What’s your marketing strategy?

One of the first terms you’ll learn in any beginner marketing class is “low hanging fruit” and it applies to the users or clients who are ripe and ready to buy.

These are the college students to Starbucks or the Superbowl fans at a bar. These customers are already in a buying mood and can seemingly fall into your lap if you’re in the right place with a great offer. In other words, selling isn’t really hard for these customers.

But then there are the other clients – those not quite ready yet.

Recently when I was picking blackberries at a farm in the mountain I thought about how often we speak to the low hanging fruit and completely ignore those who are not quite ripe.

So if your entire marketing strategy is focused on those who are ready to buy right now then you’re ignoring a large audience who, with a little time, will be ready.

This doesn’t mean you need to market to everyone but there are plenty of people who need that nurturing before they’re ready to buy and if you support them along the way they’re much more likely to buy from you than someone else.

Here are a few things to consider when it comes to closing low-hanging fruit and nurturing leads not ready just yet:

1. Make it easy for quick sales. If your website doesn’t have something readily available for new clients who are ready to buy then you might be missing out on sales. Many companies create opt-in sequences to give free content (our hiring ebook is one such example) so make sure the follow up conversation includes opportunities to invest.

2. Balance your attention. While it would be foolish to ignore the unready readers entirely, it’s also a bad idea to focus on them completely. Share tips and strategies that work for your ideal client but also include some “just getting started?” content for those who are not so advanced.

3. Set up a nurture sequence if you don’t yet have one. Usually online companies use a lead magnet like a free ebook, course or something of value to qualify their leads but then ignore them completely until someone hits the buy button. Instead, use that offer as a starting point to the relationship and build a nurture sequence.

Marketing is often challenging because there are so many areas to focus on and it can feel like closing sales today is the utmost importance but keep an eye on the long term goal. Nurturing those in your community who are not ready right now is a great way to ensure you’ll have sales next month and the month after.

Action Step: Create a nurture email to follow up to your free offer. If you already have a nurture sequence in place, your task is to read through it today and assess if it’s working for your needs.