Drip Marketing: A Way to Cultivate Relationships

In almost every industry, a marketer has to cultivate a relationship with a prospect before a conversion. In today’s economy, very few customers would make high ticket purchases without brand familiarity and trust.

Earning visibility and trust takes time and requires patience. There is no shortcut to this process. So, how do marketers close the deal in a reasonable period with new prospects?

One way marketers can do so is by adopting the drip marketing strategy. Drip marketing involves engaging prospects and customers over time in a regular and systematic way. The messages align with the specific behavior or status of the recipient. The logic is to ensure that the prospects remain familiar with the brand whenever they are ready to buy.

Success of this strategy requires careful planning. The following pointers can help:

1.    Engage. Drip marketing is not spamming the prospect at regular intervals. Rather the focus should be on engagement, to communicate with the recipient on their terms, based on what they like most.

2.    Try to stimulate a conversation. For instance, ask questions rather than simply roll out propaganda. Ideally, the message should base itself on the recipient’s reply or action to the previous message.

3.    Ensure “what is in it for me” in regards to a specific call to action. Most marketers make the mistake of telling the prospect what they need to do next without clarifying how an action would benefit the prospect. Focus on how the product or service would benefit the customer rather than on the product features unmatched by competitors.

4.    Be consistent. The bedrock upon which trust rests is consistency.

Finally, a little is a lot. The whole purpose of drip marketing is to ensure that the prospects remember the brand when it matters. Going overboard and bombarding prospects with information may become an over-kill. There is only a thin line separating a polite stranger who keeps in touch regularly and an annoying stranger.