify their placement in the pipeline, and provide you with the means to test changes on your cadences in a controlled atmosphere.
These five tips will help you better understand how your content syndication nurture campaigns perform, and how your improvements to your strategies play out in your long-term pipeline.
1. Build a cadence specifically for your content syndication leads
You provided your content syndication vendor with a well-crafted asset meant to entice readers to click and learn. Take advantage of the momentum you set by writing a nurture cadence that caters to the audience, subject matter, tone, and branding you set in your content syndication asset. This has a couple of positive outcomes for you and your brand:
- Readers associate your brand with continuity
- Readers are more likely to remember the original asset
- Readers are more likely to engage because you’ve given them a familiar starting point they can latch onto
2. You gotta keep ‘em separated
You built a special cadence that caters to the unique needs of your content syndication leads. Clone your campaigns and start a new cadence fresh with a new batch of leads every month. Label each of these appropriately. Then go ahead and drop a new lead into the campaign as soon as you get it to preserve freshness, but remember to clone a new cadence at the beginning of every month.
When you segment your leads by month, you can better understand
- How long it takes each of these leads to convert
- What parts of the cadence convert, and what could be tweaked
- Relative lead quality throughout the year
3. Get introductory data from your data source
Your leads provider should know what it takes to successfully nurture and close the leads you’ve purchased from them. They should be talking to their customers about lead performance and gathering data internally, and they should pass that information on to you. You don’t have to ask them to give away trade secrets, but talk to your leads provider about
- Their contact methods: in what ways have they already contacted the leads they sold you?
- Any follow up suggestions they have for you: what nurture activities have worked for other customers in the past?
- What their expected conversion rate is
- How long these leads may take to convert
All of this information should be basic service and support for content syndication leads. If your lead provider won’t give you this information, you may want to question their knowledge of their own data.
4. Take your time
You gotta play the long game with content syndication leads. Your lead provider has limited contact with them, and while that contact may indicate genuine, immediate need, most of these leads require a
much longer timeline. Don’t expect results in the first couple of months (although that would be awesome). Instead, add these leads to your pipeline and don’t give up.
In a similar vein, resist the urge to make significant changes to your cadence with every new set of leads. While you want to react to your data, content syndication leads can take time to warm up. You may have to let your programs ride for a few months at a time to really understand what about your cadence works, where you actually run into bottlenecks, or where you need to make drastic changes. Watch and take notes, and make decisions based on data.
5. Temper expectations
Hopefully, whomever you report up to understands the difference between BANT and content syndication leads. If not, it’s your job to temper expectations on your conversion rate, timeline, and overall outcomes on costs.
Although they will take longer than BANT leads, content syndication leads will convert, and they’ll probably lower your CPL over time. Ask your leads provider for expected timelines, conversion rates, and projected CPL over the lifetime of the lead.
Work with a lead provider who knows their leads
In order for you to build the best nurture cadence for your leads, you have to know something about those leads. Your lead provider should coach you on the best cadence, your expected timeline to close, a projected CPL given the life of the lead, and information about their previous interactions with the leads they sell you. If your provider can’t give you this data, maybe it’s time to
work with someone who can.
