Stop Lazy Marketing: Fix Your Nurture Strategy
▼ Summary
– Most B2B nurture campaigns are ineffective because they rely on automated content blasts without building real relationships.
– Traditional drip campaigns are lazy and disconnected, focusing on pushing content rather than learning about or engaging with leads.
– Real nurturing involves building relationships through empathy, active listening, and low-pressure engagement to understand buyer needs.
– A better approach starts with asking questions to learn about prospects’ goals, challenges, and barriers to purchasing.
– Incorporating human touchpoints and personalized follow-ups based on prospect responses builds trust and increases engagement.
Many B2B lead nurturing campaigns are designed in a way that gradually disengages potential customers. We’ve all seen it, ten automated emails, a handful of blog posts, a few white papers, and a recorded webinar, all wrapped up with a couple of soft calls to action that get no response. Simply enrolling someone in a ten-email sequence after they attend a webinar isn’t nurturing, it’s spamming, and it’s a lazy approach to marketing.
This scenario repeats itself constantly. A prospect shows genuine interest by joining your webinar or event, but instead of fostering a meaningful connection, they get handed off to sales and dropped into a generic drip campaign. It feels like they’re on a conversion conveyor belt, and frankly, it doesn’t work. It never has.
Too often, marketers mistake activity for strategy. Drip campaigns are a perfect example of this mix-up. Let’s explore what effective nurturing actually involves and how you can build a more impactful approach.
The Problem with Standard Nurture Sequences
Marketers today are busier than ever, but that doesn’t mean they’re learning from their audience or building real relationships.
The traditional nurture sequence often looks something like this:
Host a webinar. Send follow-up emails. Share gated content. Repeat.
There’s no real dialogue, just a string of disconnected requests scheduled around a content calendar. What you end up with isn’t nurturing; it’s content-driven nagging.
What Effective Nurturing Should Accomplish
Genuine nurturing isn’t about automating messages, it’s about creating meaningful connections. A R.E.A.L. strategy centers on relationship-building, understanding what drives your audience, and responding to that insight.
It should accomplish three goals:
- Learn about the buyer’s mindset and motivations.
- Understand their goals and challenges.
- Build genuine trust through conversation.
That takes curiosity, intention, and human interaction. Here’s how to make it work in practice.
When the Webinar Ends, the Real Work Begins
Let’s say you host a session titled “How to Cut Campaign Waste with Smart Segmentation.” Three hundred people attend and engage actively, interest is clearly there.
The typical next step? Hand the leads to sales.
A better approach is to start a conversation.
Step 1: Begin with Curiosity, Not a Sales Pitch
Before sending any content, reach out with a genuine question that invites a reply.
Subject: Curious, How Do You Segment Your Campaigns?
Body:
Thanks for joining the webinar! I’d love to know, how are you currently segmenting your audience?
What’s been working well? What challenges are you still facing?
Why this works: instead of pushing another PDF, you’re asking for their perspective. It shows real interest and starts a two-way exchange.
Pro tip: Add a one-question poll or embedded survey to gather responses and segment future messages based on what people actually share.
Step 2: Understand Their Role-Based Objectives
Nurturing should go beyond clicks, it should explore why someone is engaging.
Use short emails, polls, or one-on-one invitations to uncover intent:
- Are they aiming for a promotion?
- Trying to prove ROI?
- Testing solutions before a budget cycle?
Example email:
Subject: Quick Question About Your 2025 Marketing Goals
Body:
I’m curious, what’s the number one thing you’re focused on this quarter?
Use their responses to shape your follow-up. Let them self-identify and tailor your outreach accordingly.
Step 3: Identify What’s Blocking the Sale
Most marketers never stop to ask, “What’s preventing this person from buying?”
Common blockers include:
- Existing vendor contracts
- Limited internal buy-in
- Budget timing
You won’t know unless you ask. Host small, candid discussions, no sales agenda, to uncover what’s really holding prospects back. These insights can reshape how your team communicates and sells.
Step 4: Add a Human Touchpoint
Have someone from your team, sales, customer success, or marketing, reach out personally. The goal is connection, not conversion.
Example:
“Hi, I noticed you attended our segmentation webinar. I’m talking with a few marketers this week about their data cleanup challenges. Would you mind if I asked a couple of quick questions? No sales pitch, just research.”
When your audience knows and likes your team members by name, engagement naturally follows.
Practical Tools for Genuine Nurturing
To bring this approach to life, rely on simple tools that encourage interaction:
- Polls and Surveys: Capture goals and attitudes. Example: “What’s your top marketing priority this quarter?”
- 1:1 Outreach: Build personal rapport and discover real blockers.
- Small-Group Discussions: Turn insights into relationship capital.
Nurturing Is a Strategy, Not an Automation
You don’t close deals by sending more gated content. You succeed by understanding your audience, earning trust, and being present when they’re ready, not when your content calendar says it’s time for “Email #7.”
Stop the drip. Start the conversation. Build a pipeline that automation can’t replace.
(Source: MarTech)
