Account-based marketing (ABM) has revolutionized the marketing landscape, shifting the focus from broad, generic B2B marketing campaigns to targeted, personalized outreach. It has gained traction among B2B marketers for its ability to provide more insight into their target accounts – allowing for personalized messaging and content that addresses the most pressing pain points.
Paired with intent data, ABM is a force to be reckoned with. Together, they allow greater insights, reach, and customization around high-value target accounts that would not otherwise be possible.
This article explores 10 key ways B2B companies can utilize intent data to supercharge their ABM performance, boost sales and drive business growth.
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Understanding ABM intent data
In the world of ABM, B2B intent data provides the most valuable insights into a prospect thanks to the digital breadcrumbs left behind by potential customers during their online research stage. By tracking and analyzing their digital footprints, intent data provides insights into the specific interests and behaviors of your target, high-value accounts. These snippets of information can help you make better-informed business decisions and tailor your B2B marketing strategies for maximum impact.
Primary types of intent data:
- Known intent: also known as zero-party intent, this is drawn from direct interactions with prospective buyers, such as surveys or direct inquiries
- Derived intent: obtained from indirect behaviors such as engagement with your ads, website activity, and technology usage.
Where can intent data be obtained?
99% of marketers leverage intent data to some extent within their marketing strategy, but where does it come from? B2B intent data can be acquired from both first- and third-party sources:
First-party intent data can include any of the following:
- Behavior flow tracking and website cookies
- Keyword queries and internal searches
- Social media listening tools
- Nurture workflows and email tracking
- Interactions with customers
First-party data is essentially readily and easily accessible to B2B marketers themselves, without the need to source it from elsewhere – providing an array of benefits but equally some challenges.
Third-party intent data is made up of insights collected across any digital touchpoint external to your business – for example, all content platforms, websites, and social media channels. This involves studying your site and those similar, to provide meaningful insight.
When used effectively, third-party intent data can uncover a whole range of benefits that first-party data may not have the ability to reveal.
Harnessing ABM intent data: 10 key strategies
Leveraging intent data in your account-based marketing strategy allows you to effectively personalize your marketing efforts to engage and resonate with each individual account. Intent data enables B2B companies to understand what matters most to their prospects – making way for marketing campaigns that are relevant and informed. Here’s ten practical ways B2B marketers can incorporate ABM intent data into their marketing strategy:
1. Monitor relevant topics
By tracking relevant topics and keywords, you can identify high-value target accounts that are actively researching products or services related to your business. Intent data can alert you when multiple individuals from an account are searching for these terms, allowing you to prioritize these B2B businesses for immediate outreach.
2. Build accurate prospecting lists
When paired with a robust B2B database, intent data can provide a list of recommended contacts for each interested account. This includes crucial details like name, title, phone number, and email address for seamless, accurate outreach.
3. Personalize your outreach
Personalization lies at the heart of ABM. With intent data, you can tailor your marketing messages to match the unique needs and interests of your prospects. This not only increases the relevance of your marketing efforts but also enhances the effectiveness of your sales efforts.
4. Beat the competition
By identifying prospects early in their buying journey, you can establish your brand as a trusted expert and gain a significant competitive advantage. Additionally, tracking your competitors’ names can help identify prospects researching your competition, allowing you to highlight your unique selling points and set your brand apart.
5. Shorten the sales cycle
Real-time intent data can fuel campaigns that spark meaningful conversations, warm up prospects, and ultimately shorten the sales cycle. By increasing brand awareness early on, your outreach efforts become more effective and impactful.
6. Track job transitions
Tracking job changes can keep you up-to-date with key decision makers and where they work. If you know they have moved to a new company, you can derive that they might try to influence a purchase there too. Keeping tabs on key influencers and buyers is simple, yet invaluable.
What’s more, understanding job level seniority based on machine learning is one way to predict relevance in the buying committee and boost conversions. DemandBI provides insight into your buyers with AI and intent data.
7. Retarget audiences
Intent data provides an advantage in locating accounts who have shown interest in a topic area recently. By segmenting third-party intent audiences who are in-market for the topic area, or who have been browsing, you can widen from just targeting individuals who have been on your site to whole organizations. You can then drive them to relevant content and landing pages to build up your first-party data and increase account engagement.
8. Track abandoned forms
Tracking the interactions of potential customers with your website – such as abandoned forms – can provide invaluable intent signals. Some platforms offer tools to capture partial form data, ensuring that your teams have all the information they need for effective account tracking and progression.
9. Utilize rearview intent
Rearview intent involves analyzing the intent signals of successful accounts to gain insights into their areas of research and activities. These insights can help improve your sales pitches and marketing themes.
10. Align sales and marketing
Intent data is a powerful tool for alignment between sales and marketing teams. By providing a unified view of each account, intent data can ensure that both teams are working together to deliver a consistent and effective experience to each prospect.
Maximize your ABM strategy with ABM intent data
Harnessing the power of ABM intent data can significantly enhance your account-based marketing strategy. By providing real-time insights into the interests and behaviors of your target accounts, intent data enables you to deliver personalized content to accelerate your marketing efforts and truly resonate with your prospects, giving you a competitive edge in the market.
Ready to amplify your ABM efforts with intent data? Explore our ABM services and discover how we can help transform your B2B marketing strategy.
