Originally published June 14, 2019 , updated on September 9, 2024

Much like a good dining experience has an enticing appetizer, embracing entree, and attention-grabbing dessert, a company’s lead attraction and nurturing processes should be cleverly organized into a three-part, customer-clinching powerhouse.

It’s your responsibility to ensure that you’re serving up the kind of content that keeps the buyer interested and engaged at every step. You’ve got to put in a little extra effort to make your audience feel wanted and valuable.

It might come as somewhat of a shock to know that at least half of your qualified leads are nowhere near ready to make a purchase when they first convert. Another little secret: they’re not going to budge if you stick to outdated selling strategies. Frequent sales calls are out of the question. Your aim isn’t to become a pest but rather a trusted source of valuable content.

This is your chance to serve up some piping hot ToFu, MoFu & BoFu content. If you’re not sure what that is, stick around and you’ll find out.

Whet Their Appetites with ToFu
(Top of the Lead Nurturing Funnel)

At the top of your sales funnel, your main aim is to attract as many potential leads as possible. Your audience is much larger at this point,  so you’re casting a fairly wide net. Your main aim at this stage is to attract traffic without filtering or discouraging conversions from the “wrong” types of leads.

ToFu content is captivating and educational. You need to address a specific need, question, or pain point without sounding sales-y. Consider your blog as the best platform for ToFu content; you’re providing value without necessarily asking for anything back.

This content can contain calls-to-action that lead prospects to conversion opportunities. Only then do you ask your audience to exchange their email addresses (or other contact information) for even more valuable content. ToFu content, in the form of short blog posts, should contain a few snippets of valuable information, which are intended to lead the audience to something more substantial like an eBook or whitepaper.

Fill ‘Em Up With MoFu
(Middle of the Funnel)

Once you’ve managed to convert a lead from the ToFu content stage of lead nurturing, they’ll be expecting something stellar in the MoFu stage. You’ve tantalised them with a tidbit they’ve found interesting or helpful in some way; now they’ll be ready for something more substantial.

You’re going to need to work on content that continues to educate or solve a particular problem but with a slight sales angle. This is the point at which you’ll begin to position your company as the most logical, useful, and helpful solution to the lead’s challenges.

Take some time to develop whitepapers, case studies, eBooks, or even videos. The challenge here is ensuring that you produce top quality content. If your internal team isn’t necessarily up to the job, consider bringing in professional help. Remember, you’re trying to build credibility, so you need to put your absolute best foot forward.

Seal the Deal With BoFu
(Bottom of the Lead Nurturing Funnel)

Once you’ve warmed up your leads with amazing MoFu content, you’ll progress to the most crucial stage. Your aim is to go in for the sale, which means you need to keep your leads feeling well cared-for.

In many cases, the BoFu stage is a simple one-on-one encounter, whether it be in person or over the phone. Think of this as the after-dinner coffee ritual, for leads who are full-up and don’t need any more content to convince them of your worth.

In other cases, you’ll need to curate a teensy bit of BoFu content in the form of a free assessment, trial, or discount code. It’s the small yet rich dessert that they can’t help but want to add to their menu.

Automation is Key
(Work Smart)

The concept of lead nurturing through the 3-course meal approach sounds fairly simple. It is, however, important to realise that your lead nurturing strategy does require a certain amount of planning and effort.

If you put in the time needed to develop your strategy, curate stellar content, and evaluate converted leads at each stage of the sales funnel, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the pay off. Excelling at lead nurturing will help you generate 50% more sales ready leads. Furthermore, those leads are likely to make 47% larger purchases.

Because the process is so time-consuming, it’s completely illogical to manage everything manually. You wouldn’t have time to do anything else! Marketing software is an absolute necessity. You’ll notice a marked ROI on this particular investment. In fact, companies that automate their lead management processes notice a minimum 10% increase in revenue within half a year.

Automation doesn’t mean you’ll sacrifice that all-important personal touch. You’ll still be able to send out emails with customised greetings and subject lines. In fact, you can even create them long before a lead converts. These mails can be triggered based on a particular conversion and scheduled at your chosen frequency as well.

With clever automations in place, you’ll have more time available to create content that keeps visitors coming back for more. Additionally, your sales team will have continuous access to marketing qualified leads and sales qualified leads, making their jobs that much easier.

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