Drip marketing is a communication strategy that sends, or “drips,” a pre-written set of messages to customers or prospects over time. These messages often take the form of marketing emails, although other media can also be used.
Drip marketing is distinct from other database marketing strategies in two ways:
1. The timing of the messages follow a pre-determined course.
2. The messages are dripped in a series applicable to a specific behavior or status of the recipient.
The goal of drip marketing is to keep the sender’s product or service in the forefront of the recipient’s mind, thus increasing the likelihood of a purchase.
Drip marketing can be used as a form of lead nurturing. It is also sometimes used as a form of direct marketing.
1. What is drip marketing?
When you’re just starting to build relationships with your new leads, it can be helpful to start with a simple email drip campaign. This will allow you to send a series of pre-written, automated emails to them over a period of time.
The goal is to keep your brand top-of-mind and gradually build trust with them. And, as you get to know them better, you can start to personalize your messages and offers to suit their specific needs and interests.
2. What is the difference between drip marketing and marketing automation?
Drip marketing is a function of marketing automation. When you are using a marketing automation platform, you can create drip marketing campaigns.
Marketing automation is a technology that allows you to automate, streamline, and measure your marketing tasks and workflows. Marketing automation platforms can be used to manage and automate marketing tasks such as email marketing, social media marketing, and more.
Drip marketing is one of the many things you can do with a marketing automation platform. With marketing automation, you can create and send drip marketing campaigns, but you can also do so much more.
3. What are the benefits of drip marketing?
Drip marketing is an effective way to nurture leads and keep your brand top-of-mind with potential customers. Here are a few of the benefits:
• Save Time: Drip marketing is automated, which means you can create a series of emails or ads and then let the software do the rest of the work for you. This is a great way to save time and free up your team to focus on other marketing efforts.
• Improve Lead Nurturing: Drip marketing allows you to send the right message to the right person at the right time. This is a great way to improve lead nurturing and move potential customers through the sales funnel.
• Increase Sales: By staying in touch with potential customers and providing them with valuable information, you can increase the likelihood that they will make a purchase.
• Build Brand Loyalty: Drip marketing is a great way to keep your brand top-of-mind with potential customers. This can help you build brand loyalty and increase customer retention.
• Measure Results: Drip marketing software allows you to track and measure the success of your campaigns. This is a great way to see what’s working and what’s not, so you can make improvements and get better results.
4. What are the drawbacks of drip marketing?
The biggest drawback of drip marketing is the potential to annoy your audience. If you’re not careful, you can send too many emails to your audience and they may become frustrated, which could lead to a spike in unsubscribes.
Another potential drawback is that drip marketing can be time-consuming to set up. You’ll need to create all of the emails in your campaign, and you may need to segment your audience to make sure you’re sending the right emails to the right people.
Finally, drip marketing can be expensive. If you’re using an email marketing platform to set up your campaign, you’ll need to pay for a subscription. If you’re not careful, you could also end up spending a lot of money on paid advertising to promote your emails.
5. What is the best way to implement a drip marketing campaign?
The best way to implement a drip marketing campaign is to use marketing automation software.
Marketing automation software makes it easy to create, schedule, and send drip marketing emails and other types of content. You can also use marketing automation software to segment your audience, track engagement, and measure the success of your drip marketing campaigns.
There are many different marketing automation tools available, so it’s important to do your research and find the one that’s right for your business.
6. What are the most common types of drip marketing campaigns?
The most common types of drip marketing campaigns include:
• New customer onboarding
• Free trial onboarding
• Product feature education
• Re-engagement
• Abandonment cart recovery
• Event promotion
• Cross-sell
• Upsell
• Customer review
• Win-back
7. What are some of the best drip marketing examples?
There are many different ways you can use drip marketing to engage with your audience. Here are a few examples of how you can use drip marketing to grow your business:
• Welcome series: If you have a new lead or customer, you can use a welcome email series to introduce them to your business and what you have to offer. This is a great way to build rapport and trust with your new contacts.
• Onboarding series: If you have a new customer, you can use an onboarding email series to help them get started with your product or service. This is a great way to make sure they have a positive experience and to reduce churn.
• Lead nurturing: If you have a lead that isn’t quite ready to buy, you can use a lead nurturing email series to stay top of mind and build trust. This is a great way to warm up your leads and increase your chances of making a sale.
• Re-engagement series: If you have a contact that hasn’t engaged with your business in a while, you can use a re-engagement email series to try to win them back. This is a great way to increase your customer lifetime value and reduce churn.
Conclusion
Drip marketing is a great way to keep your brand top-of-mind and help people move through the sales cycle, but it’s not the only way to stay in touch. For more ideas, check out our guide to relationship marketing.
