What Is Intent Based Marketing? All You Need To Know13 min read

What Is Intent Based Marketing?

Intent Based Marketing (IBM) is an approach to marketing that focuses on understanding customer needs, wants, and behaviors in order to design products and services that specifically address those needs.

Intent based marketing is a form of customer relationship management (CRM) that focuses on identifying and understanding individual customer needs in order to develop targeted marketing campaigns.

This type of marketing can be traced back through the history of advertising and salesmanship – it’s really all about connecting with your audience and creating relationships with customers.

In intent based marketing, marketers identify the specific goals and objectives for each campaign by analyzing both internal data as well as external research. This allows them to create more effective strategies and tactics that are tailored to each target market segment.

What Do We Mean By Intent? 

Intent is information about people’s reasons for visiting websites, based on their behavior online. When determining intent, consider topic and contextual data, such as what search terms they used or whether they were referred from social media sites.

Websites have certain intents associated with them:

• A shopping site has the intent to sell products.
• An entertainment website may have the intent to provide content.
• A job board website could have the intent to help people find jobs.
• A dating website might want to match people up with others who share similar interests.

When you know someone’s intent, you can put together a plan for how to reach him or her effectively. In this way, Int marketing helps companies make better decisions when building marketing programs. The goal is to get the right message to the right person at the right time, so that he or she will take action. 

How Does Intent Based Marketing Work?

When companies use Intent marketing, they start by collecting data about their customers using surveys, focus groups, and other methods. They analyze this data and determine which segments within their target market have similar interests, attitudes

By using intent, companies gain insight into their customers’ buying behavior and preferences. They can then use this knowledge to better understand how to reach out to potential buyers and convert them into paying customers. 

How Does Intent Based Marketing Work With Social Media?

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow businesses to interact directly with their customers. Intent marketing gives these tools new meaning by helping brands connect with consumers based on shared interests or experiences rather than just demographics. 

While there are still many unanswered questions regarding the effectiveness of Intent marketing, there is evidence that shows its power, especially when combined with social media. 

How Intent Data is Captured?

In order to capture individual activity data, you must track every single action taken by each user. For deep behavioral data, however, you don’t need to follow visitors all the way through the funnel. Instead, you can simply observe the moment when someone lands on your landing page and then monitor his/her actions on your site.

You also might consider adding more advanced features such as heat maps, funnels, and conversion paths. These elements help you better understand what kind of content resonates best with your target audience. Once you have this information, you’ll be able to craft more effective messaging and ads.

Content consumption is an important signal for B2B buyer intent. Knowing the type of content your target audience is consuming gives you insights into what they want. You can access this info through your own web content, or third-party apps that aggregate online research activity from hundreds of websites, media sites and other sources.

Intent Based Marketing Tools Help You Capture Intent Data

You can use Intent marketing tools to gather both types of intent data. The 2 main tools include:

Google Analytics– Google analytics is a free tool that lets you see where and when users land on your website. With analytics, you can view trends, compare traffic from multiple sources, segment audiences and more. 

Piwik – Piwik is another great option. Unlike Google analytics, Piwik has its own unique set of capabilities. It offers advanced segmentation options, reporting and custom reports. Additionally, it includes powerful behavior tracking that gives insight into how people interact with your site.

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What Type Of Intent Data Should You Focus On?

If you’re looking to collect data about customer intent, you need to think about two different types of data:

Individual activity data

This data gives information on how users engage with the website and the activities they do. Are they returning or first-time visitors? What pages are they viewing? Which campaign led them here? This is critical information that you should be aware of in order to avoid missing out on an opportunity.

Deep behavioral data

Deep behavioral data is one of two most important categories. Each site visitor’s detailed behavioral tracking provides valuable details about their actions. Page scrolls, dwell time, hovers and clicks. Deep data is important for understanding people’s real interests and intentions at any given time. Take dwell time for example. Long dwell times show that people are actively engaged within a website. If the visitor stays on your page for a short period of time, then he/she probably landed on your page accidentally.

Why Does Intent Based Marketing Matter?

Intention-based marketing is vital for two reasons: It allows you to focus your efforts on the right people and it helps you understand who they are. It also allows you to understand consumer behavior, so you can develop targeted marketing campaigns and create personalized messages.

The bottom line is that intent based marketing helps you choose exactly whom you should contact, giving you greater control over your marketing efforts.

It makes sense to build your strategy around the things that matter most to your business, instead of wasting resources targeting the wrong people. That is why Intent marketing is becoming increasingly popular among marketers.

The Link Between Intent And Conversions

When you have clear insights into your customers’ actual needs and desires, you’ll be able to connect with them more effectively. Your product or service will appeal to them more easily because you know what they really want.

You can use this knowledge to drive sales, leads, and brand awareness by creating content, ads, emails, etc., all customized specifically to them. At the same time, you’ll have a better idea of which kinds of products and services your target audience actually wants.

The Pillars Of Intent Based Marketing

There are four pillars of intent based marketing:

1. Personalization

Personalization means using data to provide useful recommendations to individual consumers. It involves tailoring communications to match specific users’ behaviors and preferences. 

By analyzing user activity and behavior, you can determine whether someone is likely to buy your product or service. Then you can tailor your communications accordingly.

2. Knowledge

Knowledge refers to providing useful information to consumers. It is often used in conjunction with personalization. 

In order to be successful, you need to know what you want to communicate, when, and where. That requires thorough research and analysis.

3. Behavior science

Behavior science is the study of human action. By studying human behavior, we learn more about ourselves and others.

