Using intent data for B2B sales and marketing efforts allows you to identify potential customers earlier. But how can you maximise use of intent data?
You can use intent data to:
- Create more targeted and personalised campaigns.
- Focus sales development teams on companies showing interest.
- Identify the companies to focus on, as part of an account based marketing programme.
- Tailor messaging in sales messages to focus on what the prospect cares about.
- Identify new markets that are showing intent for the topics you monitor.
Companies are more likely to buy from you when you reach them at the right time, the right place and with the right message. Intent data helps you with the right time and the right message.
Getting started with Intent Data
Identify the right prospects: One of the main benefits of this type of data is identifying the right prospects for your company. You should therefore create one or more Ideal Customer Profiles, which maps out the key characteristics for of potential customers.
This ensures that the companies showing intent will be the best fit for your company.
Understanding the buyer journeys
For each ideal customer profile, you then need to understand the journeys that these prospects take to discovering your product or solution.
While you may be able to track intent for your product category directly, this only identifies companies later in the buying cycle. Instead, identifying the challenges or needs of a buyer allows you to identify companies earlier in the buying cycle.
Tailor messaging with intent data
Once you see intent trending for these earlier stages, you can tailor your messaging and positioning to better align with their needs and concerns, accelerate their journey through the buying process and increase the chances of closing a sale.
Use account-based marketing (ABM) strategies
Intent data can also help you improve your account-based marketing (ABM) programmes.
Investing in ABM programmes can be expensive and inefficient if companies are not ready to buy. This may be due to a lack of priority, being in contract with a competitor or something else.
By tracking the intent of target accounts, you can start to invest in and increase investment in companies as they move through the buying cycle. With the information obtained from the topics showing intent, you can tailor your messaging across the various campaigns that are a part of the ABM programme.
Identify new opportunities
Intent data can also help you identify new opportunities in new markets. By tracking the activity of your target market, you can gain insights into demand within new territories or industries that you may have otherwise missed. This can help you stay ahead of the curve and scale faster than your competitors do.
Increase campaign performance and drive more meetings
Intent data platforms generate a list of companies that are showing intent for various topics. By placing these companies into company targeted campaigns, via either LinkedIn or display networks through Account Based Advertising platforms, you can increase awareness within these companies of your offering.
You can also tailor your campaigns based on the topics identified and their level of intent, so that you can prioritse outreach by sales and increase campaign performance.
Using intent data effectively
In order to use intent data effectively, it’s important to understand the source of the intent data. This ensures you can interpret the data accurately. Intent data based on publisher data (like Radiate B2B) are able to provide insight across the buying cycle. Intent data provided by customer review platforms tend to provide insight later in the buying cycle.
Finally you need to have a clear strategy on how to use the data in a meaningful way. This includes:
1. Setting clear goals for your campaigns
2. Using the data to inform your messaging, targeting, and optimisation strategies
3. Creating processes for sales teams to follow up.
Conclusion
Using intent data for your B2B sales and marketing efforts can:
1. Provide valuable insights into your target audience
2. Drive increased meeting generation
3. Help you create more effective campaigns that drive results.
By identifying the right prospects, understanding the buying journey, and using ABM strategies, you can improve your ROI and achieve better results.