What on earth is intent data?

Ok seriously, what is “Intent data”?

Simply put, INTENT is ‘intention’

An individual or company’s ‘intention’ to buy your service or product.

Intent data is basically assigning a score to know which accounts have a high intention of exploring your offering 🥇

Think of intent data as digital footprints left by users (or corporations)

This includes the pages they visit, websites they visit, their searches, the content they engage with, the products they show interest in

You get the idea

So, there is only 1 Intent data?

Actually NO ❌

There are 2 types of intent data

• 1st Party Intent Data
• 3rd Party Intent Data

Ok, What's 1st Party Intent data?

Imagine a kid with a special notebook where she writes down all the things she likes

She writes about her favourite games, toys, and activities

This notebook is like first-party intent data. It helps mommy & daddy know what the kid enjoys

They can now plan fun activities and surprises 😍

Think of this as activities on your own website & social media

These are companies engaging directly with your company's blogs, newsletters, social posts, videos etc

Intent: High

Intent to explore your offering is usually high since they are specifically navigating your company’s digital properties.

If you're trying to market to this audience: We recommend 1:1 ABM marketing

Nice, What's 3rd Party Intent Data?

Imagine a kid has a magic mirror that can tell her what other kids in the neighbourhood like to play with

It can show her if they like to ride bikes, play with dolls, or build sandcastles

This magic mirror is like third-party intent data

It helps mommy and daddy understand what all the other kids enjoy

Now they can plan parties with lots of fun activities for everyone to enjoy 

Intent: Medium

These are companies reading reviews, considering you, and scouting for services like yours by searching relevant keywords on the web.

Intent is medium since they may or may not know about your offering yet 

If you're trying to market to this audience: We recommend 1:Few ABM marketing

But, you’ve got to remember this...

Not all intent sources are equal!

What’s happening on ‘your’ website is more important than 3rd party data

(Read that again)

Let’s look at the sequence of intent source priority (that makes most sense)

1. Activities on your own properties (Website, social, ads)
2. Third-party intent data (G2, Bombora)

Sounds great, but how do I measure intent?

ABM platforms like ours (Recotap) help automate this for you.

All you need to do is setup simple rules. Once you have your 1st party measurement ready

Add 3rd party intent on top of it (see screenshot below)

What should I do to tie it all together?

You may not like it but I'd recommend you get your sales team to chime in 

Take their inputs on whether the accounts you found fit the bill. Get on the same page with sales.

Now you have a list to go after (that both marketing & sales agree on)

That's a big deal, right?

Anyways, this is exactly how you can use intent data in your B2B marketing

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