A full house gathered last month at the newest Cafe Deluxe in DC’s popular West End to learn about the nuances of customer acquisition and nurturing leads during a bonus How-To led by HubSpot’s MK Getler. See what MK had to say about buyer personas, the personal touch, and contextual marketing – and who’s doing it well – in our exclusive one-on-one interview here.
A full house gathered at the newest Cafe Deluxe in DC’s popular West End to learn about the nuances of customer acquisition and nurturing leads at AMADC’s bonus How-To event last month. MK Getler, an Inbound Marketing Consultant at HubSpot who specializes in lead nurturing and ecommerce, shared the latest tools of the trade for creating and implementing effective marketing strategies – beyond email marketing campaigns – that drive conversion rates. Attendees learned the keys to tailoring messages to engage their target audiences and how to utilize technology to enhance customer experience (the “Buyer’s Journey”) and nurture leads. Following the presentation, we had an opportunity to sit down one-on-one with MK for an exclusive interview.
AMADC: Name one way you are transforming the way the world does marketing, one customer at a time.
MK: It all has to do with that human-to-human connection. Marketing is no longer just marketing to the world, it’s marketing to a specific human. When you really understand your buyer persona and the needs of the buyer’s journey, you automatically start to give them the nurturing that they need to help them understand and build trust with your business and your brand. Think about companies like TOMS for example; they don’t necessarily use inbound marketing or use HubSpot, but the things that they are doing involve human-to-human connections. Their business model offers a way for you to give back to the world – and that’s really important to their customers.
AMADC: Which company or companies come to mind as market leaders in understanding the buyer persona, adding a personal touch, and having an effective contextual marketing approach?
MK: One of my all-time favorite HubSpot customers is PetBox. Their website is incredibly personal and you never even actually see real humans, its all about animals. PetBox has to understand their personas are people who really care about their dogs, people who will spend money to make sure their dog is comfortable and happy, and their dog is a real, and important, member of the family. PetBox’s website responds to the context in which they have encountered the customer before, where if you previously put items in your shopping cart and don’t actually purchase anything, they will use messaging that says something like, “Welcome back, we missed you.” As a result, this makes the customer feel as though the company (PetBox) recognized him or her, which creates a very powerful impact.
AMADC: What’s your main advice for someone interested in strengthening their lead nurturing strategy?
MK: When you want to strengthen your lead nurturing strategy there is usually a core reason why: either your strategy is ineffective or you think there is room for improvement. The core reason why you should actually want to strengthen your nurturing has a lot to do with accurately developing your buyer persona and successfully mapping content to each stage of the buyer’s journey. If you understand who you are marketing to and you understand the buyer’s journey, you can then start to work on serving up the pieces of the puzzle that correspond to each level of the buyer’s journey. Always remember to make sure to keep it short, keep it to the point, and make it personal by personalizing emails, segmenting your email lists, and understanding the places that your persona hangs out – in other words where they turn to for trustful reliable resources.
AMADC: What are the key takeaways you have gained from interacting with different clients in different countries?
MK: It has everything to do with the fact that people are human and humans are all very different from one another, so if you take the time to understand what really motivates people, you tend to build lasting relationships with them. When you take a step back and recognize that everyone is human with human motivations and human feelings, your lead nurturing will instantly be more effective.
AMADC: Will the process of lead nurturing be the same as it is now or do you see it evolving?
MK: Lead nurturing will totally evolve – and quickly. With anonymous personalization techniques, you can now start nurturing even before you have an official “lead” (name or email address). This process will get better and better over time; you will quickly be able to start understanding more about the human you are working with in just a few moments. We leave our footprints all over the Internet, so as marketers, we will be able to start connecting the dots between those footprints. Connecting those footprints will begin to create a story about each individual buyer. A great example is Amazon: they are preemptively sending their premiere customers products before they even order them! Check out our photos from the event, here.
About the Speaker:
Ms. MK Getler Inbound Marketing Consultant, HubSpot MK Getler is on a mission aimed to transform the way the world does marketing, one customer at a time. With extensive experience creating content-rich, metrics-driven campaigns for small, medium and enterprise-level clients, MK has worked to drive clients across various industries to achieve repeated success. Not bound by a cookie-cutter approach to consulting, MK recognizes that we are all human. As humans, we are unique in our approach to learning, communicating and processing the world around us. With this unique approach to consulting, MK develops an innovative and tailored experience for each client in her portfolio. Consulting Specialties Include: Lead Nurturing: Replicating human interactions with an holistic online marketing experience. Lead nurturing isn’t just email anymore. Design in Marketing: Teaching customers to effectively use the subtle, yet powerful, nuances of website design to drive conversation rates. Driving success in marketing is in the details. eCommerce: Helping customers harness the power of our software and the Inbound Marketing Methodology to get found online and increase leads. Not afraid of a challenge, MK once packed up her guitar case and moved to the south of Spain in search of tapas and a chance to live outside of her comfort zone. When she’s not taking on new adventures in countries with languages she does not speak, MK can be found jogging along the Boston Harbor with her black lab, Kody.