(Editor’s note: This is Part 2 in a two-part series about how a relationship with an inbound marketing consulting firm can fail. In Part 1 we covered five ways the client can be at fault in a failed partnership.)

When you’ve finally found that great lead -- or leads -- through your inbound marketing efforts, the relationship with that potential customer is just beginning. 

In fact, interactions between your company and that fresh lead should span every step of the buyer’s journey and their trip down the sales funnel. It'll require regular engagement and providing appropriate information at the right time, along with awesome sales follow-up emails and other outreach. 

If you haven't heard of marketing automation, you probably don't actively market your business.

Marketing automation typically consists of software and technologies that allow marketers to automate repetitive tasks through a variety of channels such as social media, websites, and email.

Many marketers opt to use MailChimp for their marketing efforts, and rightfully so! MailChimp offers great tools including list and audience management, social media integration, data driven insights, and marketing automation. The last of which will be the tool we're focusing on today.

Before you start writing blogs, before you even start an inbound marketing campaign, you need to know who your audience is and how to talk to them. If you’re not truly speaking to them, you may as well be talking with a mouthful of crackers.

Hey Sales and Marketing Professionals!

We all want more leads through our website, but ultimately, we want those leads to be customers.

According to HubSpot, lead nurturing can produce 50% more sales-ready leads, at 33% lower cost! That sounds to me like a winning strategy!

In this video, we’ll layout how lead nurturing fits into your online marketing plan, and even show some examples.

Marketing automation is fantastic (if done right). It helps turn your leads into revenue and helps time-strapped small businesses use their marketing more effectively.

Are you still teetering on whether or not you are going to use marketing automation? Here are some interesting things (you may not already know):

Think back to your teens and early twenties, when you were paddling around in the dating pool. There were some real weirdos in there, right? (Maybe you were one of them.) 

What Is Lead Scoring?

Lead scoring is a method of prioritizing leads - usually by their level of interest in your product and how good a fit they are for your company - to maximize the use of your sales and marketing resources.

In other words, lead scoring keeps you from wasting your time and money on leads who aren't likely to make a purchase.