The amount of data your brand can find and use today is overwhelming. When clients ask us what’s some of the most important data to help grow their business, we say intent data. Intent data allows your team to engage with prospects earlier — and before your competitors. Here’s just a few reasons why.
- The data is out there. 87% of research before a purchase is now done online.
- On average, B2B prospects are already 67% into their purchasing journey before even engaging with your sales team.
- Marketers miss more than 70% of mobile shoppers when they just rely on demographics alone.
What’s Intent Data?
When consumers have a problem, they seek out content to find a solution — articles, blog posts, white papers, website searches, etc. These actions leave digital footprints that show marketers the intent of their target audiences. Intent marketing then uses this consumer intent data to engage and encourage action in target audiences.
Using intent data has better ROI and interacts with target audiences earlier in their decision-making process which helps your business gain leverage over competitors. Instead of needing to convince a consumer to use your service or buy your product, these prospects have already made their intent public information. They have a problem they already need to solve, and your brand can be the solution.
But what’s really considered intent data?
This data can be first-party data, consumers’ digital or in-person interactions with your brand that have been recorded. Or it can also be third-party data from other sources.
Intent data can be used to increase the success of the following:
- Targeted advertising
- Account-based marketing
- Personalized sales outreach
- Actively interested account lists
- And more!
But how specifically could intent data be used by your brand’s sales and marketing team? Here’s just one example.
What if your Inbound team could be alerted to potential customers before they even interact with your brand online? Third-party intent data gives your Inbound team the information to learn what your target audience is doing online and thus what it intends to do. Instead of waiting for potential customers to interact with your brand, your team can see consumers and businesses who are searching for brands just like yours. Consumers and businesses in real-time who have a problem that your brand can solve. This added data helps your Inbound team act even more efficiently with truly qualified leads and reprioritize your Inbound lead scoring, while ultimately increasing the ROI of your marketing budget.
Context is key.
Intent data must be analyzed for its context. When looking at consumers’ first and third-party data, know that these actions don’t exist in a vacuum. Consumers are operating from specific reference points that range from high-level information (job title, company, etc.) to granular, individual choices (white paper download, website click, etc.) Context will allow your team to gain insight into who is taking the action. Not accurately understanding context reflects poorly on your ROI and bottom line.
Effectively using intent data offers your company an opportunity to meet prospects sooner, in their time of need and before your competition. It can be overwhelming to begin to think about the many ways intent data could be used. Start by asking yourself and your team the following questions.
Have we been using first-party intent data to create strategic marketing plans?
Do we have the bandwidth and insights to invest in third-party data to increase our marketing ROI?
We’ve assisted clients for over 30 years to help them harness the data they already have and strategically invest in the data they still need, so that they can increase their ROI and grow their business.
Interested in creating a strategic marketing plan with your current consumer intent data? Let’s talk!
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