In the ever-evolving landscape of B2B marketing, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just a catchy tagline and an appealing website; that’s where intent data comes in. Today, success hinges on understanding your audience’s intent – what they are searching for, what problems they need solving, and when they are most receptive to your message.

Understanding intent data

What is intent data?

Intent data is a powerful resource that provides insights into the online behavior of potential buyers and their intentions. It offers a glimpse into what prospects are actively researching, their pain points, and their readiness to engage with your brand.

Types of intent data

- First-party:
  This data is gathered from your own digital properties, such as your website and email interactions, or with Turtl, through your Analytics Dashboard. It reveals how your audience engages with your content and products.
- Third-party:
  This data is collected from external sources, like publishers and data providers. It gives you insights into the broader market, including what topics are trending and which companies are actively researching solutions.

Why is intent data crucial in B2B marketing?

Personalization at scale

Intent data allows you to tailor your marketing efforts to each prospect’s specific needs and interests. With insights into their intent, you can deliver highly relevant content, increasing the chances of engagement. Personalization is becoming increasingly essential for B2B marketing and understanding how to best use the data collected to inform your marketing efforts will ensure greater numbers of converted leads.

Enhanced lead scoring

By analyzing your audience’s intent, you can assign lead scores more accurately. Prospects showing strong intent are likely to convert faster, allowing your sales team to prioritize their efforts effectively.

Check out our blog post all about lead scoring to see how you can close more deals with ease by focusing on the right leads.

Content strategy optimization

Intent data will inform your content strategy. It helps you identify the topics and formats that resonate most with your audience through engagement data, ensuring that your content is both valuable and timely. For example, if leads read your blog posts but don’t open your email, refocusing your efforts and nurturing the lead by answering their searched questions is more likely to result in a converted lead and capture any other leads with the same style of engagement.

Sources of intent data

Website analytics

Monitoring website behavior, such as page views, time spent on specific pages, and downloads, can provide valuable first-party intent data about what is most important to your leads. For instance if you notice that people spend significantly more time looking at a page about analytics than use cases, you can push content focusing on analytics and data to help capture the attention of similar leads.

Social media listening

Social media platforms are treasure troves of intent data. Monitoring mentions, comments, and engagement with your brand can reveal customer sentiment and interests in regard to your product or service. You can also use this data when deciding how to set yourself apart from competitors; if their social media comments deal with a particular pain point you can solve, that’s an easy area to target in your marketing strategy.

Search data and SEO

Examining what keywords your audience is searching for can uncover their specific needs and pain points. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEO software can be invaluable for this purpose.

Practical applications of intent data

Account-based marketing (ABM)

Intent data is a cornerstone of an ABM strategy. It helps identify high-value target accounts and understand their needs, enabling you to create personalized campaigns that resonate with decision-makers. See how Punch! successfully used Turtl in their ABM efforts.

Click to read Punch! ABM + Turtl | Case Study

Content marketing

Intent data guides your content strategy. By aligning your content with the topics your audience is actively researching, you can attract more qualified leads and establish thought leadership.

Sales enablement

Arming your sales team with intent data can significantly boost their effectiveness. They can reach out to prospects at the right moment, armed with insights into their specific pain points and interests.

Product development

Intent data can influence product development decisions. By understanding what problems your audience is trying to solve, you can innovate and tailor your offerings accordingly.

Turtl and intent data

Turtl’s Analytics Dashboard offers a view of your user’s data at a granular level. Understand how your readers engage with your content, from the time they spend on individual pages to how many links they click. Using Turtl’s interactive widgets, you can also collect data through polls, videos, and more. These not only increase engagement but provide an extra level of detail on how your readers interact with content best.

This can inform how you create future content with Turtl, for instance, if graphs really get your readers going, then make that next doc a data haven!

Turtl Analytics dashboard

Turtl takeaway

In the fast-paced world of B2B marketing, staying ahead means understanding your audience’s intent and delivering relevant, timely messages. Intent is the key to achieving this. Whether you’re fine-tuning your content strategy or supercharging your ABM efforts, harnessing the power of intent data can be the game-changer that propels your B2B marketing to new heights. Start leveraging this invaluable resource today, and watch your marketing campaigns soar.