Emails, branching logic, and landing pages galore – with all of the moving parts and behind-the-scenes details that go into your lead nurturing program, where do you even start?

During a HubSpot Marketing Automation & Workflow training, myself and a group of Twin Cities HubSpotters explored the ins and outs of the HubSpot Workflows tool and lead nurturing best practices with an expert at HubSpot. During this session our instructor explained that first and foremost, marketers should start by identifying lead nurturing goals.

The goals you set will serve as a blueprint for building your lead nurturing campaigns, and later, give you the context for measuring the success of your campaigns.

Lead nurturing is about building relationships with prospects with the goal of earning their business when they are ready, and an effective strategy is all about the right content at the right time.

So, before embarking on building your emails and workflows, take a step back and think about your strategy, and take the time upfront to ensure you are providing the most useful content to the buyer when it is most relevant.

To get started on the path to a successful lead nurturing campaign, here is a series of seven questions HubSpot recommends marketers ask themselves when building a framework for lead nurturing efforts:

1. WHO do you need to nurture?

It all starts with your contact database – which segment of your database are you looking to nurture? This could include a specific buyer persona, contacts located in a specific geographic area, or those who have filled out a form on a specific landing page.

2. WHAT actions do you want them to take?

Do you want them to request a consultation, sign up to receive a demo, or register for a webinar? Determine the final action you’d like your contacts to take.

3. WHEN would you like to nurture them and for how long?

Is your end-goal time sensitive, or do you have a unique sales process? Think about the timeframe for which you would like to nurture your contacts and the realistic amount of time it will take them to get to the end action you’re nurturing them towards.

4. WHERE are they in the buyer’s journey?

Answering this question will help in determining content – what you say to contacts in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey will be very different than what you say to your contacts in the decision stage. Be sure to map out where your audience is in the buyer’s journey to develop content that is relevant and tailored to their needs.

5. WHY will your contacts want to engage with the content in your emails?

The key to an effective lead nurturing schedule is providing targeted, useful content to buyers. Take a step back and make sure that the emails you are sending are helpful and relevant. Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer and ask yourself, “Would I engage with this?”

6. HOW will you measure the success of your goal?

What are the metrics you will use to identify your success – will it be the number of webinar registrants or the conversion rate on a particular landing page? Take a moment to determine how you will measure your results.

7. IS this goal attainable with one workflow?

During this step you will map out the necessary steps a contact will need to progress through to get to your end-goal. Does it seem natural for contacts to be nurtured with one workflow, or will you need to break it up into several workflows and create a larger nurturing campaign?