This is the basis behind marketing automation. As you analyze customer data, you’ll gain insight into what motivates them to take certain actions.

4. Data analysis

Data analysis refers to using big data to make predictions about future events. Think of it as statistical forecasting.

As you gather data from different sources, you’ll have access to a wealth of information about your customers. With this information at hand, you’ll be able to predict their behavior far more accurately than ever before.

Once you’ve collected the data, you need to analyze it in order to draw conclusions. The goal is to learn something new about your customers. Then you can use those findings to improve how you reach them.

How Do You Get Started With Intent Based Marketing?

If you’re ready to get started with intent based marketing but aren’t sure how to go about it, here are some tips to help you get going. Start by taking these seven steps:

1. Identify your target audience

First, identify who you want to talk to. Who are your ideal customers? What are their demographics, interests and behaviors?

2. Determine goals & objectives

Next, decide what kind of results you want to achieve with your campaign. Are you looking for an increase in traffic, leads, sales, or conversions?

It’s important to set realistic expectations. If you don’t measure your success against a clearly defined metric, then it’s impossible to tell if you’re making progress.

Defining goals helps you understand exactly what you intend to accomplish. They give direction to your efforts and keep you focused on what matters most.

3. Develop strategy

Now that you’ve identified your audience and objectives, it’s time to develop a strategy. How will you reach out to potential customers? What channels will you use? And what messages will you send?

When developing a strategy, think about all relevant factors – including budget, timing, and competition.

You’ll need to choose which mediums you’ll use to distribute your message. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are great for reaching large audiences quickly, but they’re not always effective.

Whatever you decide, remember that every channel has its pros and cons. So weigh each option carefully before making your decision.

4. Design campaign

After you’ve developed your strategy, it’s time to design your campaign. This involves creating ads, landing pages and other forms of content.

Begin by choosing your messaging platform. Will you use text or video? Or maybe both?

Consider using both visual and written messaging. While visuals tend to grab attention, writing gives people time to process your message.

5. Measure results

You need to take some time to monitor results. Track your performance over time in order to determine whether your approach was successful.

Once you launch your campaign, track all key metrics. Did your CTA perform well? Did visitors convert? Did you meet your conversion rate goals?

Use Google Analytics to track your campaigns’ performance. It allows you to see how many visitors came to your site after clicking on one of your ads. 

The good news is that you won’t have to wait long for answers. Once your campaign starts running, you’ll start receiving real-time analytics. These insights will show you whether or not your ad performed as expected.

Measurement lets you see where you went right and wrong. This allows you to make adjustments as needed.

6. Evaluate/Improve

You must evaluate your campaign and improve accordingly. Was the messaging clear enough? Were the calls-to-action compelling?

If any changes need to be made, now is the time to do so. It’s time to optimize the way you run your campaign. In this final step, you can make changes to improve the effectiveness of your ads. For example, you may want to change the headline or description of your ads. Or, you may want to experiment with different images or videos.

In short, there’s no end goal without planning. The more you know ahead of time, the better prepared you’ll be when you begin.

7. Repeat

And finally, repeat! After launching your first campaign, you should continue tweaking your plan based on new information. Keep measuring and evaluating until you get it just right.

Remember: No two campaigns are alike. Don’t expect them to follow the same format. Instead, focus on building a solid foundation that ensures your next campaign will be even better than the last.

This checklist will help you create an effective intent based marketing strategy.

Be patient. The more practice you have, the better you’ll become at designing successful campaigns.

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What Are The Benefits of Intent Based Targeting?

Intent-based targeting helps advertisers reach their target audience. It does this by allowing marketers to identify which audiences are most likely to purchase a product or service.

Because it focuses on specific customer needs, intent-based advertising can deliver a higher return on investment (ROI).

Here are four benefits of intent-based marketing:

1. Improved ROI

Advertisers who rely on intent-based marketing typically see better conversions. They’re able to target customers who are more interested in purchasing a certain product or service. As a result, they receive a much greater return on their ad spend.

2. Better quality traffic

Ads that target people who are already searching for your type of product or service tend to generate higher quality traffic. Because these users are looking for what you offer, they’re more willing to click through to your website. And because they’ve shown interest in your brand, they’re also more likely to buy from you.

As we mentioned earlier, intent-based marketing tends to lead to higher conversions. That means your ads are more likely to prompt consumers to visit your website. From there, they might decide to purchase something.

3. More specific audiences

When you advertise using intent-based targeting, you can target very specific groups of individuals. For example, if you sell dog food, you could use intent-based marketing to target only those people who search for “dog food.” By doing so, you increase your chances of reaching your ideal customer base.

4. Get ahead of your competition

If you’re not currently using intent-based marketing, you may want to start immediately. Even though you’re still learning the ins and outs of this method, you’ll gain a competitive advantage over your competitors who aren’t as familiar with it.

Only 25% of B2B marketers use intent data in their marketing campaigns. You will have an advantage over your competitors if you use this strategy.

Once you start using intent data, your daily activities will become a lot easier. You’ll be able use your ABM campaigns to identify new leads for future marketing activities, choose the best leads to follow-up with, and even create additional content to answer frequently asked question by your prospects.

The Bottom Line

If you’re looking to increase your brand awareness and drive traffic to your website, Intent based marketing is one of the best ways to do it. By understanding what your customers need and want, you’ll be able to build stronger relationships with them and ultimately turn leads into customers.

Remember to take things slowly. Don’t rush into anything. Think through everything thoroughly first. Only after you’ve created a solid plan will you start executing.