What is drip marketing?

The assumption seems to be that with 9 (more or less) interactions, a brand will make an impact on a prospect. But indeed, that no longer works in today's age of overwhelm.

First, we all have spam filters, and we delete them.
Next, we are sending out myriads of emails hoping a percentage will do the trick. But for most of us it's spam AND annoying AND potentially misguided. After all, it's just a guess that the people we're sending to will want the data.

The other huge problem is that the marketing material is so obsequious - trying SO SO hard to 'make nice' that it's quite annoying.

The only way it can possibly be done to good effect is to send occassional articles - truly occassional - to those folks who have made a DIRECT connection, with a nice note included.

Frankly, I use my blog for this. For folks I've got on my radar, I send them occassional - maybe every 8 weeks - posts that might interest them with a personal note.

For those of you who don't remember, the person who started the 'drip nurture' model is my friend Jim Cecil who meant it to be a way to stay top of mind. In his original campaigns (and as a friend he had me on his list so I was the recipient of these) he sent a few select people some fun small gifts - little thoughtful, useful things for your desk with his name on them - that truly kept him top-of-mind. Unfortunately, people aren't using it this way anymore in a desperate attempt to find any prospect they can. And then they get poor quality leads.

It's true, drip marketing is used to send automated messages over time to a group of prospects, however, while it is automated, it doesn't have to be impersonal.

Many businesses use software, like marketing automation that integrates with their CRM, this way, they can design specific content paths for groups of people that have the same response characteristics to various marketing materials.

Drip marketing can be highly effective, but there's a lot of thought that needs to be done in advance. It's not a best practice to simply put all your marketing messages on auto-pilot, however, having a clear understanding of your prospects needs, and carefully crafting content paths (leading them through the sales cycle) can be more relevant and meaningful to them then a call, even if it is "automated."

Ultimately, the idea is to "drip" by "drip" provide valuable content to prospects that are engaged with you, and those "drips" should lead them down the buying path (their own unique path).

Fred -

Barbra is correct when she mentions that drip marketing doesn't have to be impersonal.
If you are using a marketing automation system, you can use drip marketing intelligently and lead nurture your users based on their behavior/actions and even their attributes. These variables can dynamically adjust the messaging and delivery on your messages.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of work that goes into these nurturing campaigns, but if done correctly, each individual that starts down your drip campaign could end up getting a different set of emails, offers, etc... down the way. Think of it as a "Choose Your Own Adventure."

I often look at the periodic messages I received from Amazon.com, Costco and others. I subscribe to mailings from various people who send interesting sales and marketing tips, Personal coaches send advice, etc.Sometimes I buy what these people are selling, so I guess it works.

Drip marketing is a way to build trust with someone who has requested information about your products and/or services and has not yet purchased them. It could include auto-responder messages, letters sent in the mail, a note to connect to you on your favorite social networking sites.

As some of the information I provided above shows, I believe that drip marketing should be integrated marketing -- i.e. off line, and online and even a phone call.

It's putting yourself in front of prospects, where they can remember you and get to know you and your company better.

I've seen it done as spam (i.e. you meet someone at a networking event and they put you on their automated email list) or done with permission. When it's done with permission, via an email list or auto-reponder (or both) it also should also include directions on how to remove yourself.

Drip marketing should be on doing things that will help the prospect to know, like and trust you. Therefore, it's about providing value (articles, tips) and also letting them know about your events, services, etc.

When it's done correctly, it's appreciated. When it's not, it's considered spam.

Frank,
I am absolute not a friend of automated "drip marketing"

Businesses spend more time, resources and money to automate customer interaction – with the intention to be more effective – yet the ‘effect’ is that we are loosing customers – not winning any.

Wikipedia definition Drip Marketing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drip_Marketing

best
Marita
http://xeesm.com/maritar

Drip marketing is communicating on some regular invertal via a Calendar date.
Drip email - send email every monday to this group/segment of people - would be an example.

This is diferent than trigger-based marketing - which executes a campaign (email) when a condition is met...for example - someone downloads something on the website - then send them this email.

Both have practical application and good uses.

Like Barbra, I'm no fan of the term "drip marketing." Lead nurturing, in my mind is the art of earning the trust of strangers. It needs to be done slowly, gently and carefully. The information must be of high quality, personalized and bite-sized.

Think of meeting a pretty girl in a bar. Someday, she will bear your children. But moving from a first meeting to a family situation is a long process of building trust. You're certainly not going to earn her trust with a series of automated "drip" emails.

If you think of prospects as valued contacts with whom you want to build a relationship, you'll be much better off.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com

I like to use the term multi-touch. Similar to advertising metrics, frequency is important to awareness and engagement with a brand. This method makes sense if it has some intelligent offer/message management that is "aware" of the actions taken by the prospect. Start by keeping it simple: a few offers/messages, at a frequency based on the campaign objective -- not necessarily the funnel. As smart as you think your CRM system is, it will never really know where somebody is in the sales cycle, exactly what they need, or the content format desired. That's why you should make sure you have several types of offers, content and messaging to be IN the buyers path. Let them choose one. Then offer others.

With the proliferation of automated Drip Messaging software tools, Drip marketing has become a commonly used practice. While I understand that we are all overwhelmed by email messages, the same is the reason for reminders. If you are receiving a valuable offer and you don't act on it immediately, most probably that email will be lost in the volume of emails for the day; I personally know that another email reminder will be delivered in a couple of days and hence I never go back to the old email. I think consumers have been conditioned to this practice.

Yes, Drip Marketing and Marketing Automation have become buzzwords. However these software tools are to be used as aids. Unless the lead follow-up actions are updated in the system promptly and right filters are applied, drip emails will not server any purpose; in fact the prospective customers will either unsubscribe or report the emails as spam. If used correctly, drip messaging is a great prospect / customer engagement tool. Remember that drip messaging is not just for nurturing and lead conversion. It can be used for educating and engaging the existing customers and reducing the churn. Retaining an existing customer is far more profitable than a new customer. All modern, web based CRM, Lead Management and Marketing Automation software tools include drip email messaging features.

No use repeating the many good comments above about 'drip marketing' but maybe it's worth consolidating. Drip marketing is often multi-dimensional/multi-channel and automated, and most importantly, it's periodic. That's why it's called 'drip' not 'gusher'...duh. And, yes, the intent is to keep leads 'warm' and nurtured. The big question is WHY? As with everything else, intent is important here. What separates drip campaigns from SPAM is some indication from the contact that they might really want to buy your product or services one day. That implies there's been some interaction to indicate this.

So -- and sorry if I'm repeating myself here -- if you're going to do drip marketing it's important to remember that all marketing activities (drip, social, PR, advertising...) start with a list, with how you've segmented your contacts, with a clear profile/persona of who you're mailing/emailing/etc to, and with tracking their responses. Sometimes we forget it's the WHO more than the WHAT that's important.