Could your business benefit from Drip Marketing?

Want more sales? Use the power of print to fuel your drip marketing efforts.

What is drip marketing? Drip marketing is the use of a consistent, predictable set of marketing touches (postcards, email, newsletters) to develop and nurture a relationship with a client or prospect over time. The concept comes from the world of agriculture. Instead of flooding a dry plant with water, farmers add adequate “drips” of water to keep the plant at the optimum moisture level all of the time. Drip marketing applies the same concept to the world of marketing.

How is drip marketing different from follow-ups or multi-touch marketing? The latter have narrow time frames. Follow-ups are one-off. You call someone back. You mail them a packet of product information upon request. Multi-touch marketing is designed to use multiple contacts— postcards, email, mobile— but still garner a sale within a relatively short period of time.

Drip marketing has a longer term framework in mind. It is about education, trust building, and lead nurturing over months or even years. It’s great for complex sales and higher value products.

According to The Database Diva, 65% of the people in your sales funnel are tire kickers. They are unqualified prospects not in a position to do business with your company. Thirteen percent are ready to buy. Twenty-two percent will buy eventually but need more time. That’s where drip marketing comes in. That last group may take a while, but when they are ready to make the purchase, you want them to buy from you.

One place we see drip marketing used to great effectiveness is real estate. Agents send four-color postcards with tips and tricks for lawns and gardens, home winterization, and other topics throughout the year. The agent’s headshot and contact information are readily visible, presenting him or her as a problem-solver interested in helping homeowners whether they are looking to sell their homes or not. When a homeowner does decide to sell, whom will they think of first? Drip marketing creates goodwill, brand identity, and keeps the agent top of mind.