Prospecting
Once you have identified who your target audience is, it is time to contact them. The prospecting email has a very straightforward goal- to start a conversation and hopefully turn a prospect into a qualified lead. Sometimes you are lucky and reach out just at the right time. Often they are not quite in the buying zone, but at least you have had an opportunity to qualify the prospect into a lead and can keep the conversation going. For most businesses prospecting is the backbone of their sales process. Without it, your customer base stagnates.

Email marketing is still the most effective way of getting through to a prospect. You can target a large quantity of prospects and deliver a personalised email that actually gets read. Email prospecting can be used as part of a multi-channel campaign or as a stand alone process.

Nurture
This is process of taking a lead and delivering interesting and relevant information over a period of time. During this process you will develop a relationship and aim at gently steering the lead through the pipeline until they are ready to become a client. The aim is to shorten the sales cycle without harassing or annoying.

Using this strategy rather than only looking for the immediate win will generate much more business over time. Like prospecting, nurturing can be a multi-channel campaign but email nurturing is also incredibly effective as a stand alone process that builds credibility and brand awareness. Offering helpful, relevant content, leads will not only become interested but they will begin to recognise your brand and become better informed on what products or services you are offering.