Using Intent Data Optimally to Manage Through COVID-19 and Beyond

Brian Giese

April 24, 2020

Today, while many businesses have slowed down, or in some cases completely stopped, there are still markets that are showing some positive trends. True Influence is seeing the volume of interest in demand generation from numerous industries and buying groups has increased compared to the start of the earliest shelter in place orders due to COVID-19.

Changes in the business environment can mean changes in your target audience. Intent signals about your customers and prospects enable companies to focus their time and budget on relevant, timely communications to keep campaigns running smoothly.

Using Intent data optimally allows Marketing and Sales to:

Make better investments by focusing on budget and efforts on in-market buyers
Utilize contact-level intent data to know what an active buyer and buying group is researching
Obtain a deeper understanding of the content resonating with your audiences
Focus intent monitoring on specific personas to identify individuals and buying group members, watch their behaviors and target them strategically
Identify where your audience is in its buying journey
Target different buyer roles and stages in the buying journey

A crucial aspect of intent data is making sure that it is quality data that has been checked and verified. The depth of the data is also important. Contact-level data provides you with more specific, actionable information than domain-level data only does.

By using True Influence’s B2C to B2B Identity Graph Triangulation™ we are able to match the research now being done primarily in people’s homes to their corporate identities. We are able to identify valid signals in the customer or prospect data stream (from IP identification, device identification, email identification) that represent individuals consuming B2B topics and content in non-business environments and match it back to their professional identity.

The good news is we are seeing positive spiking for solutions in several industries. Here is an example of how the Collaboration Software market is currently showing positive intent signals for nine industries. Knowing that buyers in these industries are in-market is important to tailor a Marketing and Sales campaign appropriately.

For Marketing and Sales, it’s important to know which specific companies are spiking within an industry, and exactly what person in those companies is looking for that topic, including the specific contact names and full contact record. It’s also important to see firmographic and geographic data such as the revenue range of each company, industry, and employee size that assists with identifying the personas.

Being able to identify the insights and trends in vertical markets, the people buying, and the buying groups is key to building a successful Marketing and Sales campaign. Focusing intent monitoring on specific personas to identify individuals and buying group members that are in the market allows marketers to watch the behavior of buyers that are in the market and target them strategically.

Buying groups tend to influence most purchases. The key personas in a buying group have different buyer roles and may participate in different stages of the buying decision process. The buying group is comprised of individuals across the enterprise and may include IT, Data Science, Finance, Purchasing, and other job functions. Capturing the buying group and each of these individuals’ behaviors – positive, neutral, or negative – allows Marketing and Sales to develop a strategy that is targeted toward these individuals.

Access to this type of data can be critical to businesses in industries that are trying to endure during this unpredictable time, as well as plan for Q3 and Q4.

As companies adjust and adapt their business during this volatile time, it’s important to stay positive and focused. Utilizing quality intent data can help ease the stress of generating revenue by identifying your target customers that are in the market and ready to buy.