In Episode 4 of Hell-Bent on Intent, David Crane explains how he sees intent data, and how B2B companies have yet to realize the true power of intent.
There is no single source of intent data
Crane explains that 89% of B2B marketers using intent data are leveraging two or more sources (Intentsify). On top of that, 24% of companies surveyed are currently developing strategies to implement intent in the near future. According to Crane, more and more B2B organizations know that they need the coverage of multiple sources. Different data vendors have their own unique approaches to capturing and monitoring intent, so if you are using one source of intent, you may be getting skewed results.
To get a better understanding of how your market behaves online and a broader range of data to work with, you need to start layering sources. Plus, you can corroborate the signals you are seeing, meaning you can verify your intent, see where the overlap in signals exists between sources and act on the strongest signals sooner.
“One source is probably better than none. But the more you get, the more you can substantiate those signals, the more accurate they're going to be and the more impact are going to have in any use case you're using those signals for.”
- David Crane
Actioning Intent Data
In Crane’s opinion, there are two key powers of intent:
- Target the right accounts: Know who you should be targeting this month, and this week. Focus your time and energy where it will make the most impact.
- How to engage with those accounts: Get insight into what phase of the buyer's journey accounts are in, what keywords and topics they engage with, and where you should be targeting them.
According to him, “just because an account is intent qualified, doesn't mean they are ready to buy." When you receive a list of intent qualified leads, what do you do with them? Don’t just hand the whole list to sales right away, he advises. Start by scoring those leads then determine which accounts need nurturing. If your accounts are showing engagements with keywords related to challenges or problems, that's a key insight these leads are still early in the buying journey and need some solid thought leadership and awareness of your brand. They know that they have a challenge, but they probably aren’t ready to buy at this stage.
At the very least, if your content library is on the small side, divide your marketing efforts into two categories: top of the funnel and bottom of the funnel. Remember, intent data is always changing. It’s dynamic. Watch for signals every week to make sure the data you’re acting on is the most relevant.
About the Show:
Intent data is everywhere. But can B2B marketers use it to impact revenue? Does it even work? In each episode, we go deep into the industry with experts and even sit down with skeptics to lift the black box around intent data. Our goal is to break down what this data is, what it ISN'T, how it works, and what it means for the B2B tech world.