Drip Campaigns

Drip Campaigns 101 by Rebecca Gill of sys-con - A good introduction and a starter checklist for businesses and marketing executives who have been putting this off for another day. IT WORKS - so don’t delay this any longer. If you need help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Drip marketing campaigns are very effective for sales cycles that occur infrequently or those that take a considerable amount of time to close.   In these situations, you frequently come into contact with a prospective customer well before they are ready to make an actual purchase.  You need to stay in front of them until they are ready and the drip campaign allows you to do just that.
 
My marketing background started in enterprise software sales where a given prospect could be in the sales funnel for six to twelve months.   We would have a new visitor reach our website while they were still researching available software solutions.  Because of the extremely long sales cycle, we had to find a way to stay in front of people while they continued to investigate solutions and weight their purchase options.  Even though I was selling into a B2B tech environment, the same process would hold true for a real estate agent, mortgage broker, or financial advisor and these are all B2C businesses that sell to consumers.  The element they all share in common is that the sales cycle is long and the purchase happens infrequently.
 
Drip marketing typically refers to email related interactions.  I think that is old school and I believe drip marketing should be a multifaceted approach.  With the advent of social media, drip marketing can refer to virtually any digital marketing and includes blogging, emails, newsletters, tweets, and posts.
 
Steps to Mastering Drip Marketing:

1. Pick an Email Campaign Provider – There are a ton of email software providers available today. Some are free to start and some cost money immediately upon sign up.  The important thing is to consider your requirements, document them, and then compare solution providers.  Match the providers’ features and functionality to your needs and don’t settle for just the easies solution or the cheapest.  Do you need the software to automatically send multiple emails to the same contact over time?  Do you need the software to easily integrate with WordPress or another CMS solution?  Do you need prebuilt templates or the ability to whip up your own in HTML?  Decide what you need and you’ll easily find a solution to fit.
    
2. Consider Your Personas – Who are your personas (aka target market) and what do they need?  Different target markets need different types of content, presentation, and frequency.  Know your personas and document their needs well before establishing your drip campaign plan.

View the rest of the Eight Steps to Mastering Drip Marketing

If you still have some questions and want more information, please check out some of the drip marketing campaigns ListEngage has put together for our clients. 

Drip campaigns take the set it and forget approach - which may seem a bit counter-intuitive when it comes to being proactive with subscribers and clients, but hear us out. They are the best way to keep a subscriber engaged over time, while not worrying about how many emails you have to send out. There are however tips and tricks to having a great email drip campaign. 

I came across an interesting list of don'ts when it comes to drip marketing - and getting started. This is a list of 10 things to avoid for every excited marketer embarking on a new drip marketing journey on a newly acquired marketing automation platform. Afterall, tools are as good as processes defined and decisions made by the people behind it.

1. Don’t keep dripping the prospects who are sales ready
2. Don’t overlap the lists for different drip marketing tracks
3. Don’t over-drip a prospect to annoy him/her- don’t give a chance to hit unsubscribe
4. Don’t make the drip marketing template ‘salesy’ in content
5. Don’t drip a contact who is not even remotely interested- don’t give a chance to hit spam
6. Don’t repeat messages/themes in drip campaigns
7. Don’t repeat HTML rich emails
8. Don’t make it impersonal- as drip campaign is a series of emails, it is easy to get lost
9. Don’t make a list too long – segment your list and have multiple drip marketing tracks
10. Don’t just send a ‘Thank You’ email in drip campaign- attach interesting content to engage further

I think that the list above are great things to avoid to keep your campaign fresh, and to really use a set it and forget to your benefit. It's all about making a subscriber seem that you are genuinely interested in them - and that you actually want their business, and not just to spam them.

Check out some of the drip marketing campaigns we have put together for our clients here.

As a B2B online marketer, how often do you struggle to find great content that is actually relevant to your specific B2B challenges? If you’re reading the leading online marketing blogs and websites, it’s probably a daily struggle to find valuable content! Don’t worry, we know exactly how you feel.

Without further ado, here are the blogs they had to share:

B2B Bloggers

B2B Marketing Zone

Social Media B2B (a personal favorite)

B2B Marketing Blog

B2B Marketing Open for Business

Do you have any other blogs or websites that you go to for up-to-date online B2B marketing, B2B social media marketing, drip campaigns or perhaps just B2B digital marketing tips, tricks, and advice? Let us know in the comments section – or Tweet Us your thoughts!

1. Segment: Segmenting your subscriber list based upon demographics (ex. the state the subscriber lives in) helps to craft content-specific emails and can increase both your click through rates and open rates.
    
2. Start a “Welcome Email” Campaign: If someone has taken the time to share their email with you, don’t leave them stranded, waiting for your response. Sending a welcome email to a newly engaged subscriber is a win-win: they’ll know what to expect and you’ll validate their email address!
    
3. Use Drip Campaigns: Develop a plan, create your well crafted emails, hit start and sit back. (Disclaimer: if it were really that easy, we’d be outta work… but you get the picture.) This automated way of reaching out to leads is an easy and time-tested way to convert!
    
4. Analyze Tracking/Metrics: Many companies don’t pay attention to their email tracking information. Take a moment to review the tracking on your previous campaign before you hit send.
    
5. Combine Social Media and Email Marketing: Duh. Need we say it again? Make your social links visible and shareable – and go forth!
    
6. Make a Marketing Calendar: Don’t bombard your customers 3x in one week, and then stay silent for 2 months straight. Strategically plan out your social media and email marketing ideas and consider how to approach things like holidays, notoriously “slow” times, or Ends of Quarter.
    
7. Grow Your Email List: Opt-in forms aren’t just for your website anymore: Facebook fans, white paper readers, subscribers’ friends, and blog viewers should all have an easy way to sign up too!
    
8. Clean Your Current List: Clean out unsubscribes, and root out any undeliverables – for re-engagement campaigns also look for inactive subscribers who just aren’t benefiting/interacting with your campaigns and consider sidelining them as well.
    
9. Experiment (A/B Testing): Don’t go with the very first idea you have. Try a few out: switch the text in your call-to-action button, or change the color of your newsletter. You never know, a little change may help conversions and ROI in a big way!
    
10. Give your Newsletter a Makeover: Do something different. Gather feedback from your subscribers on what they’d like to see in the future and (pardon the pun) deliver!