Lead generation must be a component of an integrated
marketing program. Yet once those leads are in-house they must be nurtured.
After all, information technology systems are not bought after a phone call.
Referral decisions are not made immediately after a clinician requests
information. The sales cycle in the behavioral healthcare market is long, and
engaging prospects with relevant and timely information builds trust,
establishes credibility, and eventually leads to conversions.
Generating hyper-relevant content is time consuming.
Original content is preferable, as it allows your organization to directly demonstrate
its thought leadership. Lead nurturing, however, should not be limited to just
in-house content. Content curation is
another avenue for grooming your prospects.
Content curation involves sharing information that other sources have produced. Jon Miller at Marketo has an excellent blog post on this concept. Although you should periodically demonstrate your team’s expertise through, for example, issuing a white paper addressing hot pain points in the industry, plenty of content creators do this on a daily basis. Addiction Professional and Behavioral Healthcare produce content that you should be sharing with your prospects.
Say you are trying to attract referrals from eating disorder
professionals. When Addiction Professional publishes an article on this topic,
you could send a message to your prospects sharing this content. The
information is relevant, and the e-mail demonstrates that you are interested in
more than just “selling” your program. You are a helpful and useful resource
for your clients and their patients.
