At what pace do you desire to convert your cold prospects into paying clients? It all boils down to your strategy when interacting with cold clients.
Thus, what strategy does your brand use to interact with cold clients?
Does it use either of these customer relations strategies:
Cold-hot-warm strategy
Cold-warm-hot strategy
Let’s look into these strategies to determine which is better.
Cold-hot-warm strategy
Cold-hot-warm is a short-term customer relations strategy. We can also call it the mood swing strategy. This strategy is suitable for only established brands. Why established brands?
This strategy is for established brands because they know the nitty-gritty of the marketing industry.
“Well, don’t I know enough nitty-gritty?” You may ask. Well, let’s put this into perspective.
I’ll share my experience with two copywriting brands.
This experience happened during the early stage of my career. Also, I was a beginner writer. A copywriting business promoted their novel course for beginner writers. So, the brand used a direct sales campaign strategy.
This campaign consisted of ads, sales pages, and landing pages. The ads attracted potential clients. The sales page engaged them. Finally, the landing page would convert them into leads.
Did this campaign strategy work? Yes, it did. The campaign strategy worked because it persuaded me. Also, what intrigued me was the sales page’s persuasive techniques. I can never forget that experience. But here’s the juicy bit.
I didn’t sign up at the time. Thus, I got some valuable gifts from the brand, some people call these lead magnets. But after that, I fell out with the brand.
Why did I lose interest in them?
The brand’s sales funnel was complete. But I still needed time to bond with the brand. The brand’s sales page was also its home page. Furthermore, other pages didn’t humanise the brand enough. But don't get me wrong, the brand’s sales page was convincing, persuasive, and intriguing.
This copywriting brand followed the conventional marketing funnel. This marketing funnel embodies the cold-hot-warm strategy: Imagine the process of boiling water in a kettle. The water temperature accelerates from 0°C to 100°C. Then, it returns to 0°C when you switch off the gas. That’s what happened between me and this copywriting brand.
As a beginner copywriter, I needed to hone my craft. Thus, this desire qualified me as a cold client. I found a brand that spoke to my desires. Then, I became excited and took their valuable gift (lead magnet). Yet, I became a cold client again. I call this a cold-hot-warm journey.
How can you benefit from using the cold-hot-warm strategy?
Quick sales and marketing results
Less time spent converting customers into leads
Choppy brand CLV. This means that your Customer Lifetime Value is neither trending upwards nor downwards.
Acquisition of transactional customers
However:
Your competitors can claim your audience if you don’t deliver on your promise.
Your product/service must prove to be the best.
In my case, I joined that brand’s newsletter after acquiring their free lead magnet. This newsletter was the brand’s nurturing tool. Yet my temperature was at 0°C, despite the earlier excitement. I was the water while the brand’s newsletter was the kettle. I went from cold to hot in the kettle, then hot to cold when they switched off the gas.
A few moments into the nurturing stage, they turned on the gas to heat me up again. At that point, I understood my relationship with the kettle, and I was not a hot lead.
So, how about a cold-warm-hot strategy?
Cold-warm-hot strategy
Cold-warm-hot is a long-term customer relations strategy. It’s the route most beginner marketers aren’t willing to take because it takes longer to work.
This customer relations strategy is for novel and established brands. It’s holistic and intriguing at every touch point.
Let’s return to my quest to hone my copywriting skills:
Eventually, I stopped interacting with the cold-hot-cold brand and looked to another. This other copywriting brand had an infinite gas supply. As a result, their clients were always at 100℃.
Now let’s give this other copywriting brand a name. How about Nurturers? Yeah, I know; don’t mind my naming skills! So yes, Nurturers. Nurturers ignited my passion, they used the cold-warm-hot strategy. With this strategy, every touchpoint was intriguing. Also, Nurturers followed the inbound marketing flywheel to achieve the cold-warm-hot strategy.
To attract cold clients Nurturers shared insightful content. This content provided unrivalled value to their potential clients.
For the warm clients, they provided valuable knowledge gifts with guidance. This approach made their audience more engaged with their brand. Also, what made Nurturers unique was their guidance provision. They guided their clients on how to achieve results with their gifts.
Finally, the hot prospects were the curious ones. They wanted to know more about the brand. Nurturers’ hot prospects felt a deep connection with the brand. Thus, these clients bought their services without hesitation. Also, these clients became the Nurturer’s advocate.
Nurturers had an infinite gas supply. This infinite gas supply keeps their water at 100℃.
Finally, I’ve been a hot client for months after journeying through the cold-warm-hot touchpoints of Nurturers.
How do you benefit from using the cold-warm-hot strategy?
A slow increase in sales and marketing result
More time to convert clients into raving fans
Long-term buyers
Acquisition of relational customers
Enhanced customer lifetime value
Your product mustn’t be the best to sell.
High return on investment
Raving fans become your brand’s advocate with ease.
Makes your brand highly competitive
However:
This strategy takes longer to see results
Now, which strategy is better?
None of these strategies is better. Then what is better?
Knowing the kind of clients you want to attract is better. Some customers may need a quick fix. Some may need time to bond and trust your brand.
Customers who need a quick fix are transactional.
These customers like cheaper products and services. They can patronise another brand with ease. Finally, these customers are discount shoppers. Thus, the cold-hot-warm strategy is the best for these types of clients.
Now, customers who need time to bond and trust are relational.
These customers patronise your brand long-term. They pay at a fixed price, whether it’s high or low. These customers are equivalent to high-ticket clients. Finally, they buy with emotion. Thus, the cold-warm-hot strategy is the best for these types of clients.
Now, ask yourself. “What kind of client do I want to attract?” “Do I desire transactional or relational clients?”
When you come to a realisation, execute. Execute one of these customer relations strategies. Remember, building an outstanding business is a long game.
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