So you understand the value of intent data, you’ve made sure you have everything in place to kick-off successfully, and you’ve got your CMO on board. What’s next? Well, even though 99% of intent data users report at least a moderate impact, it’s not a silver bullet. Get started right within your first 100 days of intent data to be set up for success for the long haul.
Days 1 to 7
Making sure your initial moves with intent data are solid is an important step for the rest of the process. Think of it as a chain reaction – if the first part works well, the rest should hopefully follow. This means the first week of your 100 days of intent data is the time to set measurable, realistic goals and make sure everything is in place to receive the leads as smoothly as possible.
Define Your Ideal Customer Persona
Take a look at your most successful customers. The ones that see great results from your solution, champion you to others and keep renewing. These are the people you want to model your ideal customer persona (ICP) after.
The trick here is balancing between being specific enough that you only get qualified leads based on your definition, without ruling qualified people out. Set your ICP criteria, then optimize as time goes on (see days 8-30).
Example: Senior Marketers at B2B Software Companies with 50-200 employees.
Build ICP Outreach Tactics
The only way to know it’s working is to start actioning the data. But, it’s important to do so in a meaningful way. Not just meaningful to you, but crafting outreach ads, emails, and content that are valuable, targeted, and touch on the pain points your contacts actually care about.
“Marketers have noted a 760% increase in revenue from segmented campaigns.”
Set Up Integrations
Teams that collect their intent data through marketing automation or CRM integrations see the most success. Aberdeen found that companies integrating their intent solutions saw 9% higher operating profits and 8% increases in the customer bases year-over-year.
Days 8 to 30
Now you’re set up. Time to optimize for what’s working and get rid of what’s not. Whether your intent data’s missing some key job titles, or your emails need some extra love to boost conversions, now’s the time to fix it.
Take a look at the data
Do these contacts fit your ICP? Are these companies relevant to the industries you sell to? If yes, great! If not, it’s time to make changes to your campaign setup. Work with your intent provider to make sure you’re targeting the right people at the right time.
This is an iterative process that you should keep an eye on in general, but trying to get it as close as possible to correct early on is a game-changer.
Update your outreach with intent signals
You already have ICP specific outreach tactics. Now it’s time to bulk them up with intent signals. You know exactly what these contacts are engaging with so you can tailor your touchpoints to the things they actually care about.
Include topics they’re engaging with in your email subject lines. Find and attach resources surrounding their mentioned pain points. Ask them about the event they attended. Talk about the tech they’re using.
Intent data allows you to create actual, meaningful outreach past the classic “Hi [first_name], I saw your post on LinkedIn…”. When you leverage it, you can craft emails and ads that speak to your target audience and meet them where they are.
Days 31 to 90
Create content around what your ICP care about
Analyze the intent signals in your data. Are there any trends? Are most of your ICP prospects engaging with the same topics or events? Everytime you’ve wished you could read your audiences minds, now’s your chance. You know what they’re engaging with so create content to complement that.
This includes touching on pain points, trends, and even buyer’s guide that they’re already interested in reading about. For example, if you see actively engaging with your competitors, now might be the time to release a competitive guide, or publish some positive reviews.
Retarget with ads
One of the most powerful tools to leverage using contact-level intent data is custom ad audiences. In 2020, a prospect needs to see your brand five to seven times to remember it. These intent-based leads are already in-market, making them warmer and often easier to reach.
Using a list of contacts already showing intent, plugging that into Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn, and retargeting them with meaningful ads (see above) leads to a much higher conversion rate. You can then build lookalike audiences based on these lists to reach even more people.
Days 91-100
So you’ve reached the end of your first 100 days of intent data. By now you should be comfortable with integrating, actioning, and optimizing your data. This is where the part about intent data being an iterative process rings true. Keep optimizing. Update based on trends and best practices. Test new ideas.
Keep in mind intent data works when you do. Having intent data and not using it is like buying a gym membership and not going, you won’t see results. Make sure you are consistently actioning the data. Segment and prioritize your lists to reach the most relevant accounts first and automate the rest. No lead left behind. If you have leads that you think aren’t qualified to be nurtured, it’s time to go back and optimize your campaign settings.
Ready to start generating more relevant leads?