Many companies still rely on speed alone in marketing. For personalised marketing and lead tracking, however, the right timing matters far more. But how does it work? We show you here.
Lead tracking through personalised marketing and the right timing: this is how you get there too.
Too early, too late: punctuality counts, in marketing as well.
Chasing leads: everyone wants to be first
First come, first served. For a long time marketing took that at face value. As long as it was fast and plentiful, the message would get through sooner or later. Yet flooding people with information only annoys potential leads, and they ignore your messages.
Well meant is not always well done.
Relevant content and the right moment matter more than speed and frequency. The same goes for trends. The key point is that audience analysis and the buyer persona serve as the basis, so the marketing strategy can be aligned with them.
Only relevant information gets noticed and can lead to success. Everything else ends up in the spam folder sooner or later and puts people off rather than winning them over.
If you want content marketing that pays off, you have to be more targeted.
Let us look at an example:
- Provider A sends existing customers the same information as leads. In newsletters sent to all contacts, it presents its product with every detail and price.
- Provider B distinguishes between customers and non-customers, but for non-customers it makes no difference how far along the customer journey they are. A lead who visited the site for the first time and signed up for the newsletter now gets the same emails as someone who was interested in a demo.
- Provider C follows a different strategy. Its personalised marketing only places advertising that matches the individual needs of the persona, and it takes trends into account promptly. Potential leads only receive relevant information and stay up to date without feeling overwhelmed or having to filter out what matters.
Who is more successful?
Fine, we admit it: the wording of the examples already gave the answer away. It is provider C, of course. While A and B produce content for nothing and scare their leads off instead of meeting them where they are, C offers real value, and at the right time.
Why does timing matter in personalised marketing?
Quite simply, because you have to meet leads where they are, and that includes when. Find out when potential leads spend the most time on your site and what they are looking for there. They do not want to be flooded. They do want to hear about trends and receive the right information at the right time.
That applies to the time of year as well as the time of day. If you send a newsletter or an ad at 5.30 in the morning, it is buried under a pile of other messages by the time normal working hours begin.
The same goes for evenings and weekends. Anyone who hears about trends and other opportunities then is just as unlikely to engage.
Trends work similarly. New developments should be shared with your target audience as early as possible.
BUT: as early as possible does not mean sharing for the sake of it before anything is settled. Put precision and quality before speed. That makes a brand or company look more reliable and better thought through.
That sounds like a lot of work?
Neither lead tracking nor personalised marketing works without effort. The difference from other approaches is that you reach more leads this way. Instead of acting over-eagerly and fairly at random, the effort pays off here. That naturally includes blog posts and other content.
Follow-ups and lead tracking
With a follow-up you often have to wait a long time for an answer: according to a Google study, 42 hours on average. You can imagine how frustrating that is under time pressure. In these cases, respond quickly, but also point out when details still need to be clarified.
How do you find the right timing?
Now comes the hardest part: when is the right moment? There is no general answer, so you need the right data. Study your target audience in depth and create matching personas. The better you know their wishes, goals, available times and habits, the more precisely you can align. Factoring in the times of the most frequent visits already helps.
You can gain further data from statistics on age and interest groups, social media, suitable tools and surveys. Thorough lead tracking, and research beyond it, lets you assess the behaviour of potential leads better and align your marketing with it.
Remember: only when you understand your leads' buyer journey and can deliver content to match do you have a solid foundation for personalised marketing.
Important: take changes into account
Your target audience changes over time and with trends. Stay up to date. That means regular checks and, where needed, adjustments to your strategy.
Thanks to social media and lead tracking this is now comparatively easy. Even so, you should keep up to date continuously.
Why timing beats speed
Because you reach your target audience much better. Just picture the following situation:
It is nine in the morning and you have just arrived at the office. Work is already piling up on your desk. Suddenly your phone shows several notifications. You are annoyed already, because, unlike what some business owners seem to believe, you are not interested in just one business.
Next you want to do some research, but you keep being interrupted by ads. After lunch you want to check social media quickly, and again you only get offer after offer.
How annoyed are you now?
Your target audiences feel exactly the same. Day after day they are flooded with information and practically harassed by it. It is especially irritating when the product is not even available yet or the message is merely a pre-announcement. Poor quality can scare customers off too.
Messages with well-chosen timing and real value, on the other hand, actually get noticed and build stronger loyalty.
Conclusion: timing is quality, speed is quantity
Research thoroughly, know your target audience precisely and then develop a plan to match. Make sure you offer real value to your leads. That secures your company's success in the long run and saves time for you and for others. Timing stands for quality, while speed stands for quantity rather than success.
