Timing is everything, especially in B2B marketing. To connect with high-quality leads at the perfect moment, you need intent-based marketing and the right tools to spot buying signals before your competitors do. If you break down any successful sale, two ingredients always show up: the right connection and the right action. But the reality is that your chances of driving action shrink fast if you’re not connecting with the right people at the right moment.
It works like dominoes: the more precisely you target a lead, the higher the odds they’ll engage and the more likely they’ll convert.
But how do you actually find these high-quality leads? And how do you know when they’re ready to buy?
What is Intent-based marketing, and why does it matter?
Intent-based marketing uses real-time behavioral signals to deliver relevant messaging and offers to the right audience, exactly when they’re most receptive. With the right tools, you can monitor buying signals — from search behavior to website visits — and use that data to prioritize leads who are actively researching your product category or solutions like yours.
For instance, if someone’s searching online for “best running shoes for marathons,” it’s pretty clear they’re not a novice runner, and they’re at the researching stage. Now, imagine you had someone else searching for “best deals for light jogging shoes”; they’re probably a novice runner and are more primed to buy right now.
The intent differs for what they’re looking for and the information they need. So, if you had a sports equipment website, you’d serve two pieces of content to these audiences, even though they’re both looking for running shoes.
Think of Intent based marketing as a B2B company’s digital psychic. It senses what potential customers think, even before they know it themselves. It helps you understand their desires and needs to craft your marketing strategy and align with those signals.
You’re not just guessing; you’re surfing through the data to catch the perfect wave of opportunity.
When you get a pretty good idea of what a potential customer plans to do, you can tailor your communications to be more relevant and useful. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of a lead becoming a sale. And intent based marketing is all about tailoring your strategies to match intended actions. Here are four benefits to intent based digital marketing:
What does the data say about Intent-based marketing
Intent-based marketing sounds like a winning strategy, but is it actually effective? The data indicates that it is. According to a report from Mixology Digital, 94% of B2B marketers say their lead conversion rate increases when they use intent data.
The reason intent data is so effective is because it helps marketers improve personalization and nurture workflows. When 71% of customers expect personalized interactions from companies, this is essential.
By being more targeted and timely in your marketing approach, you’ll get higher-quality leads who are more likely to turn into revenue. This is because you won’t be blindly sending marketing messages into the void and hoping something sticks.
When you target leads actively looking for what you’re offering, you’ll experience increased conversions, better engagement, and reduced bounce rates. And with decreased cost per lead, you’re using your marketing budget more efficiently.
How to implement an Intent based marketing strategy
By analysing customer behaviour, preferences, and past interactions, you’ll discover the patterns and insights that point towards customer intention.
By leveraging data from internal and external sources, you can start to decipher the intent of your B2B leads at a personal and enterprise level. The more you know about the historical actions of your target and where they fit in your category’s ecosystem, the better you can personalise the content you put in their digital path.
You can break the data down using different treatments to build a better picture of your audience’s likely intended actions. Your own website’s analytics can already provide you with some golden insights. If you spot a lead who’s visited your pricing pages more than once and a higher than average ‘time on page’…they’re primed to buy!
Use data from both first-party and third-party sources:
💡 Want to stop guessing and start targeting high-intent leads in real time? Watchman identifies anonymous website visitors showing buying signals — turning passive traffic into qualified pipeline
Use this marketing data to segment your audience based on their behaviours, interests, and actions. This will help you to build diverse personas. Then, you can create and serve content that feels custom-made for each persona. Use segmentation to be much more targeted in your communications.
You can also run A/B tests within your segments to see what resonates more with each particular group. You could even hyper-target your audience depending on how far you want to take your segmentation.
An example of intent based marketing is reaching out with a LinkedIn message:
Say you’re a business consultancy, and you’ve pinpointed businesses seeking “digital transformation strategies”. You could craft a LinkedIn message highlighting some of your success stories in this field and invite them to a webinar on mastering digital metamorphosis..
Intent based marketing: key takeaways
Intent based marketing isn’t about collecting data, it’s about using B2B data to create meaningful connections with your audience. It’s about predicting their needs and showing up like a helpful friend, ready to guide them toward a solution.
Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Keep chipping away, and don’t be afraid to test different content ideas to see which resonates better.
By deciphering their intentions, you’re boosting your chances of lead generation success. You’ll also build a loyal following that can’t help but be captivated by your offerings.
So, put your game face on and get cracking with B2B marketing that matches intent!
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