In the marketing world, having the right B2B marketing tools can make all the difference. Every once in a while, a tool comes along that makes you wonder how anyone gets along without it — a tool like intent data.

By listening on the web for activity related to the problems you solve, intent monitoring platforms give you deep insights into what your prospects are thinking — those who are already on your list and those who aren’t yet on your radar. These intent signals can open up a world of opportunities for lead generation and for laser-targeting your communications, your content, and your sales process.

Let’s look at five ways you can take your sales and marketing results to a whole new level through the power of intent data.

1. Identify New Prospects

Plenty of B2B marketing tools allow you to track and target the people who visit your website, but only intent monitoring lets you track users’ activity from across the web and bring those leads into your system.

Upload a list of specific keywords and phrases related to your products and the problems they solve, and let your platform do the rest. Be sure to select an intent monitoring platform that integrates with your customer relationship management (CRM) system, so that you can create automated campaigns to engage your new leads. When someone at a prospective company begins researching your product category online, the person will automatically receive an email designed to guide them to the next stage in your sales funnel.

2. Identify ABM Targets

Intent data is an ideal solution to for ramping up your account-based marketing (ABM) program. Set up your intent data platform to monitor the domains of the specific companies you’re targeting. When people in those companies research your product category, you’ll get not only the person’s contact information, but also information about their search that will help you customize your communications.

3. Customize Content

When your targets go online looking for solutions to their problems, they encounter wave after wave of options. To make your content stand out in the crowd, it needs to be targeted, personalized and most importantly, relevant to the people you’re trying to reach.

Intent signal monitoring does more than feed your sales funnel — it helps you customize your content to align with the questions your targets are actually asking.

When you monitor your targets’ online activity, you gain key insights into the solutions they’re searching for and the language they use to search for them. These intent signals can form the foundation of your email campaigns, blog posts, white papers, and other assets. You can create laser-focused content that speaks to the exact problems your targets are looking to solve, in language that resonates with them — content that makes them sit up and take notice.

4. Guide Sales Conversations

Think about how many sales conversations your targets engage in over the course of a year. The number is probably in the dozens, maybe even a hundred or more. And chances are they all start to sound the same.

The key to a sales conversation that stands out from the usual “blah, blah, blah” is the same as the key to successful online content: relevance. If you can find out exactly which problems your target is trying to solve and weave those insights into your chat, you’ve already set yourself apart from the competition.

When people look to solve a problem, they go to the web, and your intent monitoring platform is there to mine that activity and deliver the intent signals behind it directly to you. Armed with the knowledge of the challenges your prospects are facing, the solutions they’re considering, and where they are in the buyer’s journey, you can engage in a meaningful sales conversation that builds rapport, trust, and confidence that you have their best interests at heart.

5. Identify Telltale Spikes in Activity

Another unique feature of intent monitoring is that it lets you benchmark activity for certain accounts. Once you have an idea of their baseline levels of online activity concerning your product or service, the system can alert you to spikes that indicate they may be approaching a decision.

When those alerts appear, your sales and marketing teams can shift into high gear with tactics such as:

• An automated email asking if they’d like to see a demo
• A call from a sales rep
• An offer of a buyer’s guide or other relevant content asset

For decades, sales teams have struggled the question of how to be in the right place, at the right time to close the deal. With intent signal monitoring, you can identify the activity spikes that let you know the “right time” may be approaching, so that you can jump into “the right place” ahead of your competitors.

A New Approach to B2B Marketing Tools

For the past few decades, it seems that technology has been working against the B2B marketer, with innovations like caller ID, email filters, and ad blockers. With intent data, technology’s pendulum swings back in your favor, offering not a new way of reaching targets, but a whole new, more personal approach to your engagement with them.

Instead of sending “batch and blast” B2B marketing assets far and wide to thousands of leads who may not even have your solution on their radar, you can focus your efforts on those who are actually looking for what you have to offer. Once they’re in your system, you can use the insights you gain through intent monitoring to speak directly to their needs in your content and your sales conversations. And when they’re ready to buy, you can be the first one in line to help them make that decision.

If you’re ready to learn more — and to get some practical advice on adding intent data to your marketing strategy, download a copy of our ebook Quick Start Guide to Intent-Based Marketing.