Five strategies to boost intent-based lead generation

This blog series is inspired by our intent data quiz, which is designed for marketers needing help improving their lead generation strategies.

If you’d like to better understand your unique lead generation challenges and receive actionable steps to make the most impact, you can do so here.

The challenge: Not enough leads from your lead generation strategies

A common pain point for many B2B marketers is simply not having enough leads entering the top of their funnel. Through the quiz, those who fall in the category of lead seekers should prioritize increasing their lead quantity before addressing other lead gen challenges.

Insufficient lead numbers can come down to many factors like ineffective targeting or unengaging content. Without enough qualified leads, your sales team ends up wasting time chasing prospects that aren’t a good fit. And your revenue goals remain frustratingly out of reach.

It can be a challenge to pinpoint how to start to drive more leads. But there is one tool that can help you across the board: intent data.

The solution: Intent data

Intent data analyzes digital signals like website visits, content downloads, and keyword searches to identify accounts researching and preparing to buy.

Armed with intent insights on which accounts are in-market for solutions like yours, you can break through lead quantity challenges. In this post, we’ll explore actionable intent-based lead generation strategies to help you generate more leads.

Here are 5 ways to unlock more leads with intent data:

1. Identify high-intent accounts

Analyze intent data to build targeted account lists that closely match your ideal customer profile (ICP). Set up intent data monitoring campaigns to routinely monitor for new, high-potential accounts you can add to your list.

Focusing on high-intent accounts ensures you aren’t wasting time on accounts that will not be ready to buy. Once these high-intent accounts are identified, you can target them through your lead generation strategies. Continually keeping an eye out for other prospects who show spikes in their intent will help you reach leads at the right time.

2. Execute ABM Outreach

Account-based marketing powered by intent data takes precision targeting to the next level. Once you’ve identified high-intent accounts, layer on additional data, like firmographics and demographics, to further refine it down to a small list of target ABM accounts.

Then you can use intent signals to prioritize and personalize your ABM messaging across channels. Intent data also gives you insight into when accounts are most active in their research so you can ramp up outreach when they are in-market and move them down your funnel toward being a sales-qualified lead.

3. Expand retargeting ads

Since intent is based on online activity, you can use the info to see who is engaging on your site and retarget them based on the intent their actions show. Serve tailored ads to accounts after they’ve visited your site and consumed high-value content.

Remarketing keeps your brand top of mind to past website visitors and turns their continued interest into pipeline. You can also combine this intent data with other account data you have to identify additional members of the buying group and target them as well.

4. Improve content syndication

Content syndication is a strong lead generation tactic that is even more effective when you incorporate intent data. Use intent data to understand what your target customers care about. Then you can create high-value content around the topics and run it through lead generation campaigns like content syndication. Using intent data to guide your content for content syndication will allow you to share a more relevant message with your prospects and encourage higher engagement.

Audit your content library and tag content to your specific solutions or offerings. Then align each with the intent topics that relate to them. Add this process to your new content development workflow. This will help you prepare for future intent-based content syndication programs.

5. Outsource lead generation

Your team may not have the bandwidth or budget to incorporate intent data across your efforts in-house, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get the benefits of intent data. Work with a lead generation partner who leverages intent data to outsource your lead generation strategies. Working with these lead generation partners helps ensure you’ll reach your lead gen goals because they have a deep level of expertise and can help you develop the right strategy for your specific business needs.

Ask potential partners if they use intent data to generate the leads they will pass on to you. According to our 2023 Marketing Data Impact Report, 97% of marketers say intent data leads drive more pipeline than non-intent leads—so you definitely want a lead generation partner that is an expert in using it.

Supercharge your B2B lead generation strategies with intent

At the end of the day, no B2B marketer can afford to overlook or underutilize intent data in their lead generation strategies. Rather than wasting time on accounts that aren’t ready to buy, intent data enables you to focus sales and marketing resources on high-potential prospects when it matters most. If increasing lead quantity is your top priority, it’s time to unlock the power of intent data.

With these strategies, you can inject intent across your tech stack and processes to drive more qualified leads. Then rapidly convert that in-market interest into pipeline and revenue